Category Archives: News

Gateway Elementary wins Colorado Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award

I stumbled upon a bit of a surprise today…the CDE’s website shows Gateway Elementary received the Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award for 2022! Congratulations, Gateway! Great job! The press release from the CDE came out on May 18, 2023, and can be read here. As I understand it, this award is given out in the spring for test scores from the previous year (hence it’s listed as 2022).

What’s puzzling is why I find zero mention of this on the district’s website. Here’s their press release section as of today:

Best guess, is that with the press release in May, the district probably found out much sooner than that…I’ll submit a CORA request to try to learn more and will update this post with what I find. We know they’ve been trying to downplay Gateway and even tried handing it off to be operated by a charter school business earlier in 2023. It’d be hard to convince the community to hand off Gateway like that if it was known to be recognized by the Governor for its accomplishments.

Open Meetings Law case in Denver mirrors WPSD

There’s an ongoing court case in Douglas County, alleging the board violating open meetings laws by discussing the firing of their superintendent in private one on one discussions. This had previous been a gray area of Open Meetings Law…seeming to violate the spirit of the law while not actually being prevented by the law. This latest case though might be setting legal precedent in this area, as a Judge is ruling one on one discussions is a violating, saying “Circumventing the statute by a series of private one-on-one meetings at which public business is discussed and/or decisions reached is a violation of the purpose of the statute, not just its spirit.”

Interim Superintendent Ken Witt even admitted that he has one on one and one on two meetings with board members, though there’s never been any doubt prior that this is what the board was doing. Maybe the best documented case was their total lack of deliberation when deciding upon a new board member to replace a vacant seat.

With the law still not black and white in this matter, it doesn’t mean we can expect any change in WPSD’s board behavior. But hopefully it’ll lead to clarification of the law and improved government transparency statewide.

Politics and education clash as Texas district sees teachers leave

As school districts grapple with teacher shortages, NBC News’ Antonia Hylton takes us to a Texas town where frustrations over banned books, restrictions on race and identity lessons have contributed to a 40 percent increase in staff resignations and retirements.
— Read on www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/politics-and-education-clash-as-texas-district-sees-teachers-leave-182508101519

The turmoil in WPSD is happening elsewhere, too. Watch this story about events in a Texas school district.

WPHS class of 2024 sets all-time high SAT score for district

The SAT scores are in, and the WPHS class of 2024 has set a new district record! They achieved a mean score of 1022, which is 33 points higher than the state average and 67 points higher than the national average. This is the fifth year in a row of improved test scores and a testament to the improvements put in place by previous board and administrative teams. With the administrative team mostly changed for next year (district-level admin staff is mostly new, MS and one elementary principals are new), and the mass exodus of high teachers leaving the district this year (plus the adoption of the ‘low level learning’ in the American Birthright standard for social studies), it’s unclear how this upward trend in test scores will be affected.

You can read the email that Principal Burr sent to staff below:

I am pleased to report to you that WPHS SAT scores have been shared with the school, and the class of 2024 continued the school’s remarkable trend of substantial increases in Cohort Scores (year over year).  As well, the WPHS Class of 2024 set an all time high SAT mean score of 1022. 

The 1022 score is 33 points higher than the state average and 67 points higher than the national average. For the fifth year in a row, each class cohort continued to improve (year over year) in comparative data.  Cohort growth is a hallmark of school improvement.  And each cohort continues to exceed previous cohort accomplishments as WPHS sets new achievement benchmarks each year.

Most remarkable of all, the  Class of ’24 SAT Math mean score is just 4 points shy of meeting the Colorado Benchmark for Career and College Readiness.  Comparatively, the State Mean is 16 points lower than the CACR Math benchmark and the WPHS Class of 2019 was 24 points lower than the CACR Math benchmark. 

The Class of ’24 has an Evidence Based Reading and Writing mean score of 525 (which is 55 points higher than the Colorado Benchmark for CACR).

Five years ago, we embarked on a journey to embed the philosophy of Standards Based Learning and Grading.  With the help of Marzano Resources,  the school improvement skill-set within the HS Admin Team and Tina Cassens, the school staff made a commitment to improve post-secondary opportunities for our students.   Substantially enhanced curriculum standards, the use of the Summit Platform (and now, Illustrative Math), and increased Rigor / Academic Expectations all have paid remarkable dividends for WP students.  

Where once, just 22% of our students were meeting Career and College Readiness expectations (2017), the class of 2024 now has 68% of its students meeting EBRW and 44% meeting Math CACR benchmarks (comparatively – state percentages = 59% meeting EBRW CACR and 35% meeting Math — national percentages = 51% meeting EBRW and 29% meeting Math).    Looking ahead, the class of 2026 is currently on pace for 77% to meet the EBRW benchmark and 54% to meet the Math benchmark. 

We are eager to share this outstanding news with our WP Community.  Teachers and administrators across the district have worked hard and contributed much to this incredible outcome.  Celebrating our success is a fundamental tenet of the High Reliability School framework.  We look forward to seeing the reaction of our stakeholders.

Kevin Burr,  Principal

Woodland Park High School

Staffing updates for ’23-24 WPSD school year

With 57 current job openings in the district and a hostile administration due to Ken Witt’s leadership, there’s a lot of concern about whether those openings will be filled. We’re learning some things from district insiders that’s worth sharing. This information comes from various sources and does not have direct evidence to back it up, though looking at the job openings as well as resignations to date goes a long way towards substantiating the claims.

  • Both registered nurses are leaving, but there’s only one new job opening posted.
  • The special ed programs are being severely impacted. At Gateway, the mild moderate teacher resigned, autism (PLACE) program K-6 and early childhood teachers resigned, social worker resigned, one special ed early childhood teacher signed, and so there are currently NO special ed teachers for grades K-6 at Gateway. At Columbine, the mild moderate special ed teacher resigned, the affective needs teacher resigned, a school social worker resigned, and there are currently NO special ed teachers left at Columbine. At the middle school, the affective needs teacher left, and they are not planning to hire an affective needs teacher to replace that position, the mild moderate disabilities teacher resigned, a school social worker resigned, and two special ed teachers resigned remain (one significant support needs teacher and one mild moderate needs teacher). No special ed teachers have resigned from WPHS and Summit Elementary, according to sources inside the district.
  • The PLACE Programs and the Affective Needs Program are Center Based Programs. These programs serve students under the Ute Pass BOCES school districts of WPSD, Cripple Creek Victor Schools and Manitou Springs School District and were originally established to help all three districts consolidate specialized services and staff to central locations. These programs were created by YEARS of hard work and VERY dedicated staff. Every single staff member who left sited the current board and superintendent as their reasons for leaving. All special education programs require teachers to be highly qualified in their area of expertise. In a good year, these positions are difficult to fill. As of this past week, there had been no applicants to fill these positions. Public schools are required to provide a Free Appropriate Public Education to all special education students. Special Education students and their parents deserve answers NOW as to how the board and the superintendent in this district plan to solve these very serious problems caused by their words and actions.
  • Due to the massive exodus at Gateway Elementary, both Columbine and Summit are being “requested” to move one of their teachers to Gateway to help fill that gap. We hear rumors of other teachers being forced to change positions in the district, too.
  • The High School is rumored to be shifting the role of counselors in the building…they won’t be hiring mental health professionals as counselors, but will instead focus these roles as ‘academic advisors’ (the state of Colorado doesn’t require counselors to be mental health professionals).

District takes down Facebook post about Teacher Appreciation Bags

There’s a tradition in the schools, at the end of the school year, teachers not returning the next year are given Teacher Appreciation Bags. What’s made this year different is the large number of staff choosing to leave the district, with the reason cited typically being this board and superintendent. The WPHS posted a picture of the teacher appreciation bags to their Facebook page last Thursday, as shown below:

That post has now been taken down from their page. No reason was given, but I suspect it’s because this image helps make clear just how many staff are leaving the district (this picture shows 22 teacher appreciation bags, though some other teachers have already left in the past few months so are not represented here).

Gateway Elementary had an even larger sign of internal trouble, with twenty seven bags:

I’m working to get some exact numbers for how many staff are leaving; please be patient as I want solid documentation to back up the numbers and that takes time. You can expect me to publish a list in the second half of June, though there may be some additions as the summer goes on so the final tally would be August, before the new school year starts.

Parents almost universally loved our teachers here, and it’s a real shame to see so many driven away by this board and superintendent. There is no way this will not disrupt the learning environment this fall…best case scenario is a large number of new teachers that need to be integrated into WPSD; worst case is a potential failure to fill open positions, which I imagine would be addressed by increasing class size or, in the case of high school electives, eliminating those classes altogether.

Fact check – Letters to the Editor

The amount of disinformation being published in the Courier is disturbing…and I’m not sure how best to counter that. For now, I’ll just use this blog to address some of what I’m reading. First there was David Illingworth’s letter to the editor (see my review here). This time, it’s Aaron Helstrom, one of the District Accountability Committee members hand-picked by this board last fall, writing his own Letter to the Editor. I’ll pick some of his comments to review, and include his entire letter at the end here.

The article also makes it seem as if the school board is pulling all mental health funding. Fortunately, in a recent interview, School Board Member David Illingworth mentioned the rejected grants had conditions attached that went against the school’s standards and parent’s desires for their children.

In ’22-23, the district received 30 grants; they’ve applied for only a few for ’23-24. The board has never given any examples of any conditions attached to any specific grants to explain the reason not to pursue them again.

…has slowly been adapting a new, and superior, set of standards, which they have been forthright in discussing publicly.

The board never discussed the American Birthright standard, they adopted it with little public input and the public only had about one day advanced notice due to my seeking clarification of a board agenda item.

They also omitted the fact that parents and others were offered the gymnasium as an overflow room (which they did not accept).

We were never offered the gymnasium. We were told we could seek shelter in the Commons Area. Those wishing to participate in public comment needed to stay close to the doors, in the rain, to see if their name was called.

…the board granted teachers the biggest pay raise in the district’s history

Yes, per-pupil funding and sales tax revenue have greatly increased the budget allowing for this, that has nothing to do with the board and it remains to be seen if this was a sustainable move. For example, per pupil funding next year is increasing about 8%; will the board pass along that increase to teachers in the form of another raise?

has helped to offer transportation services to students to attend classes

The board has extended transportation services to Merit Academy, without asking them to pay their fair share.

They have approved funding for meal services so any student in the district who needs a free meal is able to get one

The funding comes from the state, via the free lunch program funded by Proposition FF. The board did not approve funding. The board and superintendent vocally opposed this program, until presumably public opposition made them change their mind.

The board also started the first charter school in the district, giving parents greater choice.

Merit Academy was started by Ken Witt and Brad Miller, under the umbrella of ERBOCES in the ’21-22 school year. The board did not start the charter school, the transferred Merit from ERBOCES to WPSD.

Most notable, for the first time in over a decade, enrollment grew by an astounding 15%, placing Woodland Park district in the Top Five for student growth in Colorado.

This ignores the massive decrease in the district with Merit opened up under ERBOCES. If you count those students as always being in WPSD, the actual increase is around 3%. Considering the COVID trends of people moving to rural areas, it’s impossible to assign credit for that increase to any one factor. Read more here.

Continue reading →

RN and special education staffing levels

I’ve learned that both of the nurses in our district are leaving at the end of the year, yet there is only one job opening posted. Perhaps the district will post a second opening eventually, but this is concerning, as five schools would be a lot for only one RN to handle. Note that each school DOES have its own full time health aide and it’s expected those will be kept. But having only one RN would be too much, especially when it comes to immunization compliance and health screenings. Again, they may yet post a second position…but this is something parents should watch.

The other bit of news concerns our special education program. Insiders say that those staff levels are being severely decimated by staff leaving the district after this year, with some special education programs losing all staff, reportedly because of this board and superintendent. The question is, will the district be able to attract new employees to fill those positions? We can and must do better than this, especially for these most vulnerable children.

Teacher residency program in WPSD

Our district intends to establish a teacher residency program in partnership with Public Education and Business Coalition (PEBC), as outline in this MOU. This would bring in student teachers to the district, working along side mentor teachers for their first year, before transitioning to classroom teachers for a subsequent two year commitment to the district. PEBC provides some training to the student teachers for two days a week. It’s not clear whether mentor teachers receive any additional compensation for this work. Student teachers will be with their mentors four days a week; Thursdays will be in-person training with PEBC.

Cost is $2,500 per student teacher, with an additional $6,000 once that student teacher completes their third year (one year training plus two years classroom). Sounds like an interesting program. I’m not thrilled with the classrooms being live-streamed to the PEBC and their subcontractors, though COVID kinda shattered that privacy expectation already.

A quote from the MOU:

In order to increase retention of excellent teachers in schools and elevate the teaching profession, PEBC has created a teacher residency program, in which each participant (a “Resident”) receives training and education while he or she completes a residency year and two subsequent years of teaching within the Resident’s hiring school district

November election can return normalcy to the district

Woodland Park, Colorado, is a great example of what CAN happen with an extremist conservative board takes over and starts making changes.  This board is driving teachers and students out of the district, but voters have a very real chance of shifting the balance this November when three of the five board director positions are up for election.  There’s so much going on, that to get up to speed, check out the article and TV story NBC News did on us, and also the most recent one from Colorado Public Radio.

A wonderful slate of three candidates has announced their intent to run for school board this fall and I support them completely.  At this point in the race, the candidates are focused on fundraising and working on messaging.  If you’d like to help us take back control of this school board this fall, please consider donating to support their campaigns and send a message that we value traditional public education in this country. Any amount, no matter how small will help! Better yet, consider a small recurring monthly donation to help them between now and November. We need to get all three of these people elected!

Read more about the candidates in this article.

You can donate using these links:

Mike Knott: https://electmikeknottwpsd.com

Seth Bryant: https://sites.google.com/sb4wpsd.com/sethbryantforwpsd

Keegan Barkley: https://keeganbarkley4wpsd.com

Thank you for your support!