An October count of 1,884 total students saw enrollment drop from Woodland Park Public School’s previous total of 2,015 reported by the Colorado Department of Education.
Category Archives: News
The Imperative for New Leadership in Academy District 20 | by Rob Rogers | Nov, 2024 | Medium
Looks like the COO Aaron Salt is looking to leave the area. A quote from the article linked to here:
In his superintendent application to a district in Arkansas, Salt explicitly states his intention to move back east and closer to family. This acknowledgment raises concerns about his commitment to the community he currently serves. Making significant decisions while planning to leave calls into question the motivations behind his actions and their alignment with the community’s best interests.
— Read on rob-subterra-insights.medium.com/the-imperative-for-new-leadership-in-academy-district-20-dd2239411d55
New research adds up the cost of high-conflict school board politics – Chalkbeat
Culture war debates and contentious school board politics led districts to spend more on security, legal fees, and dealing with teacher turnover.
— Read on www.chalkbeat.org/2024/10/23/new-research-puts-a-cost-on-school-board-conflicts/
Did Ken Witt violate Colorado Election Law?
Colorado’s Fair Campaign Practices Act prohibits government agencies from urging “electors to vote in favor of or against any”..”Local ballot issue” (read the specific section of the law here). Read what Ken Witt wrote in the September 20th newsletter to parents about the upcoming vote on the sales tax issue, and decide for yourself if he’s following the law.
Nearby D20 faced something similar…the board was expressing opinions on a ballot issue voters are facing down there, promoting intervention by the Secretary of State.
UPDATE – Witt did it again in the 10/4 newsletter to families, shown below.
Peter Greene: Will Colorado Voters Be Wise Enough to Oppose This Ballot Measure? | Diane Ravitch’s blog
Peter Greene examines a proposed amendment to the state constitution in Colorado and its whacko implications. He urges voters to say NO. He writes: While other states are stumbling over constitutional language that aims public dollars at public schools (e.g. South Carolina and Kentucky), voucher fans in Colorado have proposed a constitutional amendment that comes up for a…
— Read on dianeravitch.net/2024/09/23/peter-greene-will-colorado-voters-be-wise-eniugh-to-oppose-this-ballot-measure/
Teachers in rural or small school districts can apply for $2,000 through Friday
Teachers looking to make a positive impact on their students have the chance to apply for up to $2,000 dollars through the Nathan Yip Foundation.
— Read on www.koaa.com/news/covering-colorado/teachers-in-rural-or-small-school-districts-can-apply-for-2-000-to-make-a-difference-in-the-classroom
Christian Conspiracy Conference Takes on Globalists, Transgender People, and Election Fraud
CTR recently obtained an audio recording of Transform Colorado’s July 16 event in Del Norte, where speakers Richard Harris and William Federer encouraged the audience to support their conservative political agenda while indulging in wild conspiracies.
— Read on coloradotimesrecorder.com/2024/07/christian-conspiracy-conference-takes-on-globalists-transgender-people-and-election-fraud/63274/
Project 2025’s Plan to Eliminate Public Schools Has Started | TIME
Concerned about shrinking enrollments and budget crises, district leaders conclude that they must close schools, often without any evidence or analysis that it would save money—and, indeed, it hasn’t been shown to save money unless coupled with mass layoffs. They hire consultants who come up with “utilization” rates and then recommend closing schools with the lowest rates to “rightsize” the district—their euphemism for their misguided belief that school facility usage should be guided by arbitrary numbers instead of meeting communities where they are.
— Read on time.com/7001264/project-2025-public-school-closure/
WPSD adopts gender identity name change policy
This spring the State of Colorado passed bill HB24-1039, requiring schools to use their chosen name where it’s different than their legal name but reflects their gender identity. The Woodland Park School District has published policy JT to address this. I question whether this would hold up to legal scrutiny, and suspect the district is actually seeking a legal challenge as they’ve already expressed their opposition to HB24-1039 in a resolution passed earlier this year. The bill text seems to imply the schools need to comply with the students’ chosen names…but the district policy JT-R outlines a procedure requiring parental approval (via form JT-E). Any request must be approved by the school principal, and the final decision lies with the Chief Academic Officer. So it’s not the student’s choice, it is ultimately the parent’s choice.
WPSD gives teachers meager raise, implements performance-based pay scale
After giving Ken Witt a 10% raise this year and a guaranteed 5% minimum raise in following years, the Woodland Park School District announced they were “proud” to announce pay raises for educators ranging from 2-3.4%, with an average pay increase of 2.5%. Read the press release here. This means teacher pay will start at $43,000, which is an improvement but still the lowest in the area:
WPSD has also implemented a performance-based pay scale, a controversial plan that Ken Witt first tried when he was on the school board in Jefferson County many years ago (before getting recalled from that position). This new pay scale gives inexperienced teachers a higher raise than experienced ones, and it’s not clear how they’ll fairly judge each teacher’s performance given the huge variables out of their control. Here’s how the district describes the plan:
Interestingly, the school board never discussed this performance-based pay plan in any public meeting.