With the upcoming school board election for Douglas County School District (DCSD), several news articles related to the appropriateness of political parties’ endorsing school board candidates in nonpartisan races have been published. As an elected official, you may be weighing whether you will actively support and endorse the practices of the current school board or school board candidates. It is essential that parents have a voice in determining the direction of our school district, and we are concerned that partisan politics may distort the perspective of the very people our district is here to serve: Douglas County families. As a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, the Strong Schools Coalition (SSC) respectfully asks you to refrain from providing any endorsement for the upcoming nonpartisan school board election without first hearing from parents in DCSD. The SSC is hosting a community forum at the Highlands Ranch Library on Wednesday September 25, 2013 from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m., where you will have an opportunity to hear input from many of the most involved parents in Douglas County School District, including our School Accountability Committee (SAC) and Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) leaders. There are no selection criteria for the parent audience beyond whether they have served within the past two years on SACs and PTOs in support of their schools. Given the current state of DCSD, we expect the following topics will be of interest to you and can be discussed directly with parents: -- Parent Satisfaction -- Budget Cuts -- Pay for Performance -- Public Input -- Parents’ vision for the future of DCSD We mention the above topics as they represent significant concerns in DCSD at this time. Not only will you have the opportunity to engage with parents regarding these various topics, you will also be provided with the opportunity to ask questions of your own. If you are able to attend or send a representative to attend on your behalf, please RSVP to DCSDStrongSchoolsCoalition@gmail.com. If you are unable to attend, a member of the Strong Schools Coalition leadership would be happy to make other arrangements to meet with you and discuss factual data about current levels of parent satisfaction and input in Douglas County School District. As a constituent, I urge you to participate in the parent forum before making any public endorsements of Douglas County school board candidates.