Monthly Archives: April 2023

Religion in School Boards

The separation of church and state is a legal concept that’s been around for a long time. Based on the First Amendment, the idea is that government should do nothing to favor any one religion over another. That would extend to even the idea of religion, as some people do not believe in a Higher Power or Supreme Being. A 2021 Pew Research study found that only 19% believe the government should stop enforcing the separation of shurch and state.

What does our school board think of this concept? Board member Mick Bates said this about it in January:

This separation of church and state has been around a long time but, it’s backwards. It was intended to keep the state out of religion, not religion out of the state. And that has been convoluted over the years, over the many years.

Timestamp 11:00 in this video

Board President David Rusterholtz has been accused of crossing this line several times. In the January 11, 2023 board meeting, he even took to the podium during the public speaking portion to offer prayer (video link, timestamp 28:00).

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has sent two complaint letters to the district outlining other examples of what they view as a violation of separation of church and state. The first letter, from November, addressed the board opening an October meeting with a prayer; you can read the letter here or watch the incident in question here (about 3:55 into the video).

The second complaint letter is in regards to a March 9th email Rusterholtz sent to other board members, where he said:

Good afternoon everyone. I see we are being requested information about the
American lie Fairplay and other books. I’d like to let you know that my heart goes
out to so many of these people. Many of them have completely rejected Jesus in
any way other than a historical figure I would like everyone to know that Jesus
came because he loved the world so much!


Sin has separated us from God, and our hurts our habits, and our hangups often
times get in the way of us returning to him.

Jesus died on the cross for each one of us, if we would receive him as our savior,
we can spend eternity in paradise with him.


He loved us so much that he came and died on the cross to pay the penalty for our
sins if we will only receive his free gift of salvation.


I would invite anyone who reads this letter to give me a call if they would like to
receive Jesus as their savior and start a new life with him.


Ask yourself this question if I were to die today, where will I spend eternity….
with a loving and gracious God, in paradise, or for eternity, separated from him in
hell.


I would like to ask you, to receive him as your savior today, I look forward to
hearing from you. Also, if you would like to join me in church, I go to Impact
Christian church on 67 north of Woodland Park. Services start at 9 AM and 1030.
Let me know and I will meet you at the door.

source

The letters from FFRF (letter1, letter2) are worth reading as they dive into the legal justification behind their complaint and the idea of separation of church and state.

4/12/2023 School Board Meeting Recap

If you missed the 4/12/2023 school board meeting, you can watch it here:

Highlights:

  • There was some interesting public comment (including a reference to the ‘rich and powerful teachers unions’, LOL), though only a handful of those who signed up actually got to speak, due to the board limiting public comment to 30 minutes total.
  • The board included an amendment to Merit Academy’s contract in the consent agenda. The public was not informed of the content of this amendment until the district sent an email out on 4/14 stating, “The board also approved the Merit contract amendment to eliminate charter school liaison charges.” This amendment was not discussed nor read in the 4/12 meeting.
  • The board announced a $1500 retention bonus for teachers, and approved a resolution declaring May 8-12 Teacher Appreciation Week. It’s nice to see them mirroring the declaration of the National PTA group.
  • Witt gave a few updates on the transition of sixth grade to elementary schools, though they still haven’t worked out all the details.
  • The board approved a resolution opposing Colorado House bill HB23-1003, School Mental Health Assessment. Interestingly, it is virtually identical to the resolution that D49 in Colorado Springs passed the next day at their board meeting.
  • Interim Superintendent Witt talked briefly about the Academic Achievement report previously shown to the DAC. He didn’t show any slides in this meeting; if you want to view the report you can see it here.
  • The board hired Amy Ryan as CFO, and Bill Phalen was promoted to be the new Middle School principal for next year.
  • There were two professional photographers taking pictures at the meeting, and more than one reporter observed in the room.

The truth about enrollment numbers

Our board has liked to tout the ~16% jump in enrollment this school year, presenting it as a sign they’re doing the right thing. While it’s an encouraging sign for sure, what they’re not mentioning is the number of students LOST when Merit Academy opened under the direction of ERBOCES. Meaning, the Woodland Park RE-2 school district is not experiencing large growth…it’s a shell game. We’ll need to see how the next couple years pan out to really determine if we’re on the right track.

Enrollment numbers, from the CDE (direct link to XLS):

  • 2018-2019: 2380
  • 2019-2020: 2284
  • 2020-2021: 2055
  • 2021-2022: 1832 (Merit’s first year)
  • 2021-2022: 2119 – if you include the 287 Merit students
  • 2022-2023: 2122

So, it’s clear that in 2020-2021, parents were opting out of the district, and Merit was a choice that brought them back. But the board has failed, so far, to attract new people to the district (well, three technically).

4/9/2023 Weekly Update

Last Week:

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

  • The board has a scheduled their regular board meeting for this Wednesday, 6:00, in the district offices. Read the agenda here. Updates will be provided on redistricting, academic achievement, and the middle school reconfiguration.

Grant info for the ’23-24 school year, compared to previous

I’ve been working to better understand what effect refusing grant money will have on our district (see this story). New data has been received via CORA, all grant applications for the ’23-24 school year as of 4/2/2023 (links to applications are included). I’m not sure if programs like the Title 1A funding would be secured later in the year; it’s possible the actual ’23-24 grant picture will have additional funds added beyond what’s shown here.

WPSD grant applications, ’23-24 School Year:

For comparison, WPSD grants, ’22-23 School Year:

  • Newmont CC/V Goldmine Grant – Bldg Level Educational Programs ($ 47,017)
  • Summit Elem. NLK Security Grant – Bldg Security ($ 2,019)
  • Project Lead The Way HS-Lockheed Martin – HS PLTW ($ 2,200)
  • Child Care Relief Grant – Preschool ($ 7,772)
  • Colo. Ed. Initiative SERN Grant – Social Emotional Redesign Network ($ 15,413)
  • Jadenator Donation Grant – Student Needs-Athletics ($ 2,150)
  • CDHS Child Care Oper Stabil Grant – After School Care ($ 60,688)
  • Colo. Health Foundation – Student Wellness ($ 11,376)
  • CDHS Workforce Sustain – After School Care ($ 13,144)
  • Local Donations/some Dist. funds – Auditorium Upgrade ($ 55,000)
  • School Counselor Corp Grant – Counseling ($ 489,989)
  • State Library Grant – School Libraries ($ 5,000)
  • School Health Professionals Grant – Cohort 5 (Elem) – Substance Abuse Prevention ($ 266,618)
  • School Health Professionals Grant – Cohort 6 (Sec) – Sustance Abuse Prevention ($ 216,786)
  • WPHS Advanced Placement Pilot Program – HS AP ($ 4,558)
  • Career Development Incentive Programs – HS Instructional ($ 32,944)
  • Kindergarten Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment – Kndg. Fixed Assets ($ 19,485)
  • Read Act Grant – Literacy ($ 53,409)
  • AP Exam Fee Reimbursement – AP Exams ($ 1,500)
  • Concurrent Enrollment – Concurrent Enrollment ($ 10,000)
  • WPHS SWAP – School to Work alliance Program ($187,606)
  • Suicide Prevention Grant – Suicide Prevention ($ 5,000)
  • URHN-Substance Abuse Prevention Grant – Sustance Abuse Prevention ($ 169,999)
  • Title IA – Language Arts and Math ($ 401,234)
  • Carl Perkins Consorsium – Vocational ($ 11,115)
  • Title III ELL flow Through – ELL ($ 4,151)
  • Title IIA (combined with Title IV for budgeting) – Instructional Resource ($ 92,846)
  • Title IV (combined with Title IIA for budgeting) – Combined with Title IIA ($ 25,133)
  • Supply Chain Assistance Grant, School Food Svc. – School Food Service ($ 32,178)
  • Summit Elem. Distinctive Schools Award – Title I Educational Program ($ 10,000)

Also in the ’22-23 school year were federal Covid relief funds; these are expiring on their own so I’m separating them out:

  • ESSER 3 Grant (Instr Impact) – Covid Pandemic ($ 320,436)
  • ESSER 2 Grant – Covid Pandemic ($ 306,592)
  • ESSER 3 Grant – Covid Pandemic Loss of Learning ($ 1,173,946)

Regarding those ESSER funds, the district’s Use of Funds Plan for that money can be viewed here (thanks to CORA).

Update on Middle School / 6th grade changes

In the board meeting on Wednesday, April 12th, Ken Witt will be providing an update on the changes to the middle school, moving sixth grade down to the elementary school buildings and reconfiguring the remaining space to give more to Merit Academy.

So, what should the parents be concerned about? The reality is, we don’t know the inner workings of these schools, we’re really in the dark here. We can shed some light on this situation, by looking at the words of someone who is (was…) one of the experts on the impact of this change – Tina Cassens, outgoing Chief Academic Officer. A recent CORA request revealed an email she sent to Witt detailing her concerns about restructuring the grade levels in each school. Read these, and keep them in mind when Witt gives his presentation Wednesday, see if they’re being addressed and how.

At the Elementary level:

  • Classes at the elementary are sitting at 30 – 45 students per grade level. Financially, staffing models would call for 1.5 teachers per grade level, which is not logistically possible. We have been watching this for years and discussing building primary (PK-2) and intermediate schools (3-5). The alternative will be multi-age classrooms across the board, i.e. a 1st/2nd grade combo, 3rd/4th grade combo, 5th/6th grade combo. Another alternative is hiring above staff formulas, which would greatly impact the district.
  • SPED center-based programs are currently sitting at capacity. Sending 6th graders back into the programs will send them over staffing allocations, requiring the hiring of additional part-time special education teachers, which are hard to find.

At the Middle School level:

  • Running a middle school with less than 300 students will essentially strip the enrichment opportunities. Under the current staffing model they would have less than 3 full time enrichment teachers. Finding part-time enrichment teachers is tough.
  • Most of the 6th grade teachers are not certified for elementary, thus the middle school would need to enact our reduction in force policy, which affects both middle and high school.
  • SPED center-based programs will run under capacity with 6th graders moved down.
  • Shifting Merit down in the building will result in displacing specially designed classrooms that serve our SPED center-based programs. This adds costs again to the District. One of these areas includes a specially designed bathroom/changing room and kitchen. I am not sure how these would be redesigned.
  • Shifting Merit down would also remove the family and consumer studies room, which then eliminates this program for the Middle School.
  • Redesigning the building for a 2nd year would result in additional expenses for the District. This includes redesigning the bells and announcement system which took over 9 months to reconfigure and adding/relocating separation doors which were extremely expensive.

Listen in Wednesday, her experience with this district is extensive and we should take these concerns seriously.