Woodland Park School District, its board of education and Superintendent Ken Witt face a federal lawsuit filed Aug. 3 by a district patron who alleges they violated his First Amendment right by banning him from the district for more than a year, after he made a sarcastic remark at a board meeting.
— Read on www.csindy.com/content/tncms/live/
Category Archives: Media
ACLU sues Colorado school district after former employee was banned
The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado on Thursday sued Woodland Park School District leaders on behalf of a former district employee who they say was forced to leave a school board meeting after making a “brief and harmless” comment and was immediately banned from district property and events for more than a year.
— Read on coloradosun.com/2023/08/03/woodland-park-school-district-aclu-lawsuit/
ACLU sues WPSD
The ACLU has filed suit against the WPSD for banning Logan Ruths from school district property for one year, after he spoke out in the June board meeting. You can read the NBC article here, and can watch that June meeting here (time stamp 16:10).
Leaked audio shows how Brad Miller is driving change in our town
As this article in the Colorado Times Recorder details, leaked audio of a recent meeting has attorney Brad Miller explaining the actions he’s been driving in Woodland Park, using our Board of Eduction to further his own plans. There’s so much in that article, please read it for yourself! It helps show how Brad Miller is one of the main forces behind all the change happening in our district. We need to take back LOCAL CONTROL of our school board and kick out him and Ken Witt by voting in new board members this fall.
Letters to the Editor – August 2, 2023
From the 8/2/2023 Courier:
Spirited, partisan debate is nothing new in our country. Nor are constructive differences of opinion about issues, policies, values, and election outcomes. But I want to join those Teller County voices that are brokenhearted by how our conversations on social media platforms like Facebook pages and NextDoor, our comments in public meetings, and even when we confront each other in stores or the park, now sound like we are demonizing and dehumanizing anyone who thinks differently than we do. The tone of dialogue is tinged with sarcasm and snarkiness with a dash of “holier than thou.” Whatever happened to love your neighbor as yourself?
I absolutely love this town, and I cannot accept that we are moving toward becoming a divided, combative, and self-destructive community. It has to stop! Let’s work to reverse this trend. Let’s call on our Teller County leaders, our neighbors, and ourselves to transform our attitudes and our debate. We don’t need to agree with each other or compromise our own deeply held beliefs. But we do need to reclaim our ability to have constructive and civil conversations, and maybe even find common ground in our shared humanity.
We’re witnessing a real-time, rapidly widening fracture in Woodland Park. Each one of us either contributes to the problem or can become a part of holding Teller County together.
Becky Darrow, Woodland Park
Thank you for your exquisite piece of journalism entitled “Woodland Park Woman’s Acquittal Brings Vindication.” The article demonstrates the power of what Edmund Burke called the fourth estate to bring truth to the people. We in Teller County are truly blessed to still have a real local newspaper.
Ed Biersmith, Divide
Couldn’t help but notice David Illingsworth had one hour and fifteen minutes of “… had no involvement of any kind with the police investigation, charging decision or prosecution of the case …” advising the arresting police officer how to escalate a misdemeanor charge to a felony. Really? No involvement? For one hour fifteen minutes?
John Capaci
I was greatly disappointed to read that the Woodland Park Police Department would allow themselves to be influenced by a prominent public official on whether to bring charges against someone reporting a possible crime. What happened to “If you see something, say something?” Does this mean if I call the police to report suspicious activity, that I could be charged with felony false reporting if it turns out to be nothing? This series of events shows a disgraceful lack of credibility for the Police Department. I am a 30-year resident and am thoroughly disgusted.
Leslie St. Onge, Woodland Park
DAVIS: Buying the Birthright: A Woodland Park Investigation
Why are national groups and right-wing billionaires so involved in the transformation of the Woodland Park School District? Because the Woodland Park School District is where the opportunity to transform all public education first presented itself. And now that they have found a foothold in the Woodland Park district, they’re proclaiming it to be a model for the nation.
Their plans do not end in Woodland Park — the Bradley and Scaife Foundations are not known for limiting the scale of their ambitions — but they started there, and they started there because the conditions were right.
— Read on coloradotimesrecorder.com/2023/07/davis-buying-the-birthright-a-woodland-park-investigation/55055/
Woodland Park woman’s acquittal brings vindication | Subscriber Content | gazette.com
When speaking with The Gazette, Peck said that nearly two weeks after she made the call she was arrested at her Woodland Park home by police and hit with three counts of false reporting, two of which were felonies.
Peck recalled being taken from her home near midnight in front of her three children, the oldest of whom was 14 at the time, and being forced to leave her children home alone.
“It’s awful to see the fear in your kid’s faces,” Peck said, recalling the night she was arrested and booked at the Teller County jail. “It’s awful to be treated like you were a violent threat to the community for making a call. … It’s not what the foundation of our community should be.”
— Read on the Gazette
Woodland park woman acquitted of all charges tied to calling police on school board member’s wife
During the school board recall effort last August, one of the recall organizers, Samantha Peck, was gathering petition signatures in the Safeway parking lot when she called 911 over concerns about a possible drunk person about to leave the store. That person was board member David Illingworth’s wife, and when police arrived, they did not detect any signs of alcohol or other concerns with that woman. After investigating further, Peck was arrested and charged with two counts of attempting to influence a public servant and filing a false police report with the Woodland Park Police Department.
Peck finally had her day in court last week, where a jury quickly found her not guilty on all three counts. The story linked to above contains video of board member David Illingworth being interviewed by police and contains further analysis of that, it’s worth reading and watching the video for yourself.
Peck later posted this to the Concerned Parents of Teller County Facebook group:
We live in a country with problems, just like the rest of the world. Our systems need work. However, our process still has the ability to provide justice if you are strong and patient enough. 12 everyday citizens heard all facts of this case and decided in mere minutes not only am I innocent on all charges, but they took the time to talk with both parties to tell them this was the grossest abuse of power they have ever seen. That says it all. I could write pages sharing with you each and every detail of this case. But, I would rather focus my efforts on using this to help our community move forward. This case has proven that David Illingworth is willing to use his position for personal and political gain, even if it is unethical. I hope that isn’t what this community wants as a quality in our representatives. Please, vote this November. Spend time learning about the candidates. Make a difference for students whether you are a parent of a school age child or not. Leave politics out and vote based off of character. I’m proud because our country has prioritized the ideology that ALL children have a right to access education. Let’s protect a foundation of true values. Please vote.
In honor of my tribe I will include a few highlights that will live with me forever:
-Mr. Lane proving Officer Humphrey lied and forcing him to admit it
-The prosecution’s own witness testifying Humphrey lied about what she said
-The strength of Rachel and Jill to tolerate the prosecution trying to attack them. Yet these brave women never faltered and got to share the truth
-After the prosecution tried to attack me for my facebook post returning to Mr. Lane (arguably the great human I have ever met) and having him say to me your post was good, you ARE like those people you wrote about
-Mr. Lane casually reminding the jury Katie Illingworth wasn’t honest
-The jury’s faces when Humphrey had to admit he taped the conversation when David Illingworth tells him how to falsly charging me, but didn’t record my conversation with him showing just how innocent I am
-The jury almost falling out of their seats when Mr. Lane asked Humphrey what did the witnesses say when you interviewed them, and Humphrey had to say he never did and never has interviewed the witnesses
-The prosecution cross examining a war hero and offering to call him COL and his response: just call me Lee
And now that I type those moments I realize just how bad corruption is in Woodland Park…help end it. Get involved, write letters, ask questions, but above all, VOTE.
It’s nice to finally have this all behind us. The past year has seen several references to this incident, with people jumping to conclusions rather than waiting for the facts to come out in court. For example, Andrew Wommack, in May, described this incident as ‘swatting’ (he got the facts wrong but this is the incident he was talking about at time stamp 2:00 of this video). In June’s board meeting, one of the public comment speakers likewise talked about this ‘swatting’ incident. The verdict is clear and Peck’s innocence has been established; I hope those individuals apologize to her.
Woodland park woman acquitted of all charges tied to calling police on school board member’s wife | KRDO
A Woodland Park woman, who was a leading member of the effort to recall members of the Woodland Park Park School District Re-2 board, has been acquitted of all charges by a Teller County jury. Samantha Peck, 42, was previously charged with two counts of attempting to influence a public servant and filing a false police report with the Woodland Park Police Department.
— Read on krdo.com/news/2023/07/14/woodland-park-woman-acquitted-of-all-charges-tied-to-calling-police-on-school-board-members-wife/
DAVIS: American Birthright: A Woodland Park Investigation
For the past month, I have been investigating a concerted effort by national groups to use the Woodland Park School District as the testing ground for a radical new right-wing approach to public schools, where the goal is no longer to strangle the system and cut taxes, but to seize the system and train up conservative voters. While much has been reported about what is happening in WPSD, little has been documented about why it is happening in Woodland Park specifically, or who is ultimately behind it.
The Woodland Park school board’s first-in-the-nation decision to adopt the American Birthright standards brings us closer to answers for those questions.
— Read on coloradotimesrecorder.com/2023/07/davis-american-birthright-a-woodland-park-investigation/54661/