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A High School teacher’s resignation letter

One of the many teachers leaving the Woodland Park school district this year is Kyle Crawford, a high school social studies teacher and basketball coach (both the boys and girls teams qualified for State this year for the first time since 2008). Teachers are limited in what they can publicly say (some have been fired for doing so), but when there’s any written communication to district employees, that becomes public record. Below is the resignation letter Mr. Crawford submitted to the district, in which he singles out the board, superintendent, and American Birthright standards as his reasons for leaving. Click here for the original PDF if the image is too small to read.

Anonymous letter from a WPSD teacher

An anonymous letter from a Woodland Park school district teacher was recently posted to the Concerned Parents of Teller County Facebook group…I’m reposting here:

I could write a novel about the things I didn’t know I was signing up for when I became a teacher. I didn’t have a clue that I’d spend nights awake worrying about my kids, or that I would have days that I would leave work too physically and mentally exhausted to function. I didn’t know how extensive the paperwork, planning time, and meetings would be. We are always working overtime and we often skip lunch/bathroom breaks because there is not enough time. Teachers turn the other cheek constantly and give students, co-workers and parents fresh starts everyday. Most of these things are not typed up in the job description when you apply for a teaching job. A job that starts out at around $40,000-45,000 a year for the record.

This job is hard. It is exhausting under normal circumstances. BUT it becomes impossible, infuriating, and quite frankly, DEGRADING when unqualified officials take over and use their power to destroy a school system.

It’s clear to most rational community members that the board has a political/religious agenda and wants to profit off of Merit. However, what is less apparent is how it is affecting the students lives. Teachers have to follow confidentiality rules. We can’t share heartbreaking stories about the students that will get left behind in public school. Not every student has parents to fight for them and not every family has the ability to choice their kids into other districts. We also can’t share information on the amount of kids that have come back to public schools after attending Merit. Some of which are students whose IEPs haven’t been served correctly. The kids that will be left behind in the public school system after all this will largely be the students that live in poverty, have behavior needs or IEPs.

What drew me to this profession was making a difference in kids lives. You get to show up for kids in really tough situations. I fell in love with reading books to students, sharing laughs about the silly things they say and watching the progress they make- not just as learners, but as humans. In this job, you get to share moments with kids at the most magical time of their lives. At this point in their lives they are still quick to forgive, they are incredibly resilient, they love to have fun, and they build relationships based on nothing other than how you treat them. The kids are what makes it worth it.

As teachers, we learn to be solution oriented. I am struggling to find ways to fix the mess that has been created by Ken Witt, the board, and Charis Bible college. If they respected teachers enough to ask, these would be the solutions I would share.

To the parents of students in the school system and the community members:

Please keep speaking out on social media and at board meetings.

Vote them out in November!!

File complaints to CDE

https://www.cde.state.co.us/spedlaw/statecomplaint

If you have kids with special needs research your rights and speak up. Check out this link if you want more information on how charters affect kids on IEPs. https://exceptionalchildren.org/…/Public%20Funds%20…

You can write to government officials and speak to the press.

To the board members and superintendent:

I challenge you to spend time in the classrooms. Sit with students and talk to them about what they like about their schools.

Shadow a teacher and see what they do in a single day while you spend an absurd amount of money on lunch.

Try going to counseling. Some SEL could teach you a lot.

Please understand your political agenda may help your career but it is RUINING kids lives.

Keep in mind there’s separation of church and state for a reason.

Ask yourself, do you truly think what you are doing is in the best interest of the kids in Woodland park? Because they are pretty important to our future.

To the teachers that are staying:

Keep fighting for kids. I thank you for what you are doing for the people in this community. You have one of the hardest jobs in the world and I am in awe of you.

4/23/2023 Weekly Update

Last Week:

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

  • No meetings are currently scheduled. However, if the board was going to schedule a work session or special meeting, this is the week it would typically be held, in between two regular meetings, and with 1-2 days advance notice.
  • While final numbers aren’t in, data shows staff turnover is around 40-50% (we’re told 15-20% is more typical). Considering the controversy surrounding this board, it’s unclear if the district will be able to attract qualified candidates to fill those positions, and what impact this may have on next year.
  • The board is expected to review the preliminary ’23-24 budget in its May 10th board meeting.

WPSD policy changes affecting staff

The district has made updates to a couple policies impacting staff. They’ve been publicizing these updates on their website.

First up is policy GBEBA – STAFF DRESS CODE. This policy has been changed to state that, “Hair coloration must be natural hues.” It’s not clear how a teacher’s hair color impacts a student’s learning environment, though it might make students more comfortable with expressing their inner self…a dangerous thing as far as this board is concerned.

The other policy recently updated is GBEB – STAFF CONDUCT (read previous version here). The district has added this new section:

It is a breach of conduct for an employee to use District or school equipment (including without limitation, computers and District email accounts) to communicate or correspond on behalf of any organization other than the District, including to recruit or schedule meetings for another organization. It shall additionally be a breach of conduct for an employee to use District facilities for any non-District related activities or on behalf of any other organizations unless such use is approved in accordance with Policy KF.

link to source

This seems to be an effort to prevent the local teacher’s union (WPEA) from using district equipment to email teachers and organize meetings. It doesn’t appear to prevent teachers from receiving emails from the WPEA at their district accounts.

The district also updated policy GBK-R1 – GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE. The new policy (link) greatly weakens any recourse teachers have via this policy. There is no longer any arbitration period; there is no longer a grievance committee, the board gets to choose whether or not to review a grievance, and there are no group grievances. Compare that new policy with the previous policy here.

4/20/2023 City Council public comments

Last Thursday, ten public school supporters spoke up in the public comment period of the Woodland Park, Colorado city council meeting. They did a fantastic job of explaining many of the community’s concerns about this school board and interim superintendent. Check out the video below:

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.

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.