Garfield Re-2 Board President Tony May on Wednesday announced he was stepping down as board president due to the district’s current “political climate.”

Earlier this year, May proposed incorporating into the school curriculum what’s called the American Birthright Standards. The highly conservative social studies program, voted down in late 2022 by the Colorado Board of Education, prompted Re-2 district staff to assemble a review committee, conduct two surveys and host multiple public forums over whether the lessons were acceptable for Re-2 students.

“What I’ve been seeing is a lot of political climate that has hit this board room, and frankly, it’s not taking the right direction for our community, for our kids,” May said on Wednesday. “So, all I can do is change myself.”

May also said local newspaper articles about his effort to incorporate ABS have had a negative impact on his own family.

“To move forward, I want to bring down the temperature of this board room, and I think the only way for me to do that is to step down as president,” he said.

Taking May’s place, the board unanimously appointed Britton Fletchall as president and Fathom Jensen as vice president. Both Fletchall and Jensen have supported ABS despite eventually voting for the 2022 Adopted Social Studies Standards, lessons which are said to be more inclusive of minority and LGBTQ+ communities.

There has been a whirlwind of responses after ABS was proposed for Garfield Re-2, including a local effort to recall May from the board. The recall effort comes amid emails obtained through open records requests revealing Fletchall and May requested ABS guidance from the Woodland Park District. Woodland Park, northwest of Colorado Springs, voted to incorporate ABS and has since then seen 40% of its teachers resign in protest. 

New Castle resident Steve Beaulieu said during public comment that Woodland Park’s ABS incorporation has turned into a “dumpster fire” that has become a “flaming disaster.”

“The amount of time and effort that’s been wasted by the terrible ideas that you’ve brought to this school district is shocking,” Beaulieu said. “It is going to take time to get (May) recalled unless you do us all a favor and step down off the board completely.”

What lessons to learn

Wednesday’s meeting spurred additional public comments over LGBTQ+ issues and ideas on what kind of history Re-2 students should learn.

Rifle resident Trish O’Grady, currently spearheading an effort to restrict graphic novels in Garfield County Public Libraries, encouraged the Re-2 school board to “stop promoting Scholastic books” because, she claimed, they depict certain sexual acts. 

The National Council for the Social Studies outright rejects ABS for its lack of teaching in areas such as diversity, equity and inclusion. And on Wednesday, Ashley Stahl, president of advocacy group PFLAG Roaring Fork Valley, offered reasons why it’s critical to include LGBTQ+ into the school curriculum.

“This is a group that is five times more likely to commit suicide, and there’s several things that can be done about that that can make a difference,” Stahl said. “One of those things is for them to be able to see themselves in educational materials, in the books that they read in the library.”

New Castle resident Dr. Lee Krauth also argued that all history needs to be taught in order for students to know how government works, saying, “Teach them the facts. Let them know about history.”

“What the Jews are going through right now is unbelievable,” he said. “I think we need to teach history and we need to not indoctrinate kids but teach them what DEI and Marxism is about. Teach them both sides.”

Before public comment time was up, Stahl pleaded for more transparency from the newly rearranged Re-2 School Board.

“Britton, as the board president, I would really appreciate — and a lot of the community would — for you to put as much focus on transparency and listening to the community and just having things be as open as possible,” Stahl said. “I think there were some concerns before that things weren’t open, so I think that transparency will go a long way with the community.”

Jenson and Fletchall did not respond to requests for comment for this story.