When Westword asked the real Kyle Clark for his thoughts about Not Kyle Clark on February 22, even as the board was in the midst of a six-hour-long marathon, the 9Newser offered the cheeriest of rejections: "I'll pass. Have a great night!"
The evening wasn't nearly as enjoyable for supporters of Wise, who has hooked up with two local law firms in preparation for a possible lawsuit against the Douglas County School District for the way he was bounced. The conservative majority of Becky Myers, Mike Peterson, Christy Williams and Kaylee Winegar rammed through an abbreviated timeline to pick Wise's replacement, bulldozing the three other boardmembers: Elizabeth Hanson, Susan Meek and David Ray. Hopefuls for the job are slated to be screened during a March 1 special meeting that could be extended to the next day, if necessary, with interviews and public comment both wedged into March 3 — after which the board will announce the finalists. Feedback will be accepted beginning on March 10, with the announcement of a contract offer possibly coming as soon as March 22.
Board president Peterson said that "about eight" people have applied for the superintendent job so far, but only one has been publicly identified: Erin Kane, a former DCSD interim superintendent known for her advocacy of more guns on campus and opposition to mandatory masking. A fascinating story published by Colorado Community Media a few hours before the session started indicates how early in the process Kane was involved. On January 28, Peterson told Hanson that he and cohort Williams had met with Wise to let him know the board majority "agreed that the district needed to go in a new direction with leadership," according to the article. Hanson and Meek then took part in a conference call with Wise — and while they were chatting, the superintendent received a text message from Kane that included an excerpt from his employment contract.
This version of events, which took place the week before Wise was pink-slipped, dovetails with concerns at the center of a lawsuit filed by Douglas County resident Robert C. Marshall; his complaint maintains that the firing was done in violation of Colorado open-meeting laws. A hearing on Marshall's request for a preliminary injunction against the board is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday, February 25, in 18th Judicial District Court.
The seriousness of such matters contrasts with an unintentional moment of humor during last night's meeting. Two attendees wore shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Defund the Teachers Union," as if the Douglas County Federation (which doesn't even have a collective-bargaining agreement with DCSD), were publicly financed. Of course, the real Kyle Clark tweeted about that.
While 9News's Clark has been a social media master for well over a decade, Not Kyle Clark has only existed since February 3 — the day before Wise was sacked. The initial batch of tweets touch on a variety of subjects, including COVID-19 safety; one from February 4 reads, "It’s time for me to remind everyone that I am TRIPLE vaxxed. I feel guilty due to all the vax deserts in Denver. This guilt weighs heavily on me as I rest comfortably in my basement enjoying an IPA from my beer cellar." But most of the other tweets have been about Dougco, including the three below:Speakers at the DougCo School Board meeting are wearing "DEFUND THE TEACHERS UNION" shirts. They want the teachers' dues paid to the 501(c)(5) seized somehow? And returned to the teachers? I'm confused. pic.twitter.com/C5Ffl7pbbO
— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) February 23, 2022
• "I refer to the Douglas County School board as the 'conservative majority' because I want folks to think conservatives = evil.Many of the tweets from altDCSD, which counters the district's official feed, are much blunter. On February 17, it sent this salvo: "Fuck you. You've brought nationwide shame on DCSD. You're not doing the right thing. Your selfishness does not go unnoticed. I cannot wait for the day when you all are off of the board, and have fucked off somewhere else. We don't want garbage like you polluting our schools." But a note of humor crept into a retweet of a February 7 Dougco schools tweet warning Twitter users that "there is a fake Twitter account posing as Douglas County School District. Tweets from @altdscd are not legit. We have reported this to Twitter." The response states: "genuinely miss the days when this was the dumbest shit dcsd was doing."
• "I won’t rest until I dox the person who filed the FOIA with Douglas County schools. What kind of person tries to find the names of teachers who won’t teach??"
• "Really disappointed that Douglas County School Board is putting together a rapid timeline for hiring their next superintendent. I hope they don’t hire a female because I won’t know how to spin that. Nevermind, I rag on Lauren Boebert daily so this won’t be an issue."
Other Denver-centric parody Twitter pages include several focused on sports; Elway's Ego and John Elway's Official Fake Account tweak the former Broncos great turned team executive, while @FauxNateHackett pretends to be the squad's new coach. There's also @denversnow, a personification of flakes that's much happier now than late last year, when the white stuff was adamantly refusing to fall. That a school board is now a target for such mirth shows just how crazy things have gotten in Douglas County over the past few weeks.
And the circus is a long way from folding its tent. Watch the February 22 school board meeting below:
