Colorado’s liberal media has been in full meltdown mode the last few days about a claim from parents that children in Colorado’s school system are dressing up as animals and disrupting class.
In an interview last week with 710 KNUS radio host Jimmy Sengenberger, Republican gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl voiced the concerns of parents, saying “not many people know that we have furries in Colorado schools…kids identifying as cats. It sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it’s happening all over Colorado and schools are tolerating it. It’s insane.”
“We’ve got to focus on the basic blocking and tackling of teaching our kids how to read, write and do math and not put up with this nonsense in the classroom,” Ganahl said. “I just heard from over 100 parents identifying 30 different schools that this is happening. Jefferson County, there’s a lot of this going on.”
Parental rights in schools and education have been one of the cornerstones of Ganahl’s campaign and some of her biggest supporters are parents who fought back against the radical lockdown policies supported by Democrats and liberal media activists in Colorado.
After Ganahl smoked liberal Governor Jared Polis in a debate earlier this week, his allies in the liberal media have turned their attention to claims that Ganahl was spreading false information about Colorado’s schools.
Now, parents from across Jefferson County are coming to Ganahl’s defense and speaking out against the liberal media’s claim that this problem doesn’t exist.
Campfire Colorado has been provided dozens of statements from parents across Jefferson County and was given permission to publish a few from parents willing to go on the record.
Darlene Edwards, a Jefferson County parent told Campfire Colorado, “Wayne Carle Middle School has quite a few. My ASD kiddo gets extremely agitated, dysregulated, and confused. It’s a really hard concept to try teaching my 14 year old autistic kiddo because his brain is so black and white and he gets fixated easily. He quickly gets fixated and the “unfairness” and distraction. Additionally, my niece has stated that aside from ears, tails, barking, meowing, collars, hissing, and scratching, they are also walking on all 4s and eating without hands-like putting their face in their food-like an animal.”
Another parent in Jefferson County, Craig Gilcrease, said, “My kids come home from their high schools and tell me about kids leading other kids around on leashes and students that growl, howl and hiss at each other.”
Becky Peters, an employee of the Jefferson County school system and parent said, “I worked in a middle school last year, it is 100% happening!”
Christine Stevens, the mother of two students in Arvada told Campfire Colorado, “After hearing about furries last spring I was in disbelief. I immediately texted my two students at Arvada West. They both replied, “Yeah, it’s happening. Ears, tails, spiked dog collars, and leashes!”
The head of Jeffco Kids First, Lindsay Datko told Campfire Colorado in a statement that, “secondary students across Jeffco refer to peers dressed in animal accessories as furries. These student furries often hiss, bark, spit, chase, and claw at students in hallways, bathrooms, and classrooms. Sometimes they are attached to leashes.
“The opportunity afforded to these children for self-expression has often turned into bullying and intense academic distraction. Children are happiest when given boundaries. We are calling on Jeffco schools to define these boundaries at the cabinet level so that all students feel safe, free from distraction, and better able to thrive.”
KDVR News in Denver – one of the media outlets effectively calling these parents liars – published a statement from Jeffco Public Schools where a spokesperson said, “there is absolutely no truth to this claim.”
“There are no litter boxes in our buildings and students are not allowed to come to school in costume. There are no furries or students identifying as such during the school day.”
Campfire Colorado has been informed that JeffCo Kids First submitted a CORA request on the subject of furries and litter boxes to Jeffco Public Schools and they were told there were over 2,000 responsive emails.
We eagerly await the results of that public records request.