Reprinted from Education Reporter, 11/93
February 1994 – Three Littleton, Colorado, school board candidates reversed a union-controlled public school establishment with a “back-to-basics” appeal to parents in the November 2 election. The new members received a 2-to-1 mandate from voters to replace a firmly entrenched Outcome Based Education (OBE) system with traditional emphasis on the three R’s.
This contest for control of the five-member school board has received national attention because the upper class suburban schools have been lauded by the National Education Association (NEA) as exemplary models of OBE curricula. Establishment lobbies were desperate to win this campaign in a school district described by Education Week as having “pioneered new performance assessments and standards for high school graduation.”
Running as a slate, Carol Brzeczek, Bill Cisney and John Fanchi focused on the positive goal of educating children with knowledge and facts. “Back To Basics For Change” was their slogan, and they credit their success to establishing their slate and deciding their platform before the well-funded union-backed opposition organized their campaign. “We were able to step out and define the issues, and we told the voters that this was a referendum on the academic direction of our schools.”
The campaign heated up when the People for the American Way (PAW) accused the three candidates of being “fundamentalists” and “members of the religious right,” a scare tactic often used against OBE opponents. “The very people who are supposed to be teaching children ‘tolerance’ are quite willing to exploit religious intolerance to achieve their goals,” observed a Rocky Mountain News editor. The Colorado Education Association (the state arm of the NEA union) gave funds and office support to PAW to conduct its negative campaign.
In fact, none of the members is affiliated with a “fundamentalist” church and there were no religious issues in their platform. “The truth is, the religious right has views that are identical to the majority,” explained Cisney. “When I go door-to-door, 90% of the people support traditional education. We really cut across religious and political lines in this endeavor.” Cisney is a Democrat, Brzeczek an Independent, and Fanchi a Republican.
Cisney, who owns his own Denver fabric business, has been talking about academic goals with Linda Brzeczek, a part-time accountant, for two years. They asked former school board candidate John Fanchi, who works for Marathon Oil, to join them in this race.
Fanchi, who has a Ph.D. in physics, defended the trio against the oppo-sition’s campaign accusation that they were members of the “Flat Earth Society.” Fanchi credits some of their success to new laws which allow mail-in voting for school board candidates in the November elections.
“The school board race has always been the most important election to me,” said Carol Brzeczek. “School board members get a lot of grief and no salary, but we really have an opportunity to make some positive changes.” Brzeczek’s plans for change include removing “busy work for bright students” who are typically bored with repetition in OBE curricula. She has been involved in school issues since her oldest son (now 19) entered first grade. “My husband has been wonderful; he didn’t want me to run, but he recognized the stakes.”
Cisney’s recommendation for replacing OBE is I.D. Hirsch’s “Core Knowledge” series. “Hirsch explains that you need broad-based, shared knowledge to function well. Part of what makes a nation successful is that it holds in common a body of cultural knowledge.”
Littleton voters were galvanized by their disappointment with OBE curricula, especially its lack of focus on academic excellence. “These candidates ran a successful campaign against the establishment because they have a rational, keen understanding of the issues and they are ready to expose what public schools are doing in their district,” observed parent Al Litwak.
Union opposition to the three candidates was funded largely by teachers and school administrators. Littleton High School principal Tim Westerberg openly backed the opposing coalition supporting OBE, and all 15 elementary principals signed an open letter backing the OBE proponents.
The only teacher to oppose OBE openly in the Littleton schools is English teacher Linda Young. After she wrote a letter to the newspaper editor criticizing OBE methods last winter, principal Tim Westerberg gave the tenured teacher a poor performance evaluation.
Mrs. Young, who explained that she is not an establishment “educrat,” has an M.A. degree in English literature. “Teachers with advanced degrees in education are called educrats,” she explained. “They learn ‘progressive’ theories rather than a core body of knowledge in the humanities or sciences.”
She and her husband, Gene, who is a retired Littleton teacher, have been concerned about the quality of education students have been getting from the so-called “progressive” methods. Gene Young conducted his own anti-OBE campaign by sending letters to the editors of Colorado newspapers.
Westerberg’s post-election November 3 memo to all staff seems intent on encouraging hostility toward the parent-mandated three-R goals, “I believe we need to communicate with one voice regarding the status of Direction 2000.” His memo addressed to the community the same day, called for “order to balance all interests” and “input from students, parents, and staff,” in veiled defiance of the democratically elected school board majority.
“The new school board members carry a tremendous burden,” said Al Litwak. “I don’t think you’ll find anywhere in the country a better slate of school board candidates.” 
