Supporters protest end to partnership

Bethy Leonardi, cofounder of A Queer Endeavor, expressed her disappointment in the St. Vrain Valley School District’s decision to end its sevenyear partnership with the organization at this week’s school board meeting.

“In our view this move, or this reaction by the district and district leadership, was not grounded in equity but instead in fear and in a lack of understanding of what this work is all about,” she said.

She posed several questions to the school board, including how the district will support educators around LGBTQ topics, who will deliver professional development content and how the district will respond when constituents push back.

“I want to know what the district’s commitments are to proactively doing right by its most vulnerable students … how will the district prioritize not only their safety, but their joy, their beautiful identities that they bring,” she asked.

Leonardi and Sara Staley, assistant professors at the University of Colorado Boulder’s School of Education, started A Queer

Endeavor to address a lack of information about gender and equity in teacher preparation programs. The institute, Leonardi said, helps teachers implement state laws, including anti-discrimination laws and a recent law requiring schools to include perspectives of marginalized groups in the curriculum.

Leonardi was one of seven people who shared concerns at Wednesday’s school board meeting about the district ending the partnership after pulling its sponsorship of A Queer Endeavor’s summer Educator Institute for Equity. District officials have said they had concerns that a conference session was anti-religion.

Gabby Clark, a student at

Niwot High who identifies as queer, said LGBTQ perspectives should be included in the curriculum so “kids can feel safe and kids know that they can go to their teachers with correct pronouns, correct gender.”

“When you don’t have support at home and don’t have support at school, you can feel out of place in the world,” Gabby said. “That is a very, very horrible feeling.”

Sadie Roberts, a 2019 Skyline High School graduate, said LGBTQ students are at a higher risk of suicide, self harm and violence by other students, making the district’s decision to withdraw its support for A Queer Endeavor dangerous.

“Withdrawing support for A Queer Endeavor shows that their message of acceptance and education on the issues of minority students is being directly opposed,” she said.

Three people, including a school board candidate, also shared concerns during public comment about the content of A Queer Endeavor’s professional development sessions and what’s being taught in schools.

Natalie Abshier, who is running for the school board’s District F seat in the November election, said she’s upset that parents don’t seem to have a say in what their children are learning or doing at school.

“Parents have a right to know what their children are doing at school,” she said. “If my child was going to school and going out on smoker’s hill and smoking pot every day, I think somebody would tell me that at a parent teacher conference. If my child is going to school and changing their clothes from one gender to another, I would want the school to tell me that.”

In response to comments made at the school board meeting, St. Vrain Valley spokeswoman Kerri Mcdermid said in a written statement that “the well-being, safety, and success of each and every student — including our LGBTQ community — continues to be the district’s highest priority.”

“To this end, teacher and staff professional development, engagement with our students and families, and the implementation and development of support structures to advance all students continues to be a significant focus of our work in the coming school year,” she wrote.

She said the district is providing its own professional development on equity for educators.

In June, she said, the district trained educator teams from every school on “creating a foundation for equity,” which included a review of the district’s vision, an understanding of federal and state anti-discrimination laws, norm-setting as a way to have meaningful discussions around equity, and effective cultural responsiveness practices.

Principals and school teams also were given resources to continue that work through the school year during late start days and other professional development days, she said, adding the sessions are consistent with training provided by the Colorado Department of Education to school districts across the state.

The district also is creating a Community Diversity Committee as a sub-committee of the Leadership St. Vrain group that will privately “meet with district leadership to share personal experiences, feedback, and perspectives related to that month’s Leadership St. Vrain topic or any other topic of importance to the committee,” Mcdermid said.