Author Archives: Matt G

Banning books is for bullies | Writers on the Range | Pikes Peak Courier | gazette.com

Some people have become so alarmed by what children might read in school or in libraries that they want books they don’t like removed — immediately. The targeted books include
— Read on https://gazette.com/pikespeakcourier/banning-books-is-for-bullies-writers-on-the-range/article_34d7c554-9db6-11ed-8d25-cb9a566cc720.html?fbclid=IwAR1zfhKHPusA50ruYBTm4jgfwO0QxtrtVjU3EXiPdKtF-v-w0hJI0xDYces

Woodland Park School District RE-2 pulls course material after critical race theory complaint | Pikes Peak Courier | gazette.com

Woodland Park School District RE-2 is pulling material from a high school course following a complaint that it teaches critical race theory concepts.
— Read on https://gazette.com/pikespeakcourier/woodland-park-school-district-re-2-pulls-course-material-after-critical-race-theory-complaint/article_a5aadc5c-a195-11ed-bbfc-17926d9f7a45.html?fbclid=IwAR1TRN_LRoVN6nxrCd0M7luG58mCrpGbJppxJBI_SP5Ou56gvISUgqkv1Xw

Union Intimidation in Woodland Park

We are witnessing intimidation of the teacher’s union in Woodland Park, the Woodland Park Education Alliance (WPEA). This started with board director David Illingworth, who wrote (emphasis added is mine):

“If you expect me to play nice with the union, then you don’t know me.”

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This union is openly attempting to organize a coup in our schools using our equipment. They have abused our agreement. Therefore, I expect the board to review that agreement for modification or termination.


Further, they clearly feel emboldened and unchecked by your principals and executives. We will not employ people who seek to undermine and resist the people’s business. The exceptional education of our children is our highest priority, not begging forgiveness from people who have underperformed.

In light of the open warfare launched by the union, with the tacit support of leadership, changes that might have been unnecessary before now become imperative. As our employee, I encourage you to use your best judgment in preparing a list of positions in which a change in personnel would be beneficial to our kids, and would likewise help the union see the wisdom in cooperation rather than conflict.

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Can you please ask the Superintendent to provide us any information he has about WPEA membership and command structure?

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Now, a resident relatively new to this town (with no kids in the schools), Jameson Dion, has obtained video footage of the WPEA’s recent meeting (CORRECTION 2/1 – this meeting was open to all teachers, not just WPEA), and is promising to post it online. He already posted a short segment of the video online as a ‘teaser’ of what’s to come. A screenshot is included below, but please note – the yellow markups are MY doing…Dion posted this unaltered, so you could see the face of the person speaking as well as the names and faces of some of the people joining the Zoom call and shown at the top (and note, he posted an actual video segment, not a still photo).

I’ve never been a huge union proponent…I consider myself more neutral on them as I’ve seen them do very good things in the past, as well as things I did not agree with. But I do believe it is critical for union members to be able to meet in privacy, without fear. This is a basic American right. Unions have played a central, beneficial role in shaping our society and while I like to see oversight, I do not like to see attacks like these.

Update on Merit contract status

Since the board isn’t updating us on this process, I’m learning what I can via CORA requests. The latest is that Brad Miller sent a draft of the contract with Merit to another attorney after a brief one week review with Gustafson, Neal, and the outside consultant Tom Weston. This draft contract was sent on February 22, along with a document outlining benchmarks (source). The other attorney is Barry Arrington (arringtonpc.com), the person who signed the MOU on behalf of Merit (so we can assume he’s their legal counsel in this matter). My CORA request was focused on conversations between Gustafson and the Weston, and those conversations really dropped off after the draft contract was sent. So, I’ll need to submit a different CORA request to learn what’s been happening since.

If you’d like to read the results of that CORA request detailing talks between Gustafson and Weston, you can find all the documents here.