Week of September 15, 2022
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DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
LoneTreeVoice.net
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | CALENDAR: PAGE 17 | SPORTS: PAGE 24
VOLUME 21 | ISSUE 30
Council supports school measure Teacher pay at core of $60M mill levy BY TAYLER SHAW TSHAW@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Douglas County teachers are getting about $18,000 less than those working in Cherry Creek schools, resulting in a loss of teachers and recruitment difficulties, school officials told Lone Tree City Council Sept. 6. “We were absolutely impacted by the compensation gap. We continue to lose employees that I have personally vetted and trained within my magnet model,” said Mindy Persichina, the prin-
cipal of Lone Tree Elementary School. Persichina was joined by Douglas County Superintendent Erin Kane, Douglas County Board of Education President Mike Peterson and Doug Humphreys, the principal of Eagle Ridge Elementary School in Lone Tree, to discuss the school district’s funding issues and ballot questions. This November, Douglas County School District will ask voters for a $60 million mill levy override and a $450 million bond to help raise staff compensation, build and expand schools, do capital maintenance, invest in student programming and more. “We want to be (the) best of the best, not best
of what’s left. And that’s really the proposition,” Peterson said. “If we cease to be competitive, we just will no longer be able to make good on that promise.” According to data Kane presented, the school district’s average teacher pay from 2021-22 was $57,919, about $18,000 less than Cherry Creek’s average of $76,050. Littleton and Jeffco school districts also offered higher pay at $68,686 and $62,612 respectively. At Lone Tree Elementary School, Persichina said teachers who left typically went to Cherry Creek schools. She said she knows some teachers SEE SCHOOLS, P13
Douglas County discusses shelter proposal BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
The unmasked theme for the night was aimed at removing the stigma of mental health, encouraging more people to come out and get help when they are struggling. Throughout the evening, three women took turns on the microphone to talk about their struggles with mental health and declare that they are officially “unmasked.” One speaker talked about the shame she has suffered after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Another, who called herself Lexie, said in her teens she started feeling depressed and was struggling by the age of 13. However, she did not want
Douglas County is considering hiring a facilitator to flesh out an idea to make the existing winter shelter network into a more expansive year-round program. At the Sept. 8 meeting of the Douglas County Homeless Initiative, Pastor Mike Polhemus of The Rock church in Castle Rock told the group he was hoping to get help outlining the details of a year-round church shelter network. He said he envisions multiple churches making up the network with one or two families or individuals housed at each location to avoid having a large homeless community. “We want to have one (unit), where we can bring in one person and help them, but have 20 other churches in Douglas County that each take one, then we have a community in a sense,” Polhemus said. “What we realized is the major need is not shelter, it’s relationships. If we can solve the relationship issue, then we can solve the shelter issue.” Since the expanded shelter network is in the early discussion stages, its unclear which churches might participate, what the services would be in conjunction with the housing and what requirements would be in place for people participating in the program. The current winter shelter network only serves women and children, while also requiring them to travel to a new church each week that they use the shelter network. Last year, the winter network helped five households. Douglas County Commissioner Abe Laydon was enthusiastic about the idea, noting the community has asked the county to partner with faith-based organizations on the shelter program.
SEE HEALTH, P6
SEE SHELTERS, P10
Olympic Gold Medalist Missy Franklin was the guest speaker at the special “Unmasked” event hosted by the City of PHOTO BY THELMA GRIMES Castle Pines and Mental Health Colorado on Sept. 10.
‘Unmasked’ highlights mental health Olympian Missy Franklin shares story of highs and lows BY THELMA GRIMES TGRIMES@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Olympic Gold Medalist Missy Franklin talked about her road to recovering from mental-health struggles at a special event held in Castle Pines on Sept. 10. The event — titled “Unmasked” — was hosted by the City of Castle Pines and Mental Health Colorado.