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7/9/2023 Weekly Update

Last Week:

  • The three candidates challenging the board incumbents in this November’s election have scheduled a meet-and-greet in Memorial Park for July 22nd...more info here. It should be a good opportunity to talk to them one on one.
  • Woodland Park’s old fashioned Fourth of July celebration in Memorial Park saw the board incumbents drift further into making school boards partisan, with their appearance at the Teller County Republican’s booth. Keegan, Knott, and Bryant were seen walking around the part talking to people, sticking to a more traditional non-partisan school board philosophy.
  • In their July 6th meeting, the Woodland Park city council recognized Gateway’s accomplishment of earning the Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award. A few public speakers spoke up about that as well as the High Schools’ recent SAT score success, and pointed out how this board’s actions have led to the resignation of large numbers of the teachers partly responsible for these accomplishments.

This coming week should be a quiet one, with no scheduled board meetings for July and the district on a four-day work week for the summer.

City Council recognizes school success in 7/6 meeting

In their July 6th meeting, the Woodland Park City Council recognized an award Gateway Elementary recently received, an award that the district had not publicized in a timely manner. The news first broke here of Gateway Elementary’s receipt of the Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award (the district followed up later with a press release of their own). This award was based on the 2022 CMAS state assessment for excellence in student growth over the previous three years.

In the public comment period, former district employee Miles Tuttle talked about Gateway’s accomplishment.

Holly Sample talked about Gateway’s award, as well as mentioning the record high SAT scores at our high school. As she mentioned, these awards represented success across the entire system and was years in the making. She pointed out how most of the people responsible for Gateway’s success have left the district, as well as mentioning turnover at the High School and district levels.

Carol Greenstreet read a letter from Benjamin Honeycutt, a middle school teacher who left at the end of this past school year. She went on to talk about the timeline of the Gateway award and how the district kept employees uninformed of the award they had won. She talked about how teachers are being talked about by the community.

You can watch the video of this portion of the meeting below:

Whatever happened to nonpartisan school board elections?

We saw the 2021 Woodland Park school board elections bring politics to a school board election with the ‘conservative choice’ candidates winning in November. Now in our 2023 election cycle, the partisanship of the board incumbents is only increasing. At the July 4th celebration in Memorial Park, board members were seen hanging out in the Teller County Republicans’ booth:

Next up for this overtly-conservative group of incumbents is this Saturday’s “Teller County Republicans Big Tent Event” at the Cultural Center. The event page proudly advertises that the three board incumbents will be present (Illingworth, Bates, Kimbrell).

On the other hand, the three school board challengers (Knott, Bryant, Barkley) are so far avoiding any outward political affiliation.

One uncertain thing about this Saturday’s event is whether all three candidates will actually be present at the same time. Doing so would constitute a quorum and thus require the meeting to be open to the public at no charge (cost is otherwise $50 in advance or $60 at the door).

I read one perspective, that “The goal of having nonpartisan elections is not to remove all politics from governing but to remove a conflict point that keeps a school board from doing its job” (source). I would blame policies, not politics, for the conflict this board has experienced since taking office, but in general, it seems like a wise move to reduce the impact of politics in school boards, not encourage and increase it.

7/2/2023 Weekly Update

Last week:

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

  • The Thursday, July 6th City Council meeting agenda contains a line item, “Celebration and Congratulations to Gateway Elementary for receiving the Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award.” It’s great to see Gateway staff get the recognition they deserve…better late than never! This council meeting also features a discussion, “Council discussion on Woodland Park School District’s Sales Tax IGA.” (IGA is Inter-Governmental Agreement)

The reason for the crowds at the 5/10 board meeting

The May 10th board meeting, as previously reported on here (and also on NBC), was more than a bit chaotic, with unprecedented turnout and around half the attendees being shut out in the rain. While we knew there was a huge number of Charis Bible College students in attendance, the reason for their sudden interest was unproven. One student told a local TV reporter a board member had told them to appear. We don’t know whether that’s true, but we do know that earlier that day, Charis founder Andrew Wommack, Charis executive director Richard Harris, and WPSD DAC member Aaron Helstrom appeared on a Truth and Liberty Broadcast appealing to their followers to show up at that board meeting. You can watch that in the video clip below.

At the end of this video. Wommack talks about a ‘swatting’ incident; be aware that most of what he says is incorrect (it wasn’t ‘swatting’, it wasn’t a board member, it wasn’t at Walmart, etc). The actual facts of that incident should become apparent after the trial (for the person who made the 911 call) in early July.

Woodland Park School District Celebrates Academic Achievements and Excellence Across Schools

The Woodland Park School District announced achievements by two of its schools.

According to the district, Woodland Park High School earned the Marzano High Reliability Schools Level 1 certification, which recognizes a commitment to establishing a “safe, supportive and collaborative culture” as the foundation for student success.

“By addressing and evaluating day-to-day school operations, WPHS ensures a keen focus on student achievement,” the district said in a press releasse.

The Marzano HRS program uses a research-based five-level hierarchy along with other indicators to transform schools into proactive organizations prioritizing student success.

“By utilizing the HRS framework and indicators, WPHS can achieve sustained, positive, and significant impacts on student achievement,” said the district.

Ther district also said the Class of 2024 at WPHS set an all-time high SAT mean score of 1022, surpassing both state and national averages by 33 and 67 points, respectively.

The Class of ’24’s SAT math mean score of 496 falls just four points short of meeting the Colorado Benchmark for Career and College Readiness (CACR), comparatively, the state mean score falls 16 points lower than the CACR benchmark.

Their Evidence Based Reading and Writing (EBRW) mean score of 525 exceeds the Colorado Benchmark for CACR by 55 points. These achievements underscore WPHS’s commitment to providing a well-rounded education that prepares students for success in all areas.

Only 22% of students met college board benchmark expectations in 2017, while the class of 2024 now boasts 68% meeting EBRW benchmarks and 44% meeting Math benchmarks.

“WPHS has witnessed a significant shift in student outcomes over the years,” the district said. “These percentages surpass state and national averages, showcasing the commitment of teachers and administrators across the district in fostering academic growth and ensuring the success of WPHS students.”

Gateway Elementary wins governor’s award

Gateway Elementary School received the 2022 Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award, recognizing the school’s progress in meeting and exceeding academic growth expectations, as evaluated by the state’s school performance framework.

Outgoing principal placed on leave, gag order issued

A CORA request has revealed that retiring Gateway Elementary superintendent Ashley Lawson was placed on administrative leave (with pay) on June 8th. While no cause was given, the email did say it was NOT disciplinary action. Her access to email and voicemail was suspended, and her access to ‘district or school grounds’ was restricted to ‘by appointment’. She was also prohibited from contacting any students, parents, or personnel involved with the district, via any ‘medium of communication’. Lots to digest there, but at a minimum…does the district really have the right to prohibit an employee from speaking to people like that?

6/25/2023 Weekly Update

Last Week:

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

  • The next regular board meeting will be in August.

Another school bans “Between the World and Me” from the classroom

Earlier this year, Woodland Park banned/removed the book “Between the World and Me” from the classroom. A school district in Chapin, South Carolina has done the same.

Wood’s lesson plan was a part of preparing for Advanced Placement tests and involved watching two videos about systemic racism, reading Coates’ memoir and doing research with a variety of sources. Then, students were meant to write essays on their understanding of the book and make an argument about whether they agreed with Coates that systemic racism is a problem in the U.S.

Crazy that even healthy discussion and debate of sensitive issues is not allowed in conservative-controlled schools.

You can watch the author’s discussion with MSNBC here (shortly after WP banned the book).

Letters to the Editor – June 21, 2023

Some letters to the editor from the June 21st Courier:

Illingworth explanation inaccurate

David Illingworth’s depiction of the 5/10/23 WPSB meeting was inaccurate and incomplete.

I was one of a handful of teacher/student supporters inside the building. Here’s what really happened. Board supporters were first at the door and let dozens of people to the head of the line. Fox news reported about 100 people from Charis Bible College showed up exhorted by Andrew Wommack and one Charis person interviewed said she received a message from a Board member to attend.

When Mr. Illingworth said there was heavy attendance due to NBC News presence “… and organization by well-known activists whose goal was to swamp the meeting …” he was referring to his supporters organized by Charis and the Board.

Citizens have made numerous written requests to the Board to have the meetings in the auditorium because overflow areas were needed. The Board has not responded. Overflow people were sent to the Commons area therefore could not feasibly attend public comment if chosen. The alternative was to stand in the rain. The meeting ended, the room emptied and the NBC reporter wanted to speak with attendees who had been outside.

As I left I mentioned this to security and the door was slammed shut keeping the people out in the rain longer. They were eventually let in. This is another example of the despicable behavior of this Board and its total disregard for the community. New candidates have stepped forward, Keegan Barkley, Seth Bryant and Mike Knott. Remember to vote in November.

Gail Gerig, Woodland Park

and:

State teachers union does not control WPEA

As former president of the school board, I hope to add historical perspective of what has and has not happened in WPSD.

Local staff living in our community make up our WPEA. For the last decade plus less than 50% of our local staff and teachers enrolled, but WPEA has listened to and represented all staff interests in district conversations. In no way has the teacher’s union “controlled” our district, but they have contributed to the district: Without collaboration and compromise, there would have been walkouts several years ago when their pay was the lowest in the region, going several years without increase. They remain dedicated to their focus on educating our students.

Most of the union members and employees do not fit a radical left-wing progressive stereotype. I know teachers Republican and Christian who are members and non-members. As in any profession, you will find representatives from a diverse perspective–one of the wonders of America!! Let’s stop vilifying our teachers and community—which has led to the loss of many high-quality educators and staff.

Keep it local. Get to know our teachers and staff members, rather than state and the national narratives. Show your dedication to the children of WPSD by building relationships that listen.

Carol Greenstreet, Woodland Park

and:

We all want the same basic things

The divisive/polarization of our community leads to poor solutions. Livable solutions are found near the middle. Folks on extremes won’t like middle-solutions, but middle-solutions are most acceptable to a majority of free society.

We all want the same basic things: living peacefully in our homes, providing for our families, taking care of widows/children/infirmed. We want government to be nonintrusive yet help when essential (like roads, policing, national security), to stay out of our wallets as possible, out of our medicine cabinets, and out of our bedrooms.

We can agree on many things, whichever side you support in the current conflict with WPSD. Everyone wants schools where children and young-adults feel safe and nurtured. Everyone wants the traditional values of true-kindness, hard-work, excellence, factual-honesty, respectful- accountability. We don’t want anyone to be bullied or singled out as too different. These are faith-values, and also human-values.

If the WPSD Board would take time to truly listen to all community members, show the leadership required to find the direction that most could agree with, acknowledging that all parents want what is best for their children, much of the division might be ended.

As the current board members seem to want to make WPSD a test case for fundamentalist-like doctrine directed toward “christian-nationalism” for most schools, seemingly uninterested in middle-ground-solutions, a new, less-radical, less-divisive school board is necessary. We can come together if necessary with proper new leadership be you conservative or liberal in November.

Toni Moore, Libertarian/Republican voter, and Rodney Noel Saunders, Liberal/Democrat voter, Woodland Park