In this podcast episode, Woodland Park parent Samantha Peck talks about her recent court case, where a jury found her not guilty of several charges related to a run-in with board member Illingworth’s wife last summer. The interview with her begins at about the 14:00 mark.
This was a really good interview and provides a lot of insight into what’s going on.
From the August 9th edition of the Pikes Peak Courier:
No longer volunteering against
I’m a working mom to two kids under three. As any parent knows, free time at this stage is hard to come by. But after wrapping up my workday and navigating the nightly ritual of dinner, playtime, and bedtime routines, I take up my other role: campaign volunteer.
For months, I’ve dedicated my cherished free time to the school board campaigns of Keegan Barkley, Mike Knott, and Seth Bryant. I admit that at first I was volunteering against something: against the incumbents’ cronyism and self-interest; against my kids being the guinea pigs in some experiment; against being locked out in the freezing rain at what should have been a public meeting.
But after getting to know these candidates deeply and personally, I find myself volunteering for something:
I’m volunteering for Keegan, whose HR background and keen ability to spot the root of a problem will return the board to respectful disagreement and ethical conflict resolution.
I’m volunteering for Mike, whose honesty and discipline give me confidence that every penny of the district’s resources will be spent with intention and care.
I’m volunteering for Seth, whose thorough understanding of local issues will ensure the board meticulously considers a variety of creative solutions to any given problem.
I’m no longer volunteering against the wrong people for the job. I’m volunteering for three public school parents who I am absolutely convinced are the right people for the job. Please join me in supporting Keegan, Mike, and Seth for the school board this November.
Sarah Voget, Woodland Park
School board meetings in Woodland Park are often contentiousness and always emotional, and the Aug. 9 gathering was no exception — at least during the public comment portion.
The line outside the district’s administrative offices had 25 people in it by 5 p.m., a full hour prior to the scheduled start time. It had reached 38 by 5:15.
— Read on gazette.com
‘Refugees’ from Woodland Park heading to Manitou schools –
— Read on pikespeakbulletin.org/education/refugees-from-woodland-park-heading-to-manitou-schools/
Staff claimed they were in the dark about the new policy, which requires prior approval from the superintendent for posts about school or district decisions.
— Read on www.9news.com/article/news/local/next/next-with-kyle-clark/lawsuit-woodland-park-school-board-violating-staffs-right-to-free-speech-new-media-policy/73-2564a21d-3a41-416e-8e3d-3d07413e8bfa
The August 9th school board meeting contained a vote on changes to the Contract and the Facilities Usage Agreement with Merit Academy. The board did not read the changes, did not present them in the meeting, and did not make them publicly available prior to the meeting. Nevertheless, the board packet contained very detailed redlines of the proposed changes, as learned via a recent CORA request.
When you look at the actual changes, it becomes pretty obvious why the board hid this information. Their decision to move 6th grade out of the Middle School this past March created quite a stir…and if people realized what the board did for Merit, I suspect there’d be even more of an uproar. Here’s what the new FUA says:
As Merit grows, the new FUA gives them whatever space they need, with no regard for the 7/8th graders currently occupying that portion of the building. They’re currently expanding one grade level per year as each cohort moves up; they might add preschool in the future. The BOE put in place a legal agreement which will squeeze the 7/8th graders out of that building. More importantly though, they have not disclosed any plan for what will happen to the 7/8th grades currently in that building.
Here’s the currently floorpan for this ’23-24 school year:
On the financial side of things, the BOE gave Merit two sweet deals. First, Merit will no longer be asked to share the district facilities costs on a per-pupil basis. Instead, their share will be computed based upon the square footage they are using.
The district has unused building space, but Merit won’t have to help shoulder the cost of that – they get the benefit of using a district building rent-free, but get special treatment compared to the tenants (schools) of the other buildings. Second, their administrative withholding decreases from 5% to 3.5% (this is expected to give Merit about $61k, though final amount depends on pupil count).
Obtained via CORA, you can view the new Facilities Usage Agreement or the new Contract.
A federal lawsuit against the Woodland Park School District and Board of Education said its recently adopted policies silenced teachers, violating their First Amendment rights.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday by the Colorado Education Association, a state-wide labor union representing more than 39,000 educators, including in the Woodland Park School District. They said the lawsuit is to “remedy violations of the constitutional rights” of Woodland Park School District teachers.
— Read on krdo.com/news/2023/08/11/woodland-park-school-district-board-of-education-sued-for-violating-teachers-right-to-free-speech/
Colorado’s largest teachers union and its local affiliate have filed a federal lawsuit against the Woodland Park School District and the district’s board of education.
The lawsuit alleges the district and board have “chilled” teachers’ First Amendment rights to free speech and free association and violated state open meetings laws when it revised a district policy and effectively instituted a gag order against teachers.
— Read on www.cpr.org/2023/08/11/woodland-park-school-district-teachers-union-lawsuit/
With the gag order in place (policy KDDA), teachers have rightfully felt afraid to speak up. Every now and then though, we see one of them expressing their frustrating when (sadly) resigning…the latest was Rebecca Johnson, a teacher at Gateway for the last 10 years or so, who resigned last month. She emailed a very well-written and detailed letter as her resignation, and I finally obtained a copy via CORA. Please, read it for yourself to gain some insight into what our teachers have been going through in our district.
One day after the ACLU of Colorado filed a lawsuit against the Woodland Park School District (WPSD) for violating the constitutional rights of Logan Ruths, a vocal critic of the district, the district lifted its “unlawful banishment order” it imposed on Ruths for speaking out at a public meeting, the ACLU announced in a release today, Aug. 7.
— Read on www.csindy.com/content/tncms/live/