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5/7/2023 Weekly Update

Last Week:

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

  • There’s a school board meeting Wednesday, 5/10/2023, 6:00PM, in the district conference room.
    • Here’s a link to the agenda
    • The board will present and discuss the preliminary budget for the ’23-24 school year.
    • The board will vote to renew Interim Superintendent Ken Witt’s contract for another year, and drop the ‘interim’ from his job title.
    • The board will go into executive session to discuss security arrangements.

Transportation costs in the Woodland Park School District RE-2

I think we all love the idea of students from Merit Academy being able to take the bus to school…I’ve heard zero complaints about that. The question though, is money. Are Merit kids being asked to pay the same amount as kids in the public schools (or as the board likes to say ‘traditional public schools’)? Is our school board and interim superintendent treating all students fairly? The answer, I believe, is a resounding ‘no’.

To participate in the bus transportation to/from schools, parents pay $50 per child, or a maximum of $100 per family. The district’s signed agreement with Merit Academy, from April 12, 2023, ensures that all parents of all schools abide by these same guidelines, which seems fair on the surface. Perhaps some people view $50 as too high, but the district found in the past that if a nominal fee weren’t charged, many parents would sign up with a ‘just in case’ or ‘why not’ attitude, which resulted in challenges to determine actual capacity and routes required.

Let’s look at what the district has budgeted for transportation expenses in the current ’22-23 school year. If you pour through our ’22-23 budget, you’ll find the board has allocated $1,202,419 from the General Fund, $1,000 from the Grants fund, and $359,758 from the Transportation Fund, for a total Transportation Budget for ’22-23 of $1,563,177. Of that money, they budget for only $20,000 to come from the fees paid by parents (that $50 fee mentioned above). $235,000 is expected to come from the State as a reimbursement (I believe, but am not certain, that this is due to the rural nature of our district). With the 1676 student enrollment in our (traditional) public schools, that works out to $779.94 per student ($1,202,419 from General Fund and $104,758 from current fund balance), being used to cover transportation costs in the district in the ’22-23 school year.

The board put in place an agreement with Merit where Merit students pay $50 if they want to use the service, $0 if they don’t – there is no cost sharing beyond that $50 fee. The students in the (traditional) public schools will be paying $829.94 if they opt in to the bus service, $779.94 if they don’t use the service (due to money being taken out of their General Fund to pay for the transportation costs). Of course, this money doesn’t come directly from the students – but it is money from the general fund that could otherwise be used to fund teachers or counselors in the public schools.

If the board were to split costs equally amongst all students, that would equate to $651.31 per pupil in base fees coming out of each school’s General Fund, plus the $50 for each kid who opts in. To look at it another way, if the district split the base transportation cost based on enrollment numbers at each school, that would result in $215,583.25 more money in the General Fund for the (traditional) public schools, money which could be used to pay for some of the lost counseling/social worker positions.

I recognize this is an approximation – precise costs for the ’23-24 school year would require us to know:

  • Actual costs of Durham services, which per contract can increase 2.5-4% per year
  • Actual enrollment in all schools
  • Number of parents from each school participating (this will impact the $20,000 revenue estimate)
  • State reimbursement ($235,000 for the current school year)
  • Costs of transportation of field trips (which should not be a shared expense)

So keep that in mind…but when we’re comparing $779.94 to zero, those details are just noise, lost in the bigger picture here. The issue here is the foundation of this cost sharing agreement and the inequity it imposes upon the students in this district.

Why did the Woodland Park School Board not ask Merit Academy to share in the transportation expenses? Merit is funded on a per-pupil basis just like the district public schools…why is the board asking our public schools to subsidize transportation costs for Merit Academy? This isn’t fair to the public school children, and isn’t fair to Merit Academy as it might make them look bad when this is the WPSD board’s decision, not theirs.

(if you notice any errors with my math, please reach out to me using the Contact form)

Who is PACE, and why should we care?

Today, we need to talk about PACE – the Professional Association of Colorado Educators (PACE). PACE is a state chapter of the Association of American Educators (AAE) – an organization which supports school vouchers and is funded in part by the Independence Institute and the Walton Family, Jacquelin Hume, and the Bradley Foundation. These donors, and PACE, are, quite simply, not supporters of traditional public education and are actively working to weaken public education. PACE itself is marketed as an alternative to groups such as the Woodland Park Education Association, the Pikes Peak Education Association, and the Colorado Education Association. Or what the board likes to refer to as ‘the union’.

The National Education Association (NEA), the largest labor union in the United States, and its state affiliates, have accused AAE and its state affiliates of being “pro-voucher” “anti-public education” and “anti-union.”[20][21] The NEA cites as evidence that major contributors to AAE Foundation have also contributed to school choice initiatives, which the NEA labels as “anti-public education” and “anti-union.”[21] The NEA has distributed a “toolkit” advising local members on how to respond to the AAE, including talking points and action plans. The NEA has labeled AAE “the leading anti-NEA organization.”[21] AAE and state affiliates have responded by highlighting that over 90% of their membership are public school teachers and the AAE has never taken a position supporting vouchers.[18][22][23] AAE has supported school choice, although their activities for National School Choice Week primarily involve public charter school teachers, never vouchers.[24] Also, the major funders cited by the NEA as proof of AAE’s agenda, have also given grants, albeit of much smaller value, to public school districts and universities. For example, the Walton Family Foundation donates heavily to public charter schools and groups focused on influencing policy toward school choice, including vouchers, but also granted some money to a few public school districts as well as Teach for America and the United Negro College Fund.[25][18] Counter to these claims to neutrality, organizations such as SourceWatch, citing documents obtained from some of AAE’s funders, continue to describe the association as a right-wing organization contributing to efforts to weaken unions and undermining their political objectives.[26]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_American_Educators

PACE, a Colorado-based organization, was originally incorporated in 2006 with Kim Shugart as the sole member on its Board of Directors. However, after a few years, Shugart seemed to have lost interest in the organization, causing it to fall out of compliance with the Colorado Secretary of State in 2010. In 2022, Shugart rectified this by bringing PACE back into compliance.

Interestingly, the original articles of incorporation made no mention of the parent organization AAE, suggesting that AAE’s involvement with PACE did not begin until 2022. Regardless, PACE’s current principal address is listed as the AAE office in California, and its legal representative in Colorado is attorney Robert Gardner in Colorado Springs. This information is readily available on the Colorado Secretary of State’s website.

While PACE’s website lists its address as 9800 Mount Pyramid Court, Suite 400 in Englewood, Colorado, it is worth noting that this space is currently available for lease as a coworking space. Therefore, it is uncertain whether PACE has a permanent office there. It is important to note that PACE differs from the CEA, which boasts 19 physical offices throughout Colorado.

What do the WPEA/PPEA/CEA offer that PACE doesn’t? Skilled legal protection, real professional development, and lobbyists providing teachers with a strong voice in government advocating for education and educators. Coloradans acting in support of teachers and staff statewide. PACE, on the other hand, has very few employees. The one staff member listed on their website is Ariel Elliott, their Regional Membership Director. The other name we see associated with PACE frequently is Tim Farmer, who at various times in PACE’s blog has been referred to as their Membership Director, Policy Director, Staffer, and Regional Director. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he currently works with the WPSD attorney Brad Miller as a partner in Miller Farmer Law.

Why does all this matter…why are we talking about PACE? The Woodland Park School District sent an email to teachers on May 1st, outline changes to their benefits for the upcoming school year. One benefit being added is membership in PACE for all school-based staff. We had previously reported about actions the district has taken to attack or weaken the WPEA in the district. such as not withholding union dues and introducing policy prohibiting union leadership from using district computers to contact members..now they’re actively working to replace the WPEA with PACE.

According to PACE’s website, membership costs $19.50 per month, or $234 annually. We counted 296 staff for the ’23-24 school year, so that’s a potential cost to the district of $69,264 – though it’s unclear at this point if staff would be automatically enrolled, and if they’d be allowed to opt-out if that were the case.

So, we have our school district implementing policies to weaken the WPEA, while at the same time promoting an organizing that our district’s attorney has close ties to. Just another day in Woodland Park, Colorado.

4/30/2023 Weekly Update

Last Week:

  • Staff received their contracts for ’23-24 late last week, and have ten days to sign and return them. There was no talk of a performance-based pay scale, no changes there.
  • Amy Ryan started work in the newly-created CFO position; longtime Business Manager Mona Larsen submitted her resignation.
  • HB23-1065, a Colorado bill to create ethics oversight of government bodies like school boards, made it out of committee and is advancing.
  • We published the latest email obtained under CORA of Illingworth belittling a parent.
  • We published a resignation letter obtained under CORA, baseball coach and HS teacher Kyle Crawford signing out the board’s actions as his reasons for resigning.
  • We published an anonymous letter from another WPSD teacher.

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

  • No board meetings are currently scheduled for this week.
  • The board is expected to review the preliminary ’23-24 budget in its May 10th board meeting.

HB23-1065 – Local Government Independent Ethics Commission

Please reach out TODAY with your support for this bill! The Appropriations committee meets tomorrow to discuss it. The Woodland Park school board is a great example of why this ethics commission is needed in Colorado!

UPDATE – if you want some help drafting an email, check out THIS DOCUMENT.

Under current law, the independent ethics commission created in article XXIX of the state constitution does not have jurisdiction over officials or employees of special districts or school districts. The bill gives the independent ethics commission jurisdiction to hear complaints, issue findings, assess penalties, and issue advisory opinions on ethics issues concerning a local government official or local government employee. 

source

Please email all the members of the Appropriations committee asking them to support this bill. Include your own personal stories of how you feel our school board has acted unethically. Committee members are:

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.