The WPSD Board Recall Committee submitted the recall petitions to the Teller County Clerk on 8/1/22. The signatures have been counted and have come in just under the number needed to continue the recall effort. Though we gained enough signatures to meet the numbers for both Illingworth and Patterson, some signatures were not accepted for a variety of reasons. The primary factors were signers out-of-district, name not found, or the voter’s information did not precisely match the voter registry. These are common reasons why signatures aren’t counted on petitions.
Here are the official numbers:
-The petition for David Rusterholtz did not have enough signatures and was not processed.
-The petition for David Illingworth II received 2709 signatures, 386 signatures were rejected, leaving 2323 signatures of the 2648 required.
-The petition for Suzanne Patterson received 2697 signatures, 409 signatures were rejected, leaving 2288 signatures of the 2644 required.
Understandably, we are disappointed to have fallen just short of the numbers required to move forward with the recall process. However, there are some things that we know for sure:
-The signatures of thousands of voters provide clear evidence that opposition to the Board’s behavior extends far and wide. There are many more people who were unable to sign for a variety of reasons. Many live out of district even though they have children in the school, some are part-time here and are registered to vote in other places, and, unfortunately, many didn’t sign for fear of retribution from the board. That alone says a lot. However, the breadth of support is very clear.
-This was a PHENOMENAL team effort by a group of friends and strangers working together for good, kindness, truth, and decency in our community.
-There is a huge portion of this community who has been and will continue to support our teachers and ALL of the children in this community.
-Our desire and effort to hold the Woodland Park School Board accountable for their actions and to advocate for students, families, and teachers is not diminished. We will continue to seek representation that mirrors the diversity of our community.
-This is the time to be more involved than ever. The new school year just started and we can continue to show support for the teachers and staff. Volunteer in a classroom, write a supportive email to a teacher, learn about what clubs and programs your kids are interested in, ask questions, attend board meetings, get involved in whatever way is best for you.
We are making and will continue to make a difference!!!
Thank you again for your part in this effort!
Erin O’Connell, from the Concerned Parents of Teller County Facebook group
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Merit Academy Updates
The district has signed a contract with Merit Academy, and is currently working on a Facilities Usage Agreement (FUA) to give them the space they wanted in the Middle School. The contract was voted on in their 5/19 meeting (link to video); this followed their 5/18 “town hall” meeting (link to video) to take public comment…none of which led to any changes in the contract later adopted. As expected, the board ignored the process laid out in Colorado charter school law and even the district’s own website. They also never did have a clean vote on the MOU that was supposedly the foundation for this action…the preliminary injunction had found the original vote to be in violation of the Open Meetings Law, and the subsequent two ‘re-votes’ to be rubber-stamping which is also not allowed (link).
For the Facilities Usage Agreement (FUA), the board posted the draft Friday evening before Memorial Day weekend, with all public feedback required by Monday evening of that same holiday weekend. Thereby establishing that FUA also stands for, “Fuck U All” and showing that they really didn’t want public feedback. On Wednesday June 1st, the board met to ‘review’ to that feedback (link to video), and promptly instruct the Superintendent to proceed with the FUA with Merit without any changes to what was posted the prior week.
The district’s own financial analysis (link) of Merit was concerning, with their conclusion being:
A compressed analysis window, inconsistent financial reporting, and the lack of
a full-year of Merit Academy’s operational existence make thorough fiscal
analysis for adding a charter school to the Woodland Park School District
difficult. Much of the information included in this summary is based on projected
or estimated data and may be dramatically impacted by a host of variables
including changing economic, demographic and political circumstances. A more
effective analysis will be possible after a fiscal audit by a contracted, external
auditor.
Despite those financial concerns, the board granted Merit a significant portion of the sales tax revenue received by the school, something the law does not require. A more conservative board would have at least tied that sales tax money to specific milestones Merit must achieve, such as a satisfactory financial audit. But then, this board is all about doing what’s best for Merit, not the public schools.
Board posts final Merit contract and schedules vote
In a giant ‘fuck you’ to the taxpayers of this district awaiting a chance to voice their opinions on the Merit Academy contract in tonight’s special board meeting created for that purpose, the school board has gone ahead and posted a FINAL version of the Merit contract to the district website and scheduled a meeting for tomorrow at 6:00 (agenda) to vote to approve it (they also posted an approval resolution which they’ll be voting on). They have no intention of listening to public feedback nor making any changes to their contract based upon that feedback. This is all a circus show (maybe ‘shitshow’ would be a better description).
It’s worth showing up at tonight’s school board meeting, 6:00 (agenda) in the auditorium, and let the board know what you think about this corrupt, unethical process.
Both meetings will be livestreamed and the link for that is in the agendas.
Merit Contract draft finally posted!
The draft contract between WPSD and Merit Academy has finally been posted to the district’s website. You can download the full contract here, or the executive summary here. We’ll have our full analysis posted soon. The board will be taking public input in a meeting on Wednesday May 18th in the High School auditorium. They’ll also be taking questions via an online form that isn’t working at the moment, but when it does, the link is here.
Board meeting schedule
The board has rescheduled their next meeting, originally scheduled for May 11th and rescheduled to May 18th. This is planned to be a town hall format to discuss the Merit Academy contract (which has not been released yet). They’re tentatively planning to approve a lease for Merit to use the Middle School on May 25th per the timeline.
They plan to tour Gateway Elementary this Friday at noon (agenda).
Thank you, teachers!
Thank you to all teachers in the district for all your hard work! We really appreciate it!
Feasibility Study Presentation
The Feasibility Study Presentation to be shown at tonight’s board work session can be downloaded here.
Points of note:
- Most public school rooms would be at 100% capacity. One classroom would have 1 empty seat. One ‘yoga’ room is at 0%.
- Merit space would be at 66% capacity. So, the board would be giving Merit room to grow, but no room for the Middle School to grow.
- Construction and other costs to make this happen would be in the $112-229k range. Additional capital expenditures are identified for the next two years; I think we’ll need to see the Merit contract to determine if they’re required to pay for any of this.
- Some uncertainties are noted, such as whether moving and storage costs would be shared.
School Board meetings today
Today is a busy day for the school board. After last week’s fiasco regarding the Feasibility Study (let’s discuss it! Oh wait, we don’t want the public know about it, let’s remove it from the agenda!), they’ll be finally be giving the public a peek at it in tonight’s work session, scheduled to start at 6:00PM in the district offices (agenda link, livestream link). After the discussion about the feasibility study, they’ll go into a closed door executive session to chat with their lawyers about how to push this Merit contract though and set statewide precedent that will upend the traditional charter school approval process (or at the very least, lead to more expensive legal bills for our district).
First though, the board is scheduled to tour Columbine Elementary at noon (agenda). Why would they do this now, when they’re in the midst of contract dealings with Merit? And coincidentally, just reviewed (in private) the feasibility study on Merit being given space in the middle school? I suspect they’re reconsidering the middle school plan and considering giving Merit to Columbine, but we should learn more tonight.
Note too that we’re not guaranteed to see the original feasibility study…tonight is just a presentation about it. We may or may not get to view the document given to both the board and Merit last week.
Judge orders Woodland Park school board to comply with Colorado’s open meetings law by listing agenda items ‘clearly, honestly and forthrightly’
Read the article here:
Preliminary Injunction GRANTED!
A preliminary injunction has been granted against the school board regarding the OML (Open Meetings Law)!
“The Defendant shall comply with the OML by clearly, honestly, and forthrightly listing all future Agenda items regarding Merit Academy.”…”The Board is further enjoined from “rubber stamping” any Board decision that does not comply with the notice requirements of the OML.”
-It does NOT negate the MOU with Merit Academy.
-It does NOT prevent the Board from looking at and considering the Merit Contract.
-It does NOT prevent the Board from pursuing the Feasibility study and facility usage.
-It DOES state that they must diligently comply with all Open Meeting Laws.
-It DOES enforce the rule that they must explicitly state what they will be discussing in a meeting on the Agenda.
-It DOES support that our case has some legal justification and the judge saw fit to issue this until the time of a trial (based on my complaint/ lawsuit).
Let’s keep fighting for transparency in our school district! This is only the first step in this fight, a final hearing and ruling is yet to come. Please consider supporting this effort via the GoFundMe link above!