A candidate running for La Plata County commissioner was told earlier this month he can’t gather signatures on Durango School District 9-R property because it violates school district policies, which prohibit political activities on school grounds.
Specifically, Superintendent Karen Cheser cited the district’s flyer distribution policy in denying independent candidate Jack Turner’s request to gather signatures on Durango High School grounds.
Cheser was unavailable to comment Wednesday, but district spokeswoman Karla Sluis said the school district’s policy prohibits distribution of print materials that promote or oppose election candidates.
“Our policy on the communications page is clear that any print materials are prohibited that: ‘Promote, favor or oppose the candidacy of any candidate for election,’” Sluis said in a text message to The Durango Herald.
The policy serves to keep school board members free of risk and liability, Cheser said during Tuesday’s school board meeting.
“If you do allow this when you told others (they) cannot do it, and you allow it for one, it’s considered an unlawful campaign contribution,” she said.
Turner said Wednesday the policy referenced doesn’t address ballot signature collection.
During Tuesday’s board meeting, he urged Cheser to reconsider her decision, recalling that he and another independent candidate, Charly Minkler, were allowed to collect signatures on school property in 2020.
School board members inquired why Turner and Minkler were allowed to collect signatures on school grounds in 2020, but no explanation was immediately available. One board member speculated the candidates were granted permission because it provided a safe way for independent candidates to collect signatures during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indeed, the Herald published a story and photos about the June 6 drive-thru, noting it was done based on recommendations by the state of Colorado and San Juan Basin Public Health to reduce COVID-19 transmission. Turner touted it as a first-of-its-kind historical event.
“This has never been done before,” Turner said at the time. “The people that showed up today, as far as I’m concerned, they’re all making history.”
He also acknowledged it was being done in the name of public health.
“On one hand ... you can’t go near people, and at the same time, you have to get petitions face-to-face,” he said at the time. “That’s when we came up with the idea of this drive-thru process.”
As an independent candidate, Turner must collect a certain number of valid signatures between May 19 and July 14 for his name to be placed on the November ballot.
He said he favors the DHS location because it offers exposure along Main Avenue and is the safest place he could think of to stage a drive-thru ballot petition where people can drive up, sign their names and go on their way.
Cheser acknowledged Tuesday that the school district policy is unclear because the language is outdated or vague. For example, the policy includes phrases such as “distributed in schools,” even though it is clearly intended to refer to all school properties, indoors or outdoors, she said.
Turner read a statement to the board during the public participation segment of the meeting. He touched on the importance of practicing civil politics and not allowing vocal political “extremists” to dictate or shut down civil political activities.
“I actually love the signature collection process because you get to meet voters and they get to see you are a hard worker,” Turner said.
He wanted to make two points in his address to the school board:
- No. 1, he thinks the superintendent’s decision to prohibit him from collecting signatures at the high school is unfair.
- No. 2, the larger point, he said, is that the school district shouldn’t try to bury political activities just because other politics have gotten “nasty” in the recent past.
“I think the key line in my whole thing was, ‘We can’t let the left wing and the right wing crazies dictate the conversation,’” he said.
The direct comment Turner made to the board was, “We cannot allow left and right wing extremists to shape real-time civics lessons and behavior.”
In his comments to the board, Turner said he tried to reserve the DHS parking lot for three outdoor signature-gathering events for three Saturdays, and he agreed to a standard rental fee and paid for liability insurance before being denied.
He said he understands why interfering with student coursework wouldn’t be acceptable, but said gathering signatures on Saturdays doesn’t do that.
In an interview Wednesday, school board President Kristin Smith said allowing or prohibiting political activities falls under district policy, not school board policy.
Near the end of Tuesday’s school board meeting, the board asked Cheser to review the district’s policies, update the language, decide how she wants to address Turner’s request (in accordance with revised policies) and then follow up with him.
“Our policy isn’t as clear as we would hope it to be,” Smith said. “But we also haven’t had these requests before. The kind of political activities that we’ve had in the last few years have been a little different from what they were.”
She said the attention that political campaigns are receiving now are probably different from the past.
“It’s great for people to come to the board, but one of the things we say in public participation is that we may refer your matter back to the superintendent for further study or investigation, and that’s just what we did with that request last night,” Smith said.
She added that the school board wants its policies to be clear and easily understood to avoid confusion about what is and isn’t allowed at schools.
“We want to make sure for the public and all of our students and staff that all of our policies are as clear as possible,” she said. “Some of them were written a long time ago in a different time and they aren’t as clear as we want them to be now.”
The policy can be read in full at: https://bit.ly/3MC6aCk.
Turner said he thinks he should be allowed to collect ballot signatures a few weekends in May and June, but said he doesn’t begrudge the superintendent or school board for doing what they think is best for the district.
cburney@durangoherald.com
