The Denver Post: A group of public school teachers publicly protesting specific proposals that their elected school board discussed staged a public “sick out,” forcing the closure of several public schools. Sound familiar?

It happened in September 2014 in Jefferson County. Parents concerned about such a shutdown filed a request under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) to know the names of those public employees who caused their publicly-funded schools to be closed. Predictably, the union filed a lawsuit seeking to protect the anonymity of the public school employees. The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled against the union, finding that the names of those who absented themselves from their jobs were not protected information and, in fact, declared that CORA “requires [the school district] to disclose the records . . . .”

Fast forward to two weeks ago. A group of union-coordinated Douglas County public school teachers (about 1/3rd of the total in the district) publicly protested specific proposals being discussed by the elected school board by staging a public and publicized “sick out,” forcing every public school in the district to close to students.

Visit The Denver Post for more.