Author Archives: Matt G

Are the Bad People Really Winning?

You are the one who can step from the shadows and tell the darkness that it has had the run of the house for long enough; who can send the brilliant floodlight of hope streaming into the shadowed places from where it had been vanquished.

It is only a matter of opening your mouth and releasing the truest of your truth without fear or hesitation or decorum. It is in you moving from looking for hope on the horizon and to finding it in the mirror.

— Read on johnpavlovitz.com/2023/02/09/are-the-bad-people-really-winning/

Conservative program meets inclusive standards in this Colorado school district – Colorado Newsline

More about Woodland Park’s implementation of the American Birthright standards. This is mostly information we’ve already posted here in other articles, but one new bit of information that’s come to light is that many classes no longer have NCAA approval…students that need this eligibility will, we believe, have other course options available to them, them just need to be careful when making class decisions and might be stuck with an online-only class.
— Read on coloradonewsline.com/2023/02/16/conservative-program-meets-inclusive-standards-in-this-colorado-school-district/

Podcast – Have You Heard, episode #151: Divide, Scatter, Conquer

Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider talk about Woodland Park in their latest episode of their Have You Heard podcast! They talked to many parents, students, and some teachers for this one. Check it out on Apple Podcasts or Soundcloud!

Please note, the podcast erroneously states that Sara Lee has made the decision to leave the district. That decision has not been made at this time.

Talk Out of School (podcast)

Looking for a good podcast about charter schools nationwide? I previously recommended episode #150 of Have You Heard; here’s another one just released from Talk Out of School. Our board has not articulated their vision for this district in any detail, but seeing them engage Third Future last month makes it clear they’re working towards decreasing the traditional public schools in this district. There is a nationwide effort to do so; podcasts like these are useful to understand how this is playing out elsewhere and where it seems to be leading.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-out-of-school/id1490313171

Your tax dollars for their private school? More states are saying yes – Los Angeles Times

We get caught up in our fight with our local school board, but it’s important to remember that there is a nationwide effort to privatize the educational system in this county, and that once we win our local fight, we need to shift focus to the national level.

This opinion piece from the Los Angeles Times talks about this more and is a good, quick primer on the topic.

— Read on www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-02-12/school-vouchers-private-public-school-iowa-kim-reynolds-lgbtq-parental-rights

If you have the time, it’s also worth listening to this podcast on the subject, as it talks more about where voucher programs may lead the educational system and a future for charter schools that wish to operate more like private schools.

https://soundcloud.com/haveyouheardpodcast/charter-schools-go-private?si=e27543d8678d44b2891e1be43e0a5e4e&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Enforcement of Social Studies standards in Colorado

Unless you’re new to this website, you already know that the Woodland Park school board adopted the American Birthright standard for social studies last month. Colorado Public Radio published a great article about this, and talked about how the state board of education rejected these standards last fall. These standards have already been used to censor one class, so naturally parents are concerned.

So, what’s a concerned parent to do? Well the state mandates that each district implement standards that meet or exceed the state standards.

Surely the American Birthright standard, which the state already rejected, wouldn’t meet these criteria?

I contacted the Colorado Department of Education. They in turn reached out to the Woodland Park school district about this issue, and received this reply:

So, they’ll be taking a non-compliant standard, picking and choosing sections to ensure compliance? On the surface this sounds bad but possibly compliant. But in the end, who will judge whether the district has pulled off this tightrope act? Turns out the answer is…the district themselves. The state does not review districts to actually ensure they’re complying with the state standards! This is what the Colorado Department of Education told me:

So there you have it.

Is there no government body overseeing our school board? Hey, what about the Colorado Association of School Boards! Sounds promising, right? Umm…no:

News Literacy Project

It seems I hear about “fake news” almost as much as credible news; sorting fake from real is a challenge in American society these days. It’s nice to see efforts being made to help with this, such as the News Literacy Project. They work with educators and journalists to give students the skills they need to discern fact from fiction and to know what to trust.

They also offer Checkology, a free online learning platform for educators to use in their classrooms.

Read more about this at The Washington Post

House committee approves bill to add school and special districts to ethics commission oversight | Subscriber Content | gazette.com

A bill is advancing at the state level that would put school boards under the oversight of the state ethics commission! This is exciting news for, I think, both sides in our town, as both sides have accused board members of unethical behavior yet had no recourse as complaints have gone unanswered. It’ll be interesting to see if this succeeds in becoming a law.

House committee approves bill to add school and special districts to ethics commission oversight | Subscriber Content | gazette.com
— Read on gazette.com/colorado_politics/house-committee-approves-bill-to-add-school-and-special-districts-to-ethics-commission-oversight/article_661613be-78ed-505d-b5dd-16d743f59946.amp.html