So far, all six candidates have not agreed to appear in the same public forum…and we have more to share on that. First though, on Monday 10/2 the Victory Life Church (founded by a member of the board of Andrew Wommack Ministries, and who also teaches at Charis) held their candidate forum at the High School auditorium, moderated by state senator Baisley (who recently wrote a guest column in the Courier praising the three incumbents). Turnout was sparse, and the questions were focused on talking points we’ve heard plenty about already (especially LGBTQ+ issues). This picture was taken shortly after the event started.

Next up with the forums are the competing forums on 10/9…the one organized by the Chamber of Commerce being held at the Cultural Center, and the one organized by Ken Witt’s administration, being held in the Columbine Gymnasium. The gym, you ask? Why not the auditorium? Because the High School is holding its Academic Awards Night in the auditorium, having secured that venue long before the district decided to create their own forum.

Seth Bryant, Keegan Barkley, and Mike Knott all declined the invite to the district forum. Seth emailed expressing interest in that forum and asking if the date for the Columbine forum could be changed. One of their campaign managers reached out the district on behalf of all three candidates, seeking compromise on choice of moderator (the district’s choice, Peter Hilts, has close ties to Brad Miller and has previously acted as a paid consultant for this board). She suggested four possibilities and a willingness to entertain other ideas, but my CORA request yield zero replies to this offer, apart from acknowledgment of receipt. So, with the district not willing to compromise, and likewise not making any requests to the Chamber of Commerce regarding that forum, we’ll be seeing the three incumbents take the stage at Columbine on Monday (starting at 6:00), while Bryant, Barkley, and Knott attend the forum at the cultural center (starting at 5:30). Meanwhile, parents of students receiving academic awards will not be able to attend either forum, they’ll be at the awards night.

Once we get past these dueling forums, the next question becomes the student-led forums. Plural? Yeah. Merit Academy announced one on 10/17, one for which they were originally going to restrict attendance to Merit families only but have since opened up to all (though questions are still limited to those submitted by Merit families). Woodland Park High School students wanted to organize a similar forum, which would make sense as this school board oversees that school, not Merit Academy. However, the Woodland Park School District refused the request of their high school students to hold such an event. The WPHS students even reached out to Merit Academy seek joint participation, asking Merit students to help organize and moderate a joint event. Headmaster Gwynn Pekron refused that request.