As school districts struggle to address accusations that administrators are indoctrinating students in progressive ideas about race, gender and sexuality, the same parents and activists making the claims have begun targeting school initiatives centered on students’ mental health and emotional well-being.
— Read on www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/parents-protesting-critical-race-theory-identify-new-target-mental-hea-rcna4991
Author Archives: Matt G
District grant information, ’22-23 school year and partial info for ’23-24
With Witt deciding to not apply for grants this year, the question is, what impact does that have? To help understand how the district uses grant money, check out this list obtained under CORA of all the grants the district has accepted for this current school year:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZNqFUJDeQBV-OVIL15FmVeF7P-gG97C4/view?usp=share_link
As for next school year, we’re still trying to get comprehensive data. For now, we do have this email from Witt seeking confirmation that the follow grants were written, so we presume he wants these:
- Funding for enhanced after-school options for students
- Funding for enhanced tutoring support
While not saying he will reject the follow ones, it sounds like that’s the plan, as he does ask for “the exact personnel that will be affected by the decision not to write” the ones below:
- Funding for social workers in our elementary school buildings
- Funding for the family school liaisons that assist families with connecting to outside resources
- Funding for school-based therapy to assist families that are unable to access support outside of school
- Funding for enhanced truancy tracking and support
- Funding for student and staff wellness
He makes no mention of:
- Funding for enhanced career and college support for students and families
On that one though, the career start program is continuing unchanged, so I suspect that grant had already been applied for with his knowledge, hence no mention of it.
The religious influence in school board elections
This fall, the Woodland Park RE-2 school district will vote on three new board directors, potentially shifting the balance of power of the current five-strong board. As we enter this season, it’s important to remember the influence religion had last time. Check out this article from Religion Dispatches. Andrew Wommack, with his Truth and Liberty Coalition and bible school Charis were at the center of this then…and we can expect even more this year. Pay attention, it’s going to get messy.
What had been, until recently, sleepy school board races across the state and the country, this year became political hot potatoes. The Colorado media generally cast these contests as battles between conservative groups and teachers unions, and that the results were mixed. But lost in this framing was the quiet electoral pilot project of the Truth and Liberty Coalition, the other arms of Wommack’s political and educational empire—and their out-of-state partner, the Texas-based Wallbuilders organization.
Judge orders release of Woodland Park School District surveillance footage to parent – Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition
A judge Wednesday ordered the Woodland Park School District to disclose video surveillance footage showing three school board members talking with a candidate for superintendent after a public meeting last December.
Teller County District Court Judge Scott Sells said he was not persuaded by the school district’s argument that the recordings either aren’t public records as defined by the Colorado Open Records Act or could lawfully be withheld under CORA’s discretionary exception for records revealing “specialized details … of security arrangements or investigations.”
— Read on coloradofoic.org/judge-orders-release-of-woodland-park-school-district-surveillance-footage-to-parent/
Woodland Park School District expands bus route for Merit Academy students | KRDO
Woodland Park School District (WPSD) is now offering students at Merit Academy the same district school bus transportation offered to all other WPSD schools.
— Read on krdo.com/top-stories/2023/03/21/woodland-park-school-district-expands-bus-route-for-merit-academy-students/
We’ve submitted a CORA request to learn to what extent Merit will be paying for this service.
The WPSD exodus begins
We’ve feared what impact this board, and especially interim superintendent Ken Witt, would have on staff in the Woodland Park School District RE-2. Last year, we saw the beginnings of that…and this year, we need to call this what it is: a mass exodus of instructional talent leaving this district.
Having a student in the High School here I’m a bit biased and focused on that school, so forgive me that, but let’s talk about that High School. Normally, staff turnover would be no more than 5%. We’re in mid March, and already, turnover is at 25% (where will we end up by summer?). The overwhelming majority of those leaving mention the board and interim superintendent are creating an untenable circumstance for them to continue. It is possible that seven different AP courses are affected by these resignations…replacement teachers for those are not straightforward and will require extra training ($$ for the AP side of things, and the college MA degrees that would yield concurrent and dual credit for students).
How will the district attract qualified teachers to fill these open positions? How many teachers will want to accept a position in a school district that is, by anyone’s measure, chaotic and unsettled (to put it mildly)? The board states that one of their core beliefs is, “Developing professional educators that engage and inspire students through positive ethical leadership.” They are not developing professional educators…they are driving them out.
This school board and superintendent have massively failed at their most important task, managing the public schools to foster a safe, stable place of learning for our students.
Baby We Were Born for War: To Dominionist Christian Groups, No Election is Too Small — and Colorado is Just the Beginning | Religion Dispatches
What had been, until recently, sleepy school board races across the state and the country, this year became political hot potatoes. The Colorado media generally cast these contests as battles between conservative groups and teachers unions, and that the results were mixed. But lost in this framing was the quiet electoral pilot project of the Truth and Liberty Coalition, the other arms of Wommack’s political and educational empire—and their out-of-state partner, the Texas-based Wallbuilders organization.
— Read on religiondispatches.org/baby-we-were-born-for-war-to-dominionist-christian-group-no-election-is-too-small-and-colorado-is-just-the-beginning/
Liberals push back on Republican activism in school board elections
“There’s going to be more book bans, there’s going to be a broader pushback and they’re going to demonize LGBTQ-plus kids more than they already have,” Cousins said. “It’s an absolute right-wing radicalization of public education, and their mission is to make public education fail.”
— Read on www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/democrats-republicans-school-board-elections-parents-rcna52698
Here in Colorado, this right-wing effort is led by graduates of the Leadership Program of the Rockies like Brad Miller, Ted Mische, Bob Schaffer, Curt Grina, and Ken Witt.
WPSD Student Mental Health – 12/21 presentation
In December of 2021, Laura Magnuson (WPSD Mental Health Supervisor) and Josh DeSmidt (Restorative Practices Coordinator) gave a presentation to the board titled, “WPSD Student Mental Health.” While it’s a little more than a year old at this point, this report did a fantastic job of outlining some of the grants that the district receives, and exactly how that grant money is spent. There’s been a lot of talk lately about interim superintendent Witt’s policy of rejecting any grant money (due to ‘strings attached’), but I think most of us don’t really understand how that grant money is used. This presentation goes a long ways towards explaining that. As you read it, keep in mind that Witt is declining every grant…the positions and programs outline here will not be funded through grant money and are expected to be cut at the end of this ’22-23 school year.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rDts0w-zbfLH2YAgBoKr-frr7dEfR0Sb/view?usp=share_link
Witt’s latest – firing staff, and violating CORA
Ken Witt’s latest efforts to destroy the Woodland Park school district include firing two people last Friday (Logan in IT, and Morgan in payroll), and watching on the sidelines as the district is in violation of the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA). Specifically, on that last point, the district is not complying with the mandatory three day response period for single-document inquiries, or up to 10 days for others. They’re violating both. Much of the their delays have been due to the board choosing to have Brad Miller’s office review all CORA results for redactions. Miller drags his feet, results get delayed, and the board doesn’t care.
The district is even facing a new lawsuit alleging violation of CORA, refusing to turn over records from December.
Despite having a backlog of overdue CORA requests, Witt decided that the position of the person responsible for managing this process (Logan) was unnecessary, and eliminated that position. No word yet on who will be taking up this role…but the sort of transparency provided by laws such as CORA has never been a priority for this board.