In the wake of persistent reports of student bullying and a mishandled teacher absence, the Boulder Elementary school board voted last week to allow Principal David Jamison’s contract to expire at the end of the school year.
Following a wave of Facebook comments questioning Jamison’s capabilities, the possible renewal of his contract emerged as a key agenda item at the March 10 board meeting. Superintendent David Selvig recommended renewal, according to MTN News, but the board, after hearing parents’ comments during a closed session, voted against it.
Several parents and guardians of Boulder Elementary students, some of whom chose to remain anonymous, detailed an array of interactions with Jamison, currently in his second year as principal, that left them frustrated, concerned and worried about their children’s education.
Jeremiah Anderson, the father of a Boulder Elementary sixth grader, sent The Monitor a detailed statement
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outlining the questionable oversight that prompted he and his wife to withdraw their son from the school last October.
After his son faced bullying and defended himself after asking his attacker to stop, Anderson said Jamison told him that his son is violent and likes to fight. “My son has never started a physical altercation and has always tried to resolve conflicts with words first,” he explained.
Later, after his son told him he was failing some subjects, Anderson took screenshots of his grades on the online platform Infinite Campus and reached out to his teacher to ask how they might help their son succeed.
The teacher told them their son was doing fine and there was nothing to worry about. When Anderson again checked Infinite Campus, he found that his son’s test scores, some from 2-3 months prior, had been changed to higher scores.
“Because we had documented his grades beforehand, we could clearly see the differences,” Anderson wrote. “As parents, we believe grades should accurately reflect a student’s performance and that families should be informed when changes occur. Transparency is essential so parents can provide support at home when needed.”
After seeking to raise these issues with Jamison and Selvig and receiving no response, Anderson and his wife pulled their son out of Boulder Elementary and began homeschooling him.
As The Monitor reported in January, school administrators failed to inform parents when the 4th-grade teacher left on maternity leave last fall or that student grades were not being updated on Infinity Campus.
George Glueckert recalled his 4th-grade daughter Jessa being forced to update her parents on what was happening at the school, including her grades. “It’s incompetence,” he said.
During the 2024-25 school year, after an older student bullied their then-third-grade daughter, Glueckert and his wife met with Jamison and felt they’d had a productive conversation. Two days later, according to Glueckert, his wife witnessed Jessa being bullied again by the same girl and went into the school to speak to Jamison.
“He admitted to my wife that he never talked to the bully. He didn’t do anything about it,” said Glueckert. “He has no business being a principal. He has failed this community and he has failed the students of this school.”
The guardian of two middle schoolers recounted how a school bully pulled down one of her boy’s pants and underwear in front of many of his classmates last fall. “I called the principal about this,” she said. “He said he would look into it, but never called me back.”
The guardian thought about filing charges against the bully with the police, but decided against it. Soon after that, she faced another incident with that same bully. “He started saying gross sexual things in the lunchroom to” her other boy, the woman recalled. “I called the principal and again nothing. He never even got back to me.”
Around that time, the guardian stopped attending school board meetings. “There’s no point in going,” she said. “The principal’s not going to do anything. I’m not going to waste my time.”
Just before Christmas break, the same bully pulled down the pants of another student, a fellow 8th-grader, in the school locker room. That student responded by punching the bully in the side of the head, knocking him down.
After that incident, Jamison called to inform the guardian of the student who had punched the bully that he planned to suspend the student. She went in to speak to him, making sure the school counselor attended their meeting.
“I told him my grandson has a right to defend himself against a filthy perverted act and he’d done what I told him to do, defend himself,” said the guardian, adding that this had been the second such incident between her grandson and the bully.
“The counselor said that when a child is exposed like that it can do permanent damage. The principal kind of changed his mind after that,” she recalled, adding that Jamison decided against the suspension.
The bully has since been barred from entering the locker room while other students are changing. The guardian felt Jamison addressed the situation appropriately in the end, but not initially.
“And he let this go on for two years in the school,” she added. “I think it would be good if he found something he’s better at than being a principal.”
Neither Selvig nor Jamison responded to The Monitor’s requests for comment. Reminded that Selvig had advised parents with concerns to come to the school and talk to him, rather than send an email, Glueckert felt this aligned with his level of commitment.
“I think he’s lazy, doing the minimal to keep his job,” said Glueckert, who added that he had called Selvig to discuss his daughter being bullied and never heard back. “I think the school board is starting to feel the heat from parents and his contract might be next…He is just as much of a let-down as Mr. Jamison.”
Multiple parents made a point to mention the school’s excellent faculty and make clear that the performance of the principal and superintendent did not reflect the quality of their educators.
“Boulder Elementary is filled with wonderful teachers and they are being held back by the two men in charge. It’s really a shame,” said Glueckert, naming several faculty members. “They are excellent teachers who are rooted here in Boulder and committed to the school.”
The issue, parents and guardians seemed to agree, is that the current principal and superintendent seemed to have fostered a fraught and difficult environment.
“Schools should be places where children feel safe, supported, and encouraged to learn….When issues arise—as they inevitably will—the responsibility lies with leadership to ensure they are handled professionally and fairly,” Anderson wrote.
“My family fully intends for our son to return to Boulder Elementary next year. However, that decision depends on meaningful change,” he added. “We believe the school can once again provide the positive environment it once had, but only if steps are taken to restore trust and accountability.”
The guardian of the two middle schoolers thought moving on from Jamison was likely the right move, adding “it depends who we get to replace him.”
Whoever Boulder Elementary hires to replace the departing Jamison will be its fifth principal over a period of seven school years.
