Author Archives: admin

Woodland Park High School principal let go

Parents this afternoon received an email from the district (see below), announcing the immediate change of leadership in the high school. No mention of the now-former principal Kevin Burr was made, only that the assistant principal would be assuming interim principal duties. No details have been provided to the public, and this was not a topic of discussion in the board meeting this past Wednesday. For a school board and administration like Woodland Park has these days…it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to us to see moves like this. But I wonder…what prompted this, and what’s their next move?

Woodland Park, CO – 12/15/2023 – Woodland Park School District announces new leadership at Woodland Park High School effective immediately.

The school district recognizes the importance of stability and continuity for students, staff, and parents. In light of this, Assistant Principal Cindy Gannon, who has been an integral part of the school’s leadership team, will assume the role of Interim Principal for the remainder of the current school year.

Gannon has led in Woodland Park High School for 15 years and brings 26 years of experience in education to this role. She is committed to maintaining a positive and supportive learning environment for all students. The school district is confident Gannon is well-equipped to lead Woodland Park High School as the district determines long-term leadership for the school.

Superintendent Ken Witt stated, “Woodland Park schools are committed to a laser focus on the academic success of our students while always honoring parents’ rights, recognizing the trust our parents place in Woodland Park School District to educate their children without undermining the values of the home.”

The district is committed to supporting Gannon in her new role and ensuring a smooth transition, maintaining a positive environment keenly focused on the academic success of every Woodland Park student. 

Letters to the Editor – 11/15/2023

From the 11/15/2023 Courier:

Close race should be a message

We were so proud to be a part of the campaign for Keegan, Mike and Seth. They ran a clean, honest campaign without negative false attacks on their opponents. We personally know them. They are good people of this community whose only concern is for a strong public school system that offers a valid academic curriculum with appropriate support structures in place.

Of course, the election did not completely go in the direction we had hoped. However, there is an important outcome that needs to be stated. The election results were close. Very close, which means almost 50% of the voters selected the above candidates. That 50% of voters included many traditional conservative voters who disregarded the false accusations against the candidates.

This election should never have been about politics. It should only have been about education. If the new board listens carefully to all of the voters, all the parents, all the taxpayers, they may be much more in line with the values of the whole community.

True leadership includes compromise, compassion and commitment to open conversation. It does not include bullying and closed-door deals or stacking meetings with young people who have no connection to the community other than the courses taken at the local bible school and being bused to the voter polls. The 50% of the community that voted against the present board are here to stay and are watching.

Michael Stewart and Darlene Schmurr-Stewart, Woodland Park

Outside influencers

As a fascinated outsider looking in, I believe that the two incumbents who won re-election surely must realize that their razor thin victories were due exclusively to Andrew Wommack and his Christian nationalist group known as the Truth and Liberty Coalition.

This should be a frightening wakeup call to the residents of Woodland Park and Teller County. Unless of course, in the not-too-distant future, you are at ease of living in a hierocracy with a religious autocrat in control.

Steve Plutt, Lake George

11/12/2023 Weekly Update

Last week:

  • This was of course the big election week. After around six months of campaigning, Seth Bryant, Mike Knott, and Keegan Barkley faced maybe the worse part, waiting for results. The evening started out on a positive note with all three ahead by small margins, though the last update of the day, shortly before Midnight, showed that only Keegan held her lead. Both Mike and Seth were trailing. Another update Thursday afternoon increased the deficit a small amount. The gap is close enough that we need to see how the ballot curing process goes, and how many mail-in military ballots may yet be received. Read more about the election at:
  • Wednesday’s board meeting was uneventful and quick. With Illingworth training Keegan Barkley by quite a bit, he took advantage of the opportunity to say goodbye to the board.

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

  • The county clerk is working on curing ballots (contacting people where a ballot was rejected for some reason), and there could still be some mail-in military ballots on the way. Both of those have until either 11/15 or 11/16 to be completed. Once that’s done, if either matches have less than a .5% margin of victory, an automatic recount will be triggered. Otherwise, we can expect the winners of the school board race to be announced.
  • The Ute Pass BOCES is putting on an informational meeting for parents, about special ed in the district. This Wednesday, 6PM, at the Ute Pass Cultural Center.
  • Even if Bates and Kimbrell hold on to their seats, there is some reason for optimism. Ken Witt’s contract is up next June, and I’m already hearing rumors from other front range districts that he’s likely to leave this town and join one of those larger districts.

Ute Pass BOCES Parent Academy

The Ute Pass BOCES (no relation to ERBOCES) is hosting a parents academy for special education information next Wednesday, November 15th, from 6-7PM in the Ute Pass Cultural Center. With SO many special education job openings in the district, parents with special needs kids should try to attend this. There is a call-in option for those who can’t attend in person, either via Google Meet or phone at 402-971-0167 and PIN: 779 445 855#.

11/8/2023 – Election Update

Yesterday’s election was tense. Most of us went to bed thinking the last update of the evening was that the three challengers all had small leads over the incumbents. A late night update at 11:06 flipped that though, showing Mick Bates leading Seth Bryant by 43 votes (4,596 to 4,553) and Cassie Kimbrell leading Mike Knott by 55 votes (4,596 to 4,541). Keegan Barkley maintains her lead over David Illingworth (4,683 to 4,444), though that lead has shrunk to 239 votes (see full results here). Teller County says, on their website, that “all eligible ballots have been received and counted.”

Given the small margins, the next step will be to wait for any ballots to be cured (like if they’re rejected due to signature mismatch). Then, as I understand the law, an automatic recount is triggered if the gap is .5% or less (Seth meets that threshold, Mike does not).

Election Day!

It’s Election Day! In 2021, there were 7,233 votes cast for school board, out of 15,778 eligible to vote for that. I don’t know how many eligible voters are in the district this year but expect a similar number, and I expect higher turnout than 2021 (45.84%). But this is a sort of baseline, so as votes are announced starting at 7PM, you’ll have a sense of if most of the votes have been counted yet (nothing will be announced prior to 7PM).

Every 15 minutes after polls close, the Colorado Secretary of State’s website will be updating this file, assuming the county has provided new information. The SOS’ main election results page is here with additional links to statewide elections. Teller County’s election page is here, though already they’re not updating it with total votes counted (last update was Friday), so I think the Secretary of State’s website is likely to be the best source. Also note that Teller County’s website shows there are a total of 19,763 eligible voters – that’s in the entire county, but many of those do not live in the Woodland Park RE-2 school district (in 2021, there were 21,863 eligible voters, so 72% lived in RE-2).

The voting service center is open 7-7 today at the Woodland Park Library, for in person voting or ballot drop-off.

11/5/2023 Weekly Update

Last week:

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

  • VOTE! Ballots must be received by 7PM on November 7th. Do NOT mail them, it’s too late for that (except that military or overseas civilian mail ballots must be postmarked by November 7th, and received by November 15th).
    • Vote in-person at the Woodland Park Public Library. Open Monday 9AM-5PM, and Tuesday 7AM-7PM.
    • 24-hour drop boxes are located at:
      • Teller County Clerk and Recorder’s Branch Office, 800 Research Dr., Suite 200, Woodland Park, CO 80863
      • Teller County Courthouse (near sidewalk by parking lot), 101 W. Bennett Ave., Cripple Creek, CO 80813
      • Divide Marketplace (near right side of the entrance), 11115 Hwy 24, Divide, CO 80814
    • You can check on the status of your ballot by signing up on Ballottrax.
    • Teller County is publishing a list of names of people who have returned the first, incorrectly printed ballot, but have NOT yet returned a correctly printed ballot. If your name is on that list and you have questions about this, you can go to the in-person voting location at the library and the people there can help.
    • So far, 5,772 out of 19,763 ballots have been received so far. Not all of these are in the Woodland Park school district (I think roughly 3/4 are).
  • There is a regularly scheduled board meeting Wednesday, 6:00PM, in the district office conference room (the usual place). The new board, whatever that ends up being, will NOT be sworn in at this time as the vote needs to be certified.

District revises policy KDDA in response to WPEA lawsuit

After being steered towards mediation by a judge overseeing the lawsuit between the WPEA and the WPSD (the judge said that portions of the policy “do have problems”, policy KDDA has been revised, and you can read the full document here. This revised policy no longer takes away teachers’ right to talk to the press about district decisions (read more about the previous policy here). It’s sad it took a lawsuit to get the district to respect their First Amendment rights to free speech, but at least in the end, those rights were preserved.

Letters to the Editor – November 1, 2023

From today’s Courier:

Schools should be nonpartisan

I have lived in Woodland Park for 25 years. I have put my heart and soul into our school district for 12 of those years as a parent and involved and enthusiastic volunteer. Over the years, I would guess that I have worked closely with hundreds of other community members on everything from mopping cafeteria floors after Thanksgiving lunches to serving on superintendent selection committees.

I have enjoyed and valued those connections deeply. Never did someone’s politics matter when we were cheering kids on at the Walkathon or building school gardens. We always worked together with the common goal of supporting all kids.

My hope is that people remember this when voting for school board candidates in these next few days. We don’t need to vote in line with or against any political party. School board races are meant to be non-partisan for a reason. Political party affiliation does not determine how we come together for kids. What matters are our values of cooperation, understanding, inclusivity, kindness, and caring for each others’ families. I feel the focus on these common values has diminished over the past two years and I desperately want our community to get that back.

I support Barkley, Bryant and Knott because they are not running on a political platform and they are running on the promise of listening, engaging with stakeholders, and rebuilding trust through transparency and respect. I believe they will help us refocus on common values that will benefit all our students and community.

Khurshid Rogers, Woodland Park

Educators are not the enemy

Ask yourself: If your child went to school and was taught to think of themselves as anything different than what they are, would you keep them there? If they were sexualized at an early age, would you sit back and allow it to happen? If your students went to classrooms or to participate in sports or the arts and their teachers and coaches groomed them, would you sit back and say nothing?

My guess is that you would throw a fit. You might pull your child. You would certainly complain to administration. You might attend school board meetings and demand change. Perhaps you would sue the district.

Recently there has been a lot of accusations thrown at our staff. They have been called groomers (which means pedophiles), Marxists, and unAmerican. Our staff has been belittled and accused of all the worst things.

And yet…

We have never had a lawsuit over a student being groomed or taught to be a gender other than what they are. We have never seen a teacher sued for creating an unhealthy expectation of what a student should be.

You have had kids in this district for years. You trusted these teachers and coaches with your children. So have your friends and family. Why? Because these things are not happening in Woodland Park. They never have.

Vote for change. Vote for BOE members who did not think of our educators and coaches as the enemy. Vote Bryant, Barkley and Knott.

Kelly Hunsaker, Woodland Park

What do you want children to learn?

From a young age, I have been distrustful of people in positions of power, even more so those who actively seek these positions. Publicly voicing support for candidates goes against my better judgment and I’ve never done so, until now. The vile letter of support for the WPSB incumbents published on Oct. 18 was ripped from far-right wing fear-mongering and so lacking in factual basis that it read as much like a satirical piece as a letter of support.

However, this letter did highlight the crux of the board election; despite the muddying of issues and politicization of a non-political office, this vote comes down to what we want this community’s children to learn. They can learn about and experience the world as it is, or they can be sheltered thus preventing exposure to values and ideals that may not conform to an individual’s upbringing.

Do we lack the confidence in the values we teach at home so much that we believe the exposure to different ways of life will destroy our children? Are we so afraid of change that we would limit their life experiences? If so, ask yourself why.

I’m fortunate I had the opportunity and support of my parents to leave our small farm and live in various places around the country to experience the diversity it offers. It has only expanded those lessons of love and caring I learned from a young age. I look forward to voting for Bryant, Barkley, and Knott.

Paul Jesse, Teller County

10/29/2023 Weekly Update

Last Week:

  • You should have received your corrected/reprinted ballot by now. If not, go vote in-person at the library some time this week.
  • There were lots of letters to the editor in local papers this week. Today in the Gazette, and earlier in the week in the Courier (they only printed a few but made others available online).
  • I had a chance to dig into a couple of the Independent Expenditure Committees that have been sending mailers and text messages and learned some interesting things. Read more about Teller County for School Choice, and Citizens for a Vibrant Woodland Park.
  • Garfield RE-2 school district came close to being the second in Colorado (and the nation) to adopt the American Birthright Standards for social studies. They implemented a process involving community input, which resulted in those standards being rejected. Meanwhile, implementation of American Birthright in Woodland Park continues, with course curriculums unfinished and NCAA review pending.
  • Ads for the awesome challengers (Bryant, Barkley, Knott) were made available on YouTube if you want to share those.

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

  • VOTE!!!
    • Turn in your ballot in person if you can’t get it in the mail by Monday 10/30.
    • Ballots must be received by 11/7.