Initiatives

The Public Conversations Initiative is now online at E-ThePeople

NEW! Join our virtual conversation at "e-the people." It's easy to register if you want to post comments. You can read and think about what others are saying and then join in with your neighbors (students, parents, teachers) in furthering our local campaign conversation, without getting into your car and driving to town.

Read Community Comments

If you would like to post constructive comments or start a dialogue on any topics on this website, write to us. We reserve the right to edit offensive language. Signed contributions are best; but at the least would you identify yourself as a student, parent, teacher, District administrator or community resident. Thank you.

Talk to each other! Share what's on your mind about schools and teaching here in La Plata County. Check out our virtual forum as the election approaches.

It's easy to register. After you select your username you'll be up and running in no time! It may take some getting used to as there may be a few bugs as we get started but patience and care in figuring out how and where to follow the threads will pay off! Look under the conversation thread you wish to pursue for options if other links fail.

What is E-The People?

e.thePeople is a public forum for a new democracy conversation.
Its technology "promotes intelligent, diverse and deliberative discussions, both here and among a network of sites around the Internet."

E-The People describes itself as "a public forum for democratic and deliberative discussion. The conversations on E-The People explore the political issues we see in the news, rejecting the traditional spin and conventional wisdom that tends to fill the airwaves. We have built E-The People in a way that allows members to have maximum control over the topics and frames for discussion; it's our attempt at a citizen-driven town hall."

Durango School Talk selected E-The People as the host for our conversation because we want new and better ways for people to discuss, dialogue and deliberate on local educational issues. There is plenty of griping and complaining that never goes anywhere. We welcome your help with suggestions for topics - all you need to do is POST your ideas at E-ThePeople. In addition to supplying online information to inform the discussions about current ISSUES, we hope others will help create some ACTUAL civic space for face to face meetings - like the "kitchen table" dialogues sponsored by ACE, Advocating Choice in Education. Think big, think small, but let someone else know what concerns you and then do something constructive! Our children deserve the best! Find out what "the best" means to your neighbor.

Online Dialogue Models

The following groups are developing online dialogue models we can use to develop our own local educational talking space. Links to other groups working on online dialogue:

Contact us with ideas, concerns, topics relating to our children and education that you think our community should be addressing.