In August, the Jefferson County Education Association endorsed Peter Gibbins, Tina Moeinian and Michael Yocum for Jeffco’s school board in this fall’s election, proudly branding them the “Cleanup Crew.”

It was a curious label. All but one member of the current board are already union-backed. Cleaning up whose mess, exactly?

It turns out they have a mess of their own. Last week it was revealed that Yocum, 26, has a sealed juvenile record for sexual offenses committed at age 12.

The revelation hit a district already reeling from more than 30 sexual misconduct scandals — including former Chief of Schools David Weiss, who was investigated for child pornography before taking his own life over New Year’s.

Enter the union’s latest “vetted” candidate. On Monday, union leadership withdrew their endorsement, saying they had no idea about Yocum’s “sealed court record” until it became public.

“This issue did not come up in the questionnaire, interview, or the vetting process,” the union stated, adding the information was “not… disclosed to JCEA during the recommendation process.”

Parent group Jeffco Kids First — which blew the whistle last week — called the withdrawal “a vital step forward” but slammed the union for blaming an “omission during the vetting process.”

In a recorded conversation at a recent candidate forum where Yocum was pressed on the matter, he acknowledged: “To be perfectly honest, when I was 12 years old, there was a deferred adjudication” that “removed everything.” He called it a “mistake” that helped him “learn and grow.”

When asked again about the issue days later at another forum, Yocum asserted there is “nothing that would preclude me from running in this race.”

Yocum claimed he’d spoken with the victims, and they were okay with his run.

But a verified, close family friend with detailed knowledge of the incidents, who asked for anonymity, disputed the account to me.

“I believe in rehabilitation. He could very well be an upstanding citizen. But I don’t think that he should be in a position of authority with our kids,” the family friend said. “I can’t help but wonder why he would want such close contact with so many — maybe not individual contacts, but the ability to do so, to be in a position of trust. This has to do with kids.”

Yocum serves on the Career and Technical Education board at Warren Tech, a Jeffco school.

A constituent emailed Yocum, urging him to quietly drop out on Sept. 30. As of Tuesday morning’s deadline, he hasn’t. The next day, the constituent alerted his campaign manager, Katie Winner.

Winner manages all union-backed Jeffco campaigns and is the designated filing agent for Gibbins and Moeinian. From Aug. 14 until Oct. 13 — when the union finally pulled support from Yocum — she was his designated agent.

Two weeks. That’s how long it took after Winner was tipped for the union to withdraw support, after the issue went public and scrutiny intensified. The union’s statement didn’t say whether it will seek refunds of the $8,000 JCEA donated to Yocum — or the $3,000 from the Colorado Education Association.

I emailed questions to Yocum (copying Winner) and the union over the weekend. No response.

This isn’t the first rodeo for CEA-affiliated unions. In June 2021, the Denver Classroom Teachers Association admitted it knew of sexual assault allegations against then-board member Tay Anderson when it endorsed him in 2019. DCTA and CEA still poured $65,000 into his race.

The warning came via an anonymous letter from a former member of Anderson’s youth group, Never Again Colorado. Union leaders asserted they couldn’t verify it but backed him anyway. Two years later, following additional complaints, a DPS investigation found Tay Anderson had coercively pursued relationships with underage students; he also admitted to inappropriate behavior at Never Again Colorado.

Now, here’s the CEA’s Jeffco affiliate in a strikingly similar spot — backing a candidate accused of sexual offenses and claiming ignorance until public pressure mounted. Yet even as they withdrew support, union bosses couldn’t resist taking political shots — blaming “political extremists… trying to use a complicated and traumatic event from over a decade ago to achieve their own political outcomes.” Tone deaf much?

“This is not about politics — it’s about the safety of our children,” countered Jeffco Kids First founder Lindsay Datko, calling the smear “a feeble attempt to sidestep the gravity of a candidate’s admitted history of sexual offenses against children.”

Let’s be real: Years of sexual misconduct scandals have shattered parents’ trust. Is it really that hard to grasp the sensitivity here without branding concerned parents as extremists? Then again, this union claims to represent Jeffco’s teachers when barely 30% are members. No wonder they’re out of touch.

“The district bargains with a minority voice,” associate HR chief Scott Barnes wrote the board in May. “The majority (65–70%) of our employees have consciously opted out… Why do we act as if they represent a majority voice, when clearly, they do not?”

Redemption is real. Wisdom is, too. Michael Yocum deserves his chance at redemption, but a school board run doesn’t show wisdom. He must step aside — and union bosses should own their failure to vet the “Cleanup Crew.”

Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and longtime local talk-radio host. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @SengCenter.