Jason Glass’s recent blog post on Civility and Civil Discourse and his actions clearly demonstrate that he doesn’t like criticism – AT ALL!
First, he shuts down his Jeffco Generations Facebook group which provided a forum for discussion about all things Jeffco schools related. Then he publishes a blog which stated his “rules of engagement” on civic issues.
Yet, once again, his actions speak louder than the words he writes.
It’s nice of him to talk about civil discourse, except when he doesn’t follow his own “rules of engagement”. With a history of blocking Twitter accounts, suppressing Public Comment at Board of Education meetings and not publishing letters to the Board of Education, all of which are Protected Speech under the 1st Amendment, he has shown that he isn’t interested in civil discourse at all.
In addition, on numerous occasions, Glass CHOSE to not engage in IMPORTANT conversations on his now shutdown Jeffco Generations Facebook group. Glass decided that he just didn’t want to be involved in civil discourse on topics such as Jeffco schools reading proficiency, 5B Bond questions and District 1st Amendment violations. And when the questions and discussions got too uncomfortable, he just shut it down.
If Glass truly wants to shut down criticism and critics he needs to do just a few simple things:
- Deliver on his promises. Setting Academic Performance Indicators in Jeffco Generations and not trending toward those goals is not inspiring and justifiably leaves him open to criticism and critique. Meeting the stated objectives leaves critics nothing to criticize.
- Be fully transparent. Tell the whole story – All of the time. Don’t just tell part of the story as happened with 5B. Don’t allow staff to tell the Board of Ed that poor performances during Spring 2019 testing were expected. Fully own up to the short comings. Until that happens any and all criticism is justified.
- Finally, show some respect to the people with whom he disagrees. Condescendingly and disrespectfully calling people “trolls” clearly demonstrates he truly doesn’t want civil discourse if it exposes his short comings.
Yes, actions do speak louder than words.
Glass has spoken loud and clear. If he doesn’t agree with you he will shut you down by any means available. He has shown time and time again that he has no qualms about publicly shaming and labeling his critics and that he will shut down any available avenues for that criticism, even if that means violating individuals’ 1st Amendment rights.
Civil Discourse in Jeffco? Only if Jason Glass agrees with you.