WEEK OF MAY 8, 2025
VOLUME 130 | ISSUE 10
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Library books are returned to shelves in ongoing saga Elizabeth School District loses a round as lawsuit filed by ACLU of Colorado continues BY NICKY QUINBY SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
work on calling businesses in and around Elizabeth to see if they would like any help. We ask each business how many students they would like to help them. Getting this number early on helps us make sure we can get all of our students placed somewhere. This is a key step because we place every student at the high school.” Antinora said this year EHS sent students to a total of 24 different locations to help
Nineteen titles removed from Elizabeth School District libraries last year have been returned to circulation for now as a result of an April 28 court order, but the books are on the “sensitive topics” list so parents can opt out of allowing their children to access them, Superintendent Dan Snowberger told the Elbert County News. The order from the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld District Judge Charlotte Sweeney’s preliminary injunction ordering the school district to return the books to library shelves. The appeals court had temporarily granted the district’s request for a stay of Sweeney’s injunction, but then ruled that the stay was unjustified. However, the legal battle between the ACLU of Colorado and the Elizabeth School District is far from over, and the ultimate outcome of the ACLU’s lawsuit seeking to keep the books in the libraries permanently has not been decided. The April 28 order from Chief Judge Jerome A. Holmes and Judge Nancy L. Moritz read, “Having carefully considered the parties’ arguments, we find Appellant (ESD) has not carried its burden to show the circumstances justify a stay. We therefore lift the temporary stay and deny Appellant’s motion. We also deny, without prejudice, Appellant’s request to stay the district court proceedings, and we deny Appellant’s request for expedited briefing.” The ACLU sued the district last December seeking the return 19 library books that the ESD board had voted to permanently remove. In August the board initially suspended the books and allowed community members to review specific passages and weigh in on whether or not the district should keep them on library shelves. In September, the board announced it had officially decided to remove the titles,
SEE BIG HELP, P14
SEE LIBRARY BOOKS, P10
Elizabeth High School student Lainey Quinby holds a vibrantly colored parrot while students help at The Gabriel Foundation, a bird sanctuary PHOTO BY NICKY QUINBY and rehabilitation facility, during the Big Help on April 23.
Elizabeth students provide ‘Big Help’ Teens fan out to provide assistance at 24 locations BY NICKY QUINBY SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
Elizabeth High School held its annual Big Help day on April 23. EHS describes the event as an “opportunity for our students to reach out and `give back’ to the community they live in!” Organized
by EHS Student Council, students go out into the community and volunteer their time doing whatever is needed. Student council sponsor Summer Katzoff said this is the school’s eighth year organizing the event. “... what I love most about putting on this event is being able to offer the students an opportunity to help out others in the community,” she said. “The stories that are told after their experience are so fun to hear and every location is so thankful for the help that is provided.
VOICES: 12 | LIFE: 16 | CALENDAR: 19 | PUZZLES: 22
As a teacher it is always fun to spend time with students outside the classroom giving back to the community.” Lacy Antinora, an 11thgrader and EHS Student Council member, said this is her third year on the Big Help committee and her first year being the lead. The committee spends a huge amount of time working to organize the event. “Each year we get together with our committee right after homecoming to start planning this event,” she said. “We
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