Author Archives: admin

3/25/2023 Weekly Update

Last week:

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

  • With the district on spring break, we expect little public activity.

WPSD decides to opt in to Colorado Free Lunch program

Last November, voters in Colorado passed proposition FF, which was a tax on high earners (above $300k) to fund a statewide free lunch program for public school students. Ken Witt expressed his opposition to this program in discussion with teachers at the beginning of March, but that just mobilized the public to speak out in support of this program. The pressure on the district appears to have worked…they announced that Woodland Park schools will opt in to the free lunch program! A great victory for the kids.

Letters to the Editor – March 22, 2023

Here are some recent letters to the editor about our schools:

The dangers of the American Birthright curriculum

I am writing to express my concerns about the American Birthright curriculum and its potential dangers for young people. While it is important to teach our youth about the history and culture of our country in ways that do not bring shame or internalized hate to today’s youth, the way in which this specific curriculum approaches these topics is problematic.

I have only reviewed the social studies section for 11th grade and 12th grade. At first, I thought this was a more thorough and pervasive curriculum than I remembered from my own excellent high school education in the 1970’s because of the breadth of original documents included. I opened my mind to the possibility that this wasn’t so bad after all….

It is, however, obvious that much has been skewed toward one perspective of history with minimal minority views. In fact, so far I have found only three speeches and two African-Americans represented. The American Birthright program presents a narrow and one-sided perspective on American history, emphasizing only the positive aspects and ignoring the darker parts of our past. This can lead to a distorted understanding of our nation’s history, ultimately hindering our ability to learn from past mistakes and create a better future. History does, in fact, repeat itself if we don’t learn from the past. Germany carries the legacy of Hitler. Rather than ignore it, German schools teach deeply about what happened so that it can never happen again.

What is this school board and some religious zealots so afraid of about accurate history and different but equally valid perspectives?

Additionally, the program seems to promote particular religious and political agendas, often advocating for conservative views on social and economic issues, promoting Bible passages and religious interpretation of the Founding Fathers without a fair and balanced representation of all the Founding Fathers and their arguments about the role of religion in society. The FF were consensually clear that no religion should rule the land, yet this American Birthright program indicates a different conclusion. This curriculum not only limits critical thinking and analysis but also reinforces societal divisions and prejudices.

Finally, the program’s lack of diversity and inclusivity also raises concerns. The curriculum fails to acknowledge the contributions and experiences of marginalized groups, leaving minority students and girls feeling excluded and invalidated. No. Small. Thing. Self-image is radically volatile for teenagers without feeling marginalized.

In conclusion, while the American Birthright and its supports have good intentions, its narrow focus and potential political biases are harmful to young people’s education, development, and ability to be critically and practically ready for the “real world.” It is crucial that we provide our youth with a well-rounded education that encourages critical thinking skills and diverse perspectives. Faith can withstand critical analysis. Freedom can only stand if people are free to explore, consider, and express themselves.

As a community, I’m begging school board members and community members to listen to the experts, your state’s board of education, so many parents. I hear a lot of prayer and scripture being quoted during board meetings, but when I hear from parents and teachers? It’s to steer clear of this program and stop stifling our brilliant students, scaring (and firing or sidelining) teachers, and let teachers get on with being teachers.

Trina Hoefling, Florissant

Loss of programs will harm students

Thank you for revealing that the Woodland Park School District is cutting programs to support students’ well-being. This is one more decision the board had hoped to slide quietly through without informing parents or the community.

Grant applications that have been frozen include over a million dollars and fund a total of eleven counselors and social workers district wide. The district has also decided not to participate in the universal free lunch program that was passed in November. Citizens are paying for this food through state taxes and should not be denied access to it.

There is clear evidence the programs funded by these grants improve academic achievement; they help students focus, cope with challenges and be ready to learn.

Eliminating or reducing these services will harm the students and families most in need. If your children don’t experience a family crisis, suffer from stress or anxiety, and if your family has not been impacted by inflation and your children know they will have plenty of food at each meal, your family probably won’t miss this support.

But we know some students in this district feel sad every day, need help coping with loss and family crises, need safe and healthy supervised activities during school breaks and need access to healthy lunches without the shame or pressure of applying for charity.

In his message on the school webpage, Superintendent Witt promised to create a “positive and transformative learning environment for all students”. Other board members have promised to protect students and make their safety and well-being a top priority. The decision to eliminate these services is a direct violation of those promises and needs to be reversed.

Holly Sample, Florissant

Obsession with fake dangers

In response to Mr. Grina’s letter of March 8, I have to wonder if he lives in the area. He seems to think that the local schools spend their time teaching “questionable use of the 1619 Project, the (Ta-Nehisi) Coates book ‘Between the World and Me,’ staging drag queen shows, and encouraging teachers to conduct discussion of gender transition.” As a list of right wing fear-mongering it hits all the talking points, except didn’t use the word “grooming.” But to represent the teaching of children in public schools in Colorado, or Teller County specifically, it is complete fantasy. Anyone know the last drag queen show in a school in the County? Maybe if the local high school staged “Some Like it Hot”, which I doubt has ever happened.

This obsession with fake dangers to our kids is just impossible to countenance. They are pure fiction, and all part of a campaign to control the education of kids to strictly (very recent definitions) of conservatism, which hides uncomfortable facts, inconvenient history, and denies the value of empathy and discourse. That is what education is, especially the critical subjects of history and social studies! Teaching the ability to process information, both the good and bad, assess it’s impact on our surroundings, and to engage with others is vital. Trying to purge all uncomfortable subject matter is a disservice to our future as a region and nation. That’s why it is so amazing that today we have one side claiming that the other is engaged in censorship, while they purge instructional material, ban artistic expression, criminalize speech and ostracize those not in their political circle. Hypocrisy is not a strong enough word.

Mr. Grina says he just wants the other side to calm down, asserting that the “campaign” he disagrees with are combative, illegal or even violent, it shows that a discussion of reality is not really the goal. It is pushing an agenda in response to a fantastical progressive education system that does not exist. No, “gender transition” has never been in the curriculum, and there has not been a single drag show or Critical Race Theory (CRT) course taught in county or state primary schools. That is the problem: the critics of a full history or social studies curriculum can’t actually point to real issues, they have to create a false “woke” agenda that doesn’t reside on schools, educators or textbooks. Only then can they try to assure others that they are the reasonable ones, just trying to “protect the children”. No. They want to control the allowable subjects, and purge anything that opens the minds of students to other perspectives and lives. That is about control, not education.

This subject is not going away, and as the heroes of censorship and control expand their national profile for elected office, it will only get more shrill. The only defense is an informed citizenship, and students taught to approach subjects with a critical eye, and an open mind.

Michael Eaton, Divide

Neither silent nor the majority

Thank you for posting the many letters regarding WPSD withdrawing the book “Between the World and Me” from their curriculum. I read a very thoughtful response from Jerry Paul ( March 8) who actually experienced many of the crimes of Nazi Germany and gives a clear perspective of racial biases which America is leading into. He says this is exactly how Nazi “Brown shirts” controlled the public’s opinion pre WWII.

The letter by Curt Grina (3/8/23) disturbs me and I say this “politely” since he accuses people with different views to be “aggressive.” I would like to ask him what he means by “ the status-quo people “ since he referred to that three times. He also claimed that he is part of the “silent Majority” and I would like to say that he is far from “silent” nor is he the “majority”, His very defensive stance seemed to be attacking and full of hot air. He denies any “banning” yet in the original article written by Jameson Dion, that term is used several times. If we have “Freedom of Speech” in this country we MUST embrace ALL opinions and encourage children ( who will soon be adults) to Think for themselves, to embrace the Declaration of Independence and equal rights for ALL. Denying that this country has every had or has racial prejudice is like living in a bubble which some day may burst. Thank you Courier for being a wonderful newspaper where people can still express themselves!

Pamela Deck, Florissant

Original article: https://gazette.com/pikespeakcourier/letters-to-the-editor-march-22-2023/article_3a6fd890-c1eb-11ed-94a1-0bac5420deee.html

Witt modifies Policy GDQA – Support Staff Reduction in Force

Earlier in March, interim Superintendent Ken Witt modified administrative policy GDQA, ‘Support Staff Reduction in Force’. I’m not sure if there’s been any notice to staff of these changes; so far we’ve just depended on sharp-eyed team members. I’ll post the original and modified below, but here are the changes I found:

  • Reduction in Force section
    • Item 2, removed “however, the employee with the last employment date within a classification (i.e., teacher assistant, custodian, secretary, etc.) will be the first to be cancelled.”
    • Item 3, changed notice from 30 days to 14. Removed “The Board will forward a list of those employees being reduced to the Classified Association on the same date that the notice of cancellation was sent to the employee.”, added “The employee may be instructed not to return to work if the Superintendent, or designee, deem it in the best interests of the District.”
  • Recall section
    • Very minor rewording of header
    • Item 1, removed “In the best interests of the District, the Superintendent or designee will recall support staff employees from the list based on seniority.”, and added “When deemed in the best interest of the District, the Superintendent or designee may recall support staff employees from the list.” Note the change in language from ‘will‘ to ‘may‘.
    • Item 2, changed from 2 years to 1 year.
    • Item 3, removed “When a job opening occurs within the District, the former employee eligible for re-employment according to the recall list will receive written notice sent to the last known address by certified letter. The former employee must respond within five (5) days of receiving such notice.”, added “It is the responsibility of the former employees to maintain awareness of when a job opening is posted by the District for which the employee is qualified to apply.”
Original Policy, from 3/2011
Policy updated on 3/9/2023
https://z2.ctspublish.com/casb/browse/woodland-casb/woodland/z20000216

Woodland Park School board operating in the shadows

The Washington Post’s famous tagline is ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness’, and those watching events in Woodland Park this last year or so should have a good idea of what they mean. We have a school board that operates in the shadows, making decisions outside of board meetings and doing their best to stay out of the public eye. The result, is a school district in turmoil under the rule of an autocratic interim superintendent Ken Witt, a complicit board of education, and behind it all, in the deepest of shadows, figures like Brad Miller and other alumni from the Leadership Program of the Rockies attempting to remake school districts across the state.

There’s no shortage of violations of their own governing policies they each swore to uphold. Our last superintendent, Dr. Mathew Neal, pushed back to try to maintain some order, and was cut loose as a result. Most recently, Ken Witt modified the district’s contract with charter school Merit Academy, in apparent violation of that same contract.

The Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) is designed to enforce at least some level of transparency in state government. Both supporters and detractors of this school board have taken advantage of CORA to learn more about what’s been going on in our district. As a result, we’ve witnessed some board members use district email less, and when we’ve shown them to use their personal email address for district business, they refuse to comply with CORA requests for district emails from that account. One CORA request from December was refused more than once, and a new lawsuit has been brought against the district for this…here’s an excerpt from that court filing:

Around a week ago, Witt deemed ‘unnecessary’ the IT position responsible for managing CORA requests submitted to the district. CORA results were already occasionally late…and since then, the district has failed to provide results in the timeframe explicitly required under Colorado Law (3 days for a single document, up to 10 for anything else). Additionally, after submitting a new CORA request, the district no longer acknowledges the submission like it had previously. These are disappearing into a black hole. The district knows that the CORA law doesn’t have any penalties for non-compliance, so we’re witnessing them exploiting this loophole to hide information from the public.

We’ve learned that at least recently (we don’t know when this started), Brad Miller will, instead of redacting a particular document, withhold it from the CORA results entirely, with no notification to the requestor. We’ve since learned that if we specifically ask about this, we’ll be told the number of documents withheld, but these are never provided to us, not even in heavily redacted form.

The CORA lawsuit above showed another issue with our district – violations of Colorado Open Meetings Law (OML). Designed to ensure transparency in governance and enable public oversight of elected officials, it prohibits (for a local body) three or more board members from meeting without notifying the public at least 24 hours in advance. The district violated OML first in January of 2022, for which a preliminary injunction was granted. That particular court case was resolved last November when the judge said the district cured the previous violations in their actions in an April meeting of that year. In that link above, Director Illingworth described the suit as ‘political’, though the board’s violation the following month (reference the CORA lawsuit above) casts question on that statement.

In the January 25th board meeting, the board interviewed three candidates to occupy the vacant board director seat. With three good candidates speaking that night, one might have expected some deliberation amongst the board members. Instead, as the video below shows, there was none…the board had obviously already discussed this, outside of board meetings, and made their decision even before they interviewed the board candidates!

In a March meeting, Ken Witt explained how he uses one on one or one on two meetings to discuss issues with the board, or as he put it, to ‘share ideas.’ For example, the picture here shows Witt and Patterson meeting for breakfast one morning. That in itself might be normal, but when you look at the decisions being made without zero public board discussion (like the sixth grade middle school decision), it’s clear that decisions ARE being made through this serial communication process (which we believe is technically legal in Colorado, for now, but in violation of the spirit of the OML).

Witt explained this process himself to teachers recently:

Last but certainly not least, is the the board and Witt’s effort to clamp down on freedom of speech, initially even prohibiting teachers from using social media (later backtracking on that slightly). One staff member was fired, read more about it here.

Board President David Rusterholtz frequently speaks of transparency. Their actions speak louder than those words of his.

3/19/2023 Weekly Update

Last week:

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

  • There’s a special board meeting this Wednesday, 6:00 (agenda). No public comment.
  • This week is when schools typically find out what their staffing allowance is for the next year and can start figuring which positions need to be cut, and which need to be filled.

BOE and Witt’s modification of Merit contract is invalid

As previously reported here, in February Ken Witt initiated and signed an amendment to to the Merit Academy contract, to shift the cost of hiring a charter liaison from Merit to the District. When BOE President Rusterholtz was asked whether Witt has the authority to do this, this was his reply:

However, page 37 of the District’s contract with Merit says something different, in section 12.2:

There has been no discussion of this amendment in any board meeting.

There has been no vote on this amendment in any board meeting.

Our district attorney provided incorrect legal advice to our board President.

This amendment is invalid.

An (unofficial) update on the Middle School partitioning plans

Yesterday, interim superintendent Ken Witt toured the Middle School after school hours with administration staff from both the Middle School and Merit, looking at how the space would be re-divided to give Merit more room. Today, we received this anonymous update:

I have it on good authority that merit is taking over the severe special needs room with their required by law apartment set up. They will also get a staff bathroom, a boys bathroom, conference room(used for students hearing and speech needs, a book room and 4 6th grade classrooms. In order to stay in compliance they will have to rebuild the required by law special needs facilities in a different location. This will be major construction and extremely costly. This board can turn down over a million dollars in grants so im sure we can afford more construction costs. The second year in a row teachers will have to box up and move theor entire classroom. As of now, the enrichment spaces will stay in tact though merit wants access to the ensemble room. In addition they have applied for a contract with chartwells to be able to conduct linch service but they want to share the commons in order to do this. All of these changes are unnecessary, beyond costly and detrimental to the safety and well being of the middle school students. Witt refuses to meet with parents about concerns unless it is documented in writing through email. If you disagree with these decisions then please email him directly!

Some bonus info: academic successes were presented at the dac meeting showing specific test scores and academic measurements in which merit scored below wpms across the board. Considering this regime is academic focused, youd think they would present some results to back up theor interventions. Rather they just shit all over the districts successes while taking away all the amazing people and programs that got the district to where it is. One of the only districts to raise academic success through the pandemic in the region and state. But lets change everything to match a school model that is producing worse results. Ok rant over but this is egregious at best.

anonymous

Merit’s in-person enrollment is currently 289 or 292, depending on which source you listen to, in a space that can handle up to 471 students (but let’s be fair, the actual usable number would be a quite a bit less). How is Witt justifying this change? And why will the district be paying for this? This decreases funding available for our traditional public schools…WHY?

You can email Ken Witt at kwitt@wpsdk12.org.

Witt plans to hire Aaron Salt as COO(rumor or fact?)

There’s been a rumor floating around that seems to be true – so take this for what it is, an confirmed rumor at this point – but it looks like Ken Witt is hiring Aaron Salt into a senior level position in the district. I’ve had more than one source confirm this, though there has been no district announcement yet. It’s not clear if that will be a new COO position, or the the existing vacancy created by Del Garrick’s departure (Executive Director of Business Operations). But let’s ignore the title for a minute…who is Aaron Salt?

Let’s start with his LinkedIn Bio. He labels himself as a consultant who will ‘help you solve employee turnover problems.’ Sadly, that seems applicable to our district (though I don’t think we need a consultant to tell us how to retain employees here).

Salt goes on to describe his focus on what I think we could summarize as restructuring an organization. All this is sounding very business like and potentially even beneficial to any organization. But what motivates him…what is his focus? Let’s look at his volunteer work to gain some insight there.

Salt believes in parent choice, and that “what and how our students are taught” will determine the direction of the company. He was a founding board member for New Summit Charter Academy, and served as board chair until September 2021 (link).

About a year ago, in February of 2022, Salt was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Pikes Peak Library District (PPLD) and is currently the president of that board. He was previously rejected due to not getting two thirds of the vote, but the new city council voted him in 6-3.

Salt told Council last fall, according to The Gazette, that he wanted to remove certain materials from the juvenile and children’s sections that he found objectionable.

https://www.csindy.com/news/council-appoints-two-conservatives-to-ppld-board/article_8c8b7d80-8ea9-11ec-8fbd-b34ca28380b2.html

Days after the vote on Salt, PPLD Chief Librarian and CEO John Spears resigned, and gave this statement to local media:

“The process surrounding how these appointments occurred was extremely contentious and pointed to the changes that are happening in our community such as the recent school board elections.  It is my hope that the values that define a library such as freedom of expression, freedom of thought, and freedom of speech will continue to be honored. I look forward to moving to a community where they are not under threat.”

https://www.csindy.com/news/local/updated-pikes-peak-library-district-chief-resigns/article_e4424658-90de-11ec-8f97-abfd676a0302.html

Also:

Councilor Nancy Henjum called the appointments “concerning” and may undermine the library’s core values of accessibility, inclusivity and First Amendment protections, she said.

https://www.csindy.com/news/local/updated-pikes-peak-library-district-chief-resigns/article_e4424658-90de-11ec-8f97-abfd676a0302.html

In 2021, in a school board election campaign that saw dramatic increases in ‘dark money’ donations, voters elected Salt to the District 20 (D20) school board. That link above mentions that, “Salt is against mandatory masks and vaccines, hiring an equity director, and CRT and other anti-american rhetoric/indoctrination.” In the spring of 2022, Salt attended the evangelical Christian ‘Hold the Line’ event in Colorado Springs. From an article linked to below:

Someone who attended the “Hold The Line” event, who wishes to remain anonymous, provided 13 Investigates with a video of what was said on stage. The video shows Salt being introduced as an Academy School District 20 Board Director before speaking, making it clear who he is in the community.  

In the video, Salt described his time on the D20 board as a fight to represent his own values and asked people to pray for board members trying to hold onto Christian values. 

“This is a spiritual battle,” Salt said. “Make sure that we’re covered in fairness, we go into fight for you and for your children.”

https://krdo.com/news/2022/05/27/d20-board-director-describes-tenure-on-school-board-as-a-spiritual-battle-at-christian-event/

Prior to that event, Salt triggered some complaints about the separation of church and state when he read this quote from Benjamin Franklin in a board meeting:

A Bible and newspaper in every house, a good school in every district – all studied and appreciated as they merit – are the principal support of virtue, morality, and civil liberty

Benjamin Franklin

And naturally…Aaron Salt is connected to Brad Miller, in this case through (at a minimum) their shared time at New Summit Charter Academy.

Lastly, Salt is connected to Charis and Wommack via the Truth and Liberty Coalition which helped back his D20 election campaign.

So there you have it. His start date is not yet known, but at least now you know a little more about Aaron Salt.

Merit Contract Amended to Reduce Their Costs

Ken Witt has amended the district’s contract with Merit, to shift some costs from Merit to the district. Section 8.1(I) used to read:

The District will provide charter liaison services by assigning these duties to an
employee or retaining an independent contractor to act as the liaison between
the District and the School. Such employee or independent contractor shall be
mutually agreed upon by the District and the School. The costs of the liaison
services shall be paid by the District’s authorized charter schools, including the
School, as a purchased service from the District.

(see page 37 of the original contract)

In February of 2023, Witt amended the contract to read:

The District will provide charter liaison services by assigning these duties to an
employee or retaining an independent contractor to act as the liaison between
the District and the School. Such employee or independent contractor shall be
mutually agreed upon by the District and the School.

(source)

Note the change – previously, the cost for this liaison was to be paid by the charter schools. Now, the district will shoulder that cost. A relatively minor change but a quiet one that would have gone unnoticed if not for one of our unrelated CORA requests.