By Aaron Ilia Merritt

Jefferson County Public Schools Board of Education has gone through many changes in the past couple of years and will continue to change and develop.

Jeffco had a low voter turnout in 2013 which resulted in the lack of the majority’s voice being heard. John Newkirk, Ken Witt, and Julie Williams were elected to be the head of the Jefferson County School Board. The three elected individuals’ campaign funded by American’s for Prosperity which is partially funded by the Koch brothers who are known to have very conservative views.

Julie Williams received much criticism from parents, teachers, and students when she proposed a new A.P. American History curriculum that would capitalize on great things in American history and somewhat “censor” events such as slavery, the Trail of Tears, and major acts of civil disobedience.

In July, 2015 a petition went through Jeffco to call for a recall election to get the three conservative members of the board out of their positions. The petition exceeded the number of signatures that were required for a recall to take effect while two other members resigned. The recall election served its purpose of electing new school board members. Five new members that ran as a slate were elected to replace the recently outed members. Susan Harmon, Brad Rupert, and Ron Mitchell are the new members to replace the last three conservatives. Their agendas are more teacher friendly, which can be good because teacher morale has a potential to increase.

Still, it is uncertain what will happen to Jeffco Public Schools. Many questions have been raised. Questions like, “How will teachers’ performances be evaluated?” Another question raised is, “How will effective teachers be rewarded, and ineffective teachers be brought to light?” Stephanie Rossi and Arik Heim , social studies teachers at Wheat Ridge High School and Jefferson County Education Association bargaining team members had some interesting answers.

When asked about the evaluation system, Heim replied, “The evaluation system is probably not going to change in the short term.”

“What we anticipate to change is that teachers’ pay will no longer be tied to evaluation,” said Heim.

Rossi remains hopeful in going back to the previous system in the works before the conservative majority stating that the previous system, “encourages people to get better rather than punitive.”

Still not much is known about the new board’s evaluation plan. According to Rossi and Heim, there is currently no plan on rewarding effective teachers, even though the funding may be available.

The new school board’s term has just recently begun, so many new ideas, plans, and systems are being developed and researched. It should be an interesting term watching Jefferson County Public Schools change into a potentially renowned school county.