Category Archives: News

WPSD Enrollment Numbers – a closer look

It’s worth doing a deeper dive into enrollment numbers, as it’s something this board likes to frequently tout. We’ll set aside for now whether the quality of a school district should be judged by enrollment…and just evaluate this statistic.

The Claim

  • BOE has increased enrollment by ~15% for the ’22-23 school year

The Vedict: misleading

  • District enrollment did indeed increase 15.8% in ’22-23 compared to ’21-22.
  • Digging Deeper:
    • In the ’21-22 school year, Merit kids were not counted as being in Woodland Park RE-2, they were legally part of ERBOCES (their status was Contract School).
    • Merit kids were going to school in town in ’21-22, but not counting towards district numbers. Hence, the big jump when they were then reclassified as WPSD as a charter school.
    • When Merit opened for the ’21-22 school year, WPSD enrollment decreased by 11% as those kids shifted from WPSD to ERBOCES.
    • If we count Merit students as always being part of WPSD, the numbers are:
      • ’21-22 school year: 3.1% increase in enrollment (the first year Merit opened)
      • ’22-23 school year: 0.14% increase in enrollment
  • Given the chaotic COVID time and nationwide shift in population to more rural areas during that time, it’s impossible to say if that 3.1% increase was due to Merit or just nationwide trends.
  • The claim that district enrollment increased 15% this past school year is misleading, it uses a shell game to inflate numbers.
  • DATA: enrollment numbers, from the CDE (direct link to XLS)
    • 2018-2019: 2380
    • 2019-2020: 2284
    • 2020-2021: 2055
    • 2021-2022: 1832 (Merit’s first year)
    • 2021-2022: 2119 – if you include the 287 Merit students
    • 2022-2023: 2122
  • Student enrollment has been on the decline in Woodland Park prior to COVID, though demographics have also been changing.
    • Our population is aging, and the Charis bible school population is displacing young families due to rapidly increasing housing costs.
      • Student enrollment has also been on the decline statewide (story 1, story 2, story 3).
      • It’s difficult to use student enrollment as a measure of a school’s quality.

What’s Lost When a Teacher Leaves a School | EdSurge News

The teacher pipeline is no longer leaking. With enrollment in traditional teacher education programs declining nationwide in the past few years, it is drying up at an alarming rate.

As the nation grapples with the profound effects these challenges have on school communities, the term “learning loss” has made its way into the spotlight. This term is commonly used in stories detailing what children across America lost during remote learning. It focuses primarily on how students have fallen behind in core academic areas such as reading and math, which is of course a critical issue. The trouble is, the term doesn’t represent the complexity of what students, families and school communities experience with teacher turnover.
— Read on www.edsurge.com/news/2023-05-05-what-s-lost-when-a-teacher-leaves-a-school

Resignation letter – Laura O’Connell

As reposted on Facebook:

May 7th, 2023
Mr. Witt,
I am writing this letter to inform you of my resignation from the School to Work Alliance Program (SWAP) Coordinator position for Woodland Park School District. My last day will be the final day of my current contract, June 30, 2023. This decision has been reached for a variety of reasons, all directly related to the actions of the current WPSD Board of Education, but the two most recent occurrences in our district finalized my choice to resign.
First, as I read the contract of employment offered to me by Woodland Park School District last week, I was taken aback that it stated, “The District, or its representatives, has explained the School District mission, philosophy, and goals and the Employee has expressed a commitment to work for the District in accordance with such requirements.” Neither the district nor a representative had explained these things to me, so I reached out to Mr. Salt asking for this explanation to take place. After not hearing from him for days, I chose to reflect on the actions of the board in an attempt to understand their mission, philosophy, and goals on my own:
Through this reflection I have determined that their mission, as evidenced by their actions, is to defund traditional public schools, funnel the money into charter schools who do not have to be accountable to the taxpayers, and into the outstretched hands of their wealthy friends, yourself included. I am sure that is upsetting for you to hear. However, as someone who has spent countless years to achieve and continue to increase my knowledge and credentials in an effort to ensure I was able serve young people to the best of my ability, I have no other way to rectify a superintendent, with less credentials than the majority of the WPSD staff, working part time making a full superintendent’s salary. I also believe the Board’s actions have shown a strong mission to devalue the education profession as evidenced through the constant bullying of high-caliber, deeply caring teachers, and administrators, as well as the environment of fear they, and now you, have intentionally curated within the schools. I entered education with the understanding that our children deserve more in terms of funding, not less, and the belief that our educators are a unique gift to our society in that they love, think about, give to, and hope for each and every child as if they were their own. Therefore, I cannot ethically and in good conscience help this board achieve their missions, as shown by their actions.
Upon reflection of the actions of this Board of Education, I also determined that the Board’s philosophy is that lower-level learning will somehow lead to higher levels of achievement, and that education is nothing but a business to profit from, with children being nothing but products. I have reviewed the American Birthright Standards, and as a person who holds a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction, my expert analysis is that these standards will only lead to the memorization of basic facts, with little chance that knowledge will be retained through higher levels of thinking such as analysis, application, and evaluation of how history can be compared to current events. As for my conclusion that this Board views the education of children as a business, this is derived through statements made by the BOE, and most recently stated by you in a meeting with WPSD educators. I entered education with the understanding
that it is a public service, not a business, with the desired outcome being that each individual and thus society may reach its highest potential. As a result, I cannot ethically and in good conscience commit to helping this BOE lower the bar for learning and turn children into business products.
Lastly, through my reflection of their actions, I determined that the BOE’s goals are to do whatever it takes, including committing what I genuinely believe would be considered crimes if they were fully investigated, to ensure that their personal agendas are realized. In my opinion, these crimes include large sums of money paid to people such as yourself and Mr. Miller for little work, and the possibility that the Board hid that Mr. Illingworth physically trapped Dr. Neal in his office and refused to allow him to leave, resulting in a hefty sum being paid to Dr. Neal. Also, the fact that Mr. Miller can be heard on audio recording telling the Board that they do not have to be transparent with their constituents, and the use of apps that delete communications to circumvent the Open Meetings Laws. It is obvious to me that these heinous behaviors are utilized to achieve an equally immoral goal of ensuring that each student and staff member in our schools thinks, believes, and acts as this Board does. This is also evidenced through the board pushing their religious and political beliefs onto our school community, censoring or limiting access to ideas, beliefs, and perspectives that are different than their own, limiting self-expression, and their apparent attempts to end critical thinking, civic participation, and supports for those students outside what they consider the norm. In my mind if these goals were met, children would either 1) become white supremacist and exhibit cult like behavior, incapable of critical thought, or 2) if not white, straight, Christian, or otherwise willing to go along with the demands of this board, they would learn to hate themselves. With no mental health support to help them overcome the damage done by this type of group thinking that the board wishes to impose on students, the outcomes will be catastrophic for our young people. I entered education with the belief that ALL children contain infinite potential and worth, and therefore, deserve an equitable education that honors their unique identities, personalities, gifts, cultures, and families. I also believe, and have witnessed, that the world is a better place when the next generation is taught to think for themselves and challenge the status quo. Therefore, I cannot ethically or in good conscience commit to helping this BOE achieve their goals.
The second most recent occurrence that has led to my final decision to resign, is the announcement by the district that they would be buying memberships into the Professional Association of Colorado Educators (PACE). Upon being informed of this I immediately reached out to Mrs. Gonzales to ask if I would be able to opt out of this membership, to which I was informed that the district would be paying for the membership regardless. In my opinion, this is contrary to the freedom that this BOE touts as one of their main beliefs. While PACE may claim to be a “non-union” and non-partisan, they are an association just like the Woodland Park Educator’s Association (WPEA). They lobby at the state capital for change, and their parent organization lobbies at the Capitol. Members pay dues to pay for these activities to take place. They are a union. But unlike WPEA, the district is forcing all WPSD staff into membership into this union. A union that lobbies for the defunding of traditional public education under the guise of “school choice,” much like this BOE is currently doing, the end of SEL and a focus on
mental health in schools, and the end of collective bargaining for teachers. These are all beliefs that do not align with my values. As a result, I will not have my name added to PACE’s membership roster, nor monies paid on my behalf to further their political agendas. To be clear, Woodland Park School District, its Board of Education, or any of the district’s representatives do not have my consent to give PACE, or any affiliated individuals or organizations, my personal information, including my name, nor give PACE, or any affiliated individuals or organizations, monies on my behalf. If the PACE memberships will be bought prior to the final date of my contract, and WPSD is inclined to give my information as a current employee, my last day of employment will be the day prior to any such membership being bought.
In closing, I would just like to say that I feel an immense amount of gratitude for my years as an educator in Woodland Park School District. Administrators such as Yvonne Going, Erin Street, Nicole Geniesse, Kevin Burr, and Tina Cassens challenged me to always do what is best for students, to partner with parents every step of the way, to value data over opinion or any personal bias, and to constantly reflect in an effort to be better than I was the day before. My colleagues supported me in my endeavor to be the best educator I could be, because that is what our students deserved, and lifted me up in ways too numerous to count when life threw curveballs. I am grateful for the families I was lucky enough to partner with, who trusted me as a professional with their children and refused to settle for anything other than seeking their children’s highest potential. Last, but definitely not least, I am grateful for my students, who, little did they know, were teaching me far more than is likely I taught them, and who I am a better person for having gotten to know, and for getting a front row seat to watch grow. I hope that my, and other WPSD staffs’, unwavering belief in them will be more prominent than any of the indoctrination and thought-limiting policies and ideas this board forces upon them.
Prior to this Board of Education and its current representatives, Woodland Park School District, was a wonderful place to work, live, and grow. We strived every day to see, hear, and love each and every child, and I watched them bloom in incredible ways as a result. I am thankful for those years and look forward to that work continuing in communities across the state and nation as nearly half of the Panther staff find new homes to do this work without the immoral, criminal, fear-cultivating behavior of this Board of Education and its representatives.
Laura O’Connell

Why did the public schools buy a playground for the charter school?

Merit Academy is its own business entity…they have their own board, their own budget. So tell me, why did the WPSD buy a playground for them? Why didn’t Merit buy it themselves?

Their new playground, designed for ages 5-12, cost $75,347 (invoice 1, invoice 2), and as far as we can tell from the payment records, was paid for entirely by the WPSD. According to CDE data, district enrollment, not counting Merit, is 1676 students. So in other words, each student in the (traditional) public schools paid $44.96 out of funds that could otherwise have been used for their education…while Merit kids paid exactly $0.00.

Why are students of the (traditional) public schools paying for a playground to be used solely by students in a charter school? That is a question I posed to the interim superintendent, and also our school board president, but both refused to answer. So draw your own conclusions.

It’s also worth noting that this appears to be a violation of the Facilities Usage Agreement signed last spring. Section B(b) says, “The School shall be solely responsible to perform and bear the costs associated with the School Improvements.” Section H says, “All School Work performed by School pursuant to this Agreement shall be performed by School and at the School’s sole cost and expense.” It appears the WPSD school board and administration violated the Facilities Usage Agreement, to the benefit of Merit Academy and the detriment of the (traditional) public schools.

Who is PACE, and why should we care?

Today, we need to talk about PACE – the Professional Association of Colorado Educators (PACE). PACE is a state chapter of the Association of American Educators (AAE) – an organization which supports school vouchers and is funded in part by the Independence Institute and the Walton Family, Jacquelin Hume, and the Bradley Foundation. These donors, and PACE, are, quite simply, not supporters of traditional public education and are actively working to weaken public education. PACE itself is marketed as an alternative to groups such as the Woodland Park Education Association, the Pikes Peak Education Association, and the Colorado Education Association. Or what the board likes to refer to as ‘the union’.

The National Education Association (NEA), the largest labor union in the United States, and its state affiliates, have accused AAE and its state affiliates of being “pro-voucher” “anti-public education” and “anti-union.”[20][21] The NEA cites as evidence that major contributors to AAE Foundation have also contributed to school choice initiatives, which the NEA labels as “anti-public education” and “anti-union.”[21] The NEA has distributed a “toolkit” advising local members on how to respond to the AAE, including talking points and action plans. The NEA has labeled AAE “the leading anti-NEA organization.”[21] AAE and state affiliates have responded by highlighting that over 90% of their membership are public school teachers and the AAE has never taken a position supporting vouchers.[18][22][23] AAE has supported school choice, although their activities for National School Choice Week primarily involve public charter school teachers, never vouchers.[24] Also, the major funders cited by the NEA as proof of AAE’s agenda, have also given grants, albeit of much smaller value, to public school districts and universities. For example, the Walton Family Foundation donates heavily to public charter schools and groups focused on influencing policy toward school choice, including vouchers, but also granted some money to a few public school districts as well as Teach for America and the United Negro College Fund.[25][18] Counter to these claims to neutrality, organizations such as SourceWatch, citing documents obtained from some of AAE’s funders, continue to describe the association as a right-wing organization contributing to efforts to weaken unions and undermining their political objectives.[26]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_American_Educators

PACE, a Colorado-based organization, was originally incorporated in 2006 with Kim Shugart as the sole member on its Board of Directors. However, after a few years, Shugart seemed to have lost interest in the organization, causing it to fall out of compliance with the Colorado Secretary of State in 2010. In 2022, Shugart rectified this by bringing PACE back into compliance.

Interestingly, the original articles of incorporation made no mention of the parent organization AAE, suggesting that AAE’s involvement with PACE did not begin until 2022. Regardless, PACE’s current principal address is listed as the AAE office in California, and its legal representative in Colorado is attorney Robert Gardner in Colorado Springs. This information is readily available on the Colorado Secretary of State’s website.

While PACE’s website lists its address as 9800 Mount Pyramid Court, Suite 400 in Englewood, Colorado, it is worth noting that this space is currently available for lease as a coworking space. Therefore, it is uncertain whether PACE has a permanent office there. It is important to note that PACE differs from the CEA, which boasts 19 physical offices throughout Colorado.

What do the WPEA/PPEA/CEA offer that PACE doesn’t? Skilled legal protection, real professional development, and lobbyists providing teachers with a strong voice in government advocating for education and educators. Coloradans acting in support of teachers and staff statewide. PACE, on the other hand, has very few employees. The one staff member listed on their website is Ariel Elliott, their Regional Membership Director. The other name we see associated with PACE frequently is Tim Farmer, who at various times in PACE’s blog has been referred to as their Membership Director, Policy Director, Staffer, and Regional Director. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he currently works with the WPSD attorney Brad Miller as a partner in Miller Farmer Law.

Why does all this matter…why are we talking about PACE? The Woodland Park School District sent an email to teachers on May 1st, outline changes to their benefits for the upcoming school year. One benefit being added is membership in PACE for all school-based staff. We had previously reported about actions the district has taken to attack or weaken the WPEA in the district. such as not withholding union dues and introducing policy prohibiting union leadership from using district computers to contact members..now they’re actively working to replace the WPEA with PACE.

According to PACE’s website, membership costs $19.50 per month, or $234 annually. We counted 296 staff for the ’23-24 school year, so that’s a potential cost to the district of $69,264 – though it’s unclear at this point if staff would be automatically enrolled, and if they’d be allowed to opt-out if that were the case.

So, we have our school district implementing policies to weaken the WPEA, while at the same time promoting an organizing that our district’s attorney has close ties to. Just another day in Woodland Park, Colorado.

Illingworth’s latest belittling email to a parent

David Illingworth has a long history of hostile language towards parents and teachers in the district. His latest tirade was directed towards Nate Owen, as much a part of the WP community as anybody. Nate is a popular high school teacher who clearly cares greatly for his students, has taught in the district for eleven years, and has four kids growing up in WP schools (he’s also sponsored Key Club, part of the Kiwanis family service organization, for all those eleven years).

Here’s what David Illingworth emailed Nate:

Nate, you are union president and nothing you say has any credibility with me. You seem to only care about creating division, despair, and a climate of doom amongst teachers and parents for your wealthy union bosses. Don’t even pretend to guilt parents and teachers that focusing schools on academics means abandoning our kids. That’s disgusting.


Parents run this district now, not the union. The schools exist for the kids, not the union and their politicians. Your grandstanding for the cameras does not fool me. You work for the union, not parents and certainly not kids.


DAVID W. ILLINGWORTH II
Director

source

The board had adjourned to executive session in their board meeting earlier in the day; the meeting livestream continued to run. Nate took the opportunity to speak to those still present in the room; you can watch his speech below. Nate forwarded the text of his speech to the board; Illingworth’s email was in reply to that.

Director Illingworth is up for re-election this fall.

A High School teacher’s resignation letter

One of the many teachers leaving the Woodland Park school district this year is Kyle Crawford, a high school social studies teacher and basketball coach (both the boys and girls teams qualified for State this year for the first time since 2008). Teachers are limited in what they can publicly say (some have been fired for doing so), but when there’s any written communication to district employees, that becomes public record. Below is the resignation letter Mr. Crawford submitted to the district, in which he singles out the board, superintendent, and American Birthright standards as his reasons for leaving. Click here for the original PDF if the image is too small to read.

Anonymous letter from a WPSD teacher

An anonymous letter from a Woodland Park school district teacher was recently posted to the Concerned Parents of Teller County Facebook group…I’m reposting here:

I could write a novel about the things I didn’t know I was signing up for when I became a teacher. I didn’t have a clue that I’d spend nights awake worrying about my kids, or that I would have days that I would leave work too physically and mentally exhausted to function. I didn’t know how extensive the paperwork, planning time, and meetings would be. We are always working overtime and we often skip lunch/bathroom breaks because there is not enough time. Teachers turn the other cheek constantly and give students, co-workers and parents fresh starts everyday. Most of these things are not typed up in the job description when you apply for a teaching job. A job that starts out at around $40,000-45,000 a year for the record.

This job is hard. It is exhausting under normal circumstances. BUT it becomes impossible, infuriating, and quite frankly, DEGRADING when unqualified officials take over and use their power to destroy a school system.

It’s clear to most rational community members that the board has a political/religious agenda and wants to profit off of Merit. However, what is less apparent is how it is affecting the students lives. Teachers have to follow confidentiality rules. We can’t share heartbreaking stories about the students that will get left behind in public school. Not every student has parents to fight for them and not every family has the ability to choice their kids into other districts. We also can’t share information on the amount of kids that have come back to public schools after attending Merit. Some of which are students whose IEPs haven’t been served correctly. The kids that will be left behind in the public school system after all this will largely be the students that live in poverty, have behavior needs or IEPs.

What drew me to this profession was making a difference in kids lives. You get to show up for kids in really tough situations. I fell in love with reading books to students, sharing laughs about the silly things they say and watching the progress they make- not just as learners, but as humans. In this job, you get to share moments with kids at the most magical time of their lives. At this point in their lives they are still quick to forgive, they are incredibly resilient, they love to have fun, and they build relationships based on nothing other than how you treat them. The kids are what makes it worth it.

As teachers, we learn to be solution oriented. I am struggling to find ways to fix the mess that has been created by Ken Witt, the board, and Charis Bible college. If they respected teachers enough to ask, these would be the solutions I would share.

To the parents of students in the school system and the community members:

Please keep speaking out on social media and at board meetings.

Vote them out in November!!

File complaints to CDE

https://www.cde.state.co.us/spedlaw/statecomplaint

If you have kids with special needs research your rights and speak up. Check out this link if you want more information on how charters affect kids on IEPs. https://exceptionalchildren.org/…/Public%20Funds%20…

You can write to government officials and speak to the press.

To the board members and superintendent:

I challenge you to spend time in the classrooms. Sit with students and talk to them about what they like about their schools.

Shadow a teacher and see what they do in a single day while you spend an absurd amount of money on lunch.

Try going to counseling. Some SEL could teach you a lot.

Please understand your political agenda may help your career but it is RUINING kids lives.

Keep in mind there’s separation of church and state for a reason.

Ask yourself, do you truly think what you are doing is in the best interest of the kids in Woodland park? Because they are pretty important to our future.

To the teachers that are staying:

Keep fighting for kids. I thank you for what you are doing for the people in this community. You have one of the hardest jobs in the world and I am in awe of you.

WPSD policy changes affecting staff

The district has made updates to a couple policies impacting staff. They’ve been publicizing these updates on their website.

First up is policy GBEBA – STAFF DRESS CODE. This policy has been changed to state that, “Hair coloration must be natural hues.” It’s not clear how a teacher’s hair color impacts a student’s learning environment, though it might make students more comfortable with expressing their inner self…a dangerous thing as far as this board is concerned.

The other policy recently updated is GBEB – STAFF CONDUCT (read previous version here). The district has added this new section:

It is a breach of conduct for an employee to use District or school equipment (including without limitation, computers and District email accounts) to communicate or correspond on behalf of any organization other than the District, including to recruit or schedule meetings for another organization. It shall additionally be a breach of conduct for an employee to use District facilities for any non-District related activities or on behalf of any other organizations unless such use is approved in accordance with Policy KF.

link to source

This seems to be an effort to prevent the local teacher’s union (WPEA) from using district equipment to email teachers and organize meetings. It doesn’t appear to prevent teachers from receiving emails from the WPEA at their district accounts.

The district also updated policy GBK-R1 – GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE. The new policy (link) greatly weakens any recourse teachers have via this policy. There is no longer any arbitration period; there is no longer a grievance committee, the board gets to choose whether or not to review a grievance, and there are no group grievances. Compare that new policy with the previous policy here.