Category Archives: News

Teachers need our support!

The teachers need our support! Yesterday, Witt announced the sixth grade will be moved out of the Middle School and back to the elementary schools. This was done with zero collaboration with teachers or parents in the district…it was a surprise to all.

The majority of Middle School staff called in sick today (we’re told 29+).

Witt met with staff at Summit Elementary this morning. It did NOT go well. He’ll be meeting with staff at Gateway this afternoon.

Tomorrow morning (3/2), Witt will be meeting with staff at the Middle School at 7:30AM. We need to show the teachers we support them; we need as many people as possible lining the sidewalk outside the middle school. Bring signs if you can; we’ll have some extras. Do not block the roads; do not block pedestrians using the sidewalks. Please arrive early, by 7:00 if possible.

Sixth graders being moved out of Middle School

This afternoon, the Witt administration and our school board announced that sixth grade would be moved out of the Middle School building, back down to the elementary school buildings. This is being done to provide more space to Merit Academy. The feasibility study a year ago showed the capacity for Merit’s side of the building to be 471 students, so it’s not clear how this move is actually necessary. Especially considering the costs incurred with partitioning the school last year. This is probably just a preemptive move in anticipation of losing this fall’s school board elections and facing a board more friendly towards traditional public schools.

Merit’s 2022-23 enrollment is 331 students; if they add a grade next year that’s an increase of 30-50 students. So, still well under the 471 capacity number. In the 2022-23 school year, the middle school had 136 sixth graders (391 total students). So, a 17% increase in students in the three elementary buildings. (spreadsheet link with data)

The superintendent also announced that the district will continue to use the Summit Learning Platform for 7th-10th grades.

There was no public meeting. No public announcement.

Parents have not been notified of this change yet.

Tina Cassens is leaving!

Tina Cassens is moving on from the district, see her email to staff below. She’s been a valuable member of the staff and will be sorely missed.

This comment was posted to a Facebook group…I think it’s worth reposting here to help people understand what this all means:

Unless you’ve personally seen Tina in action, I don’t think you can grasp how big of a loss this is for our district. She’s an amazing educator, maybe the best, who EARNED the respect of her peers through consistent authoritative inclusive leadership, a constant growth mindset, creativity in solving incredibly difficult problems, and a truly giving heart. I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to work with her.

Elizabeth School Board meeting reveals tensions in district | Elbertcountynews.net

The Elizabeth School District, a generally conservative district in western Elbert County, is experiencing extreme turmoil that is radiating through the entire Elizabeth community. Members of the school board are feuding over the perceived threat that critical race theory (CRT) and social emotional learning (SEL) might appear in district classrooms.
— Read on elbertcountynews.net/stories/tense-elizabeth-school-board-meeting,422282

District statement on NCAA class eligibility

A parent in the district recently noticed that because of the district’s adoption of the American Birthright standards, some classes at the high school no longer met NCAA eligibility requirements. The district’s response is below, in an email sent to parents today. In summary, they’ll be submitting the new class info for review this summer, and also note the timeline for that review is uncertain. It doesn’t sound like parents will get an answer in time to decide whether to enroll their student here or elsewhere for this next school year, though it’s expected there will be online classes offered that would meet NCAA requirements.

Yet another example of the avoidable chaos that this school board and interim superintendent seem to embrace.

Del Garrick gives two weeks notice!

Longtime district employee Del Garrick has given his two weeks notice! guy literally grew up in this town and went to these schools. 22 years working in this district. He’s been serving as HR director and, I believe, finance; he and Tina were co-superintendents before Witt was hired.

And now he’s out.

We’ve been fearing there would be a mass exodus of teachers at the end of this school year. If any of them were on the fence…seeing Del leave is not going to convince them to stay.

Talk Out of School (podcast)

Looking for a good podcast about charter schools nationwide? I previously recommended episode #150 of Have You Heard; here’s another one just released from Talk Out of School. Our board has not articulated their vision for this district in any detail, but seeing them engage Third Future last month makes it clear they’re working towards decreasing the traditional public schools in this district. There is a nationwide effort to do so; podcasts like these are useful to understand how this is playing out elsewhere and where it seems to be leading.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-out-of-school/id1490313171

Your tax dollars for their private school? More states are saying yes – Los Angeles Times

We get caught up in our fight with our local school board, but it’s important to remember that there is a nationwide effort to privatize the educational system in this county, and that once we win our local fight, we need to shift focus to the national level.

This opinion piece from the Los Angeles Times talks about this more and is a good, quick primer on the topic.

— Read on www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-02-12/school-vouchers-private-public-school-iowa-kim-reynolds-lgbtq-parental-rights

If you have the time, it’s also worth listening to this podcast on the subject, as it talks more about where voucher programs may lead the educational system and a future for charter schools that wish to operate more like private schools.

https://soundcloud.com/haveyouheardpodcast/charter-schools-go-private?si=e27543d8678d44b2891e1be43e0a5e4e&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Enforcement of Social Studies standards in Colorado

Unless you’re new to this website, you already know that the Woodland Park school board adopted the American Birthright standard for social studies last month. Colorado Public Radio published a great article about this, and talked about how the state board of education rejected these standards last fall. These standards have already been used to censor one class, so naturally parents are concerned.

So, what’s a concerned parent to do? Well the state mandates that each district implement standards that meet or exceed the state standards.

Surely the American Birthright standard, which the state already rejected, wouldn’t meet these criteria?

I contacted the Colorado Department of Education. They in turn reached out to the Woodland Park school district about this issue, and received this reply:

So, they’ll be taking a non-compliant standard, picking and choosing sections to ensure compliance? On the surface this sounds bad but possibly compliant. But in the end, who will judge whether the district has pulled off this tightrope act? Turns out the answer is…the district themselves. The state does not review districts to actually ensure they’re complying with the state standards! This is what the Colorado Department of Education told me:

So there you have it.

Is there no government body overseeing our school board? Hey, what about the Colorado Association of School Boards! Sounds promising, right? Umm…no: