School's ties to local GOP vice chair raise questions

The Douglas County Board of Education election, it seems, still isn’t over.

Early this week, Douglas County informed the Douglas County School District that it would not be able to certify the election in time to swear in the new slate of charter school-friendly, Republican-backed, “reform” candidates for the next board meeting.

On Wednesday, a request was made to remove a key issue from that next meeting.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) High, a proposed Republican-promoted charter school, formally asked the Douglas County School District to postpone the decision to accept or reject the charter school’s application until the board’s Dec. 1 meeting.

STEM High’s board chairman is Mark Baisley, who was also one of the strongest backers of the new charter-friendly candidates elected to the board. Baisley is also the vice-chair of the Douglas County Republican Party, which also campaigned heavily for the new “reform” slate.