A MoveOn.org petition launched last week attacking the Douglas County (Colo.) Board of Education has received scant attention, with the bulk of signatures coming from people who do not even live in Douglas County. The majority of signatures collected so far have come from people who either live outside the county or outside the state. The petition, which was posted by retired teacher Mike Dubrovich using MoveOn.org’s petition tool on September 7, calls on the governor and the Colorado Department of Labor and Education to intervene to prevent Douglas County from initiating new education reforms.

Since the petition was first posted, only 45 percent of its signatories have claimed residency in Douglas county. Of the 900 signatures collected thus far, 491 came from individuals who live outside Douglas County. Several dozen out-of-state signatures appear as well, with 41 signatures coming from 21 states other than Colorado.

Dubrovich has been an active participant in the protest efforts against the local school board in recent months. He was one of the first to picket in front of the Douglas County Administration Building in Castle Rock protesting a ballot initiative that would allow voters to have a direct say in education reforms. He used his public Facebook account to encourage activists to buy $1 masks at Dollar General so that they did not have to “fear being seen.” Dubrovich was also part of a movement in Denver a few months back, showing solidarity with public support for the union cause in Wisconsin and against Gov. Scott Walker.

Many comments from those who signed Dubrovich’s Douglas County petition expressed sharp disagreement with what they characterize as the state’s unwillingness to block the Douglas County reforms. Several wrote to Hickenlooper demanding that he take action immediately. Mike Dubrovich’s wife Lisa was one of them.

“Gov. Hickenlooper, It is time for you to take a stand for workers’ rights by ordering the Colorado Dept. of Labor and Employment to intervene in the dispute,” she wrote.

“This is not about Unions, this is about ‘Public Education!'” wrote Brian Ash of Gunnison, CO. “Our country was founded on this principle.”

Thomas Vanden Bosch of Franktown, CO, was even more direct. “The radical agenda promoted by the current school board is a thinly veiled attempt to destroy public education,” he said. “It promotes discriminatory and elitist values which reward those in a position of wealth and power and prevents those less fortunate from having an opportunity to better themselves.”

Other comments addressed the the Governor as “dude”, wondering why he chose not to call out the school district on “Prime Time National TV” while another lady said she was no longer going to shop at chain stores in Douglas County until they “realize that workers need to be represented.”

Comments poured in from out of state as well. “STOP DEMONIZING OUR TEACHERS!” exclaimed Lester Carpenter from New York city.

One man from Illinois simply accused the reform efforts for being “just another scab rat pile of garbage.”

This post originally featured at Media Trackers Colorado