Last Week:

• School’s out for summer! 😀
• This was a quiet week, with the focus on wrapping up the school year. The only thing I reported on was the teacher appreciation bags at two of the schools…not just the quantity, but that the district took down a post from the High School’s Facebook page showing the large number of bags there.
• I’m seeing an increase in the number of letters to the editor at the Courier that parrot the same pro-board talking points. I dove into one here, fact checking what I could.

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

• The district is officially on spring break, but we expect some activity this month on a few fronts. First, the preliminary budget needs to be presented and discussed, in the June 14 board meeting. As part of that, we’ll be hearing the board’s plans detailed for improved security, including $1 million from the reserve fund to be spent on one-time infrastructure improvements, and money to be spent on security personnel in our schools (presumably, but not confirmed, to be through Sheriff Mikesell’s private security company).
• In the budget overview last month, the district predicts per-pupil funding to increase about 11%, and district enrollment to remain flat. Given these numbers and the increased revenue it suggests, will the board be giving teachers a raise? They made (and continue to make) a really big deal last year about using extra revenue to give teachers a raise so it’d be odd for them to not once again take advantage of this opportunity, especially considering the large numbers of staff leaving the district.

Last week:

• Congratulations, class of 2023!
• The big news of the week was the announcement by Mike Knott, Keegan Barkley, and Seth Bryant that they would all be running for school board this November. There are three seats up for grabs; it has not been announced which one of these is going against which incumbent (Illingworth, Kimbrell, Bates). These three have each set up their own fundraising campaign; you can learn more about those at this link. All three would need to get elected to shift the balance of power on the board.
• The second part in the ‘Will this be on the test? Teacher Pod’ podcast is now streaming online, focusing on events in our district.
• We learned about plans underway to establish a teacher residency program in WPSD (we don’t know if the MOU or any contract has been signed by the district at this point).
• The May 10 board meeting continues to be talked about, with director Illingworth’s letter to the editor in the Courier receiving a bit of fact checking here.
• It’s not just teachers leaving…nursing and special education staff are also leaving the district.

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

• School wraps up! The board will be focusing next month on finalizing a budget for next year. Within that budget, we expect to hear a proposal to outsource building security, most likely to Teller County Sheriff Mikesell’s private security company. Also, mentioned in the DAC meeting was that the board is looking to use $1 million from the reserves account to pay for building security upgrades (one-time expenses, not recurring like salary).
• After the next board meeting on June 14th, we should have a better estimate of exactly how many staff are leaving.

Last Week:

• After that May 10th board meeting, we were all anxiously awaiting NBC’s primetime segment on us, and they finally aired it on Thursday.
• Ken Witt was interviewed on local radio station KOA. Quote of the day: he “knows” the CEA and WPEA “hate America.”
• Ken Witt loaned a US flag to the district to be put on display, and used almost $600 of district money to have it framed. Turns out it’s not a valid US flag, it’s the ’42 star’ version that was never made official.
• We found some more recent resignation letters in a CORA request. These help shed some insight into what’s going on with staff.
• We received a copy of an email that a job applicant sent to the district, after withdrawing from the application process. This board and superintendent’s actions are impacting our district’s ability to attract candidates.
• The district has a new email filter…your freedom of speech to the board no longer extends to words such as ‘crap’. Emails contain that and, presumably, other words will be automatically rejected.
• We published a few small things learned in recent CORA requests. Including the fact that Witt’s contract with ERBOCES has been modified to reduce his salary, presumably since he’s not working there full-time anymore (his WPSD contract has not been similarly modified).
• CNN had a crew out in Colorado Springs, checking in on what Moms For Liberty is up to down there.
• The District Accountability Committee (DAC) held their regular monthly meeting. In it, Illingworth mentioned they’re looking at spending $1 million from district reserves on security upgrades (this would be for one-time costs, not recurring things like personnel). They’re also working on a plan for security personnel but not providing details yet. The discussion on budget was brief and unfortunately, no new detail that wasn’t shown in the 5/10 board meeting. Lastly, there was a productive conversation about how to improve school crosswalk safety, specifically the one in front of the Middle School that everyone agrees is dangerous.

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

• Class of 2023 graduates Saturday! Congratulations!
  • We’re told Ken Witt will be speaking at the graduation ceremony.
  • Please don’t disrupt the ceremony during Witt’s speech; this is the seniors’ special day and we should not do anything to spoil that. However, it might be a good opportunity to actually speak to Witt one on one, either before or after graduation.
  • As is customary, members of the board may be present; this event is being classified as a ‘work session’ so that they all may attend without being in violation of Open Meetings Law.

Last Week:

• NBC published a story about our district; the reporter, Tyler Kingkade, had spent a couple days in town last month investigating what’s going on.
• The big story of the week was of course the May 10th board meeting, where the board reduced capacity in the building for attendees, allegedly (see Fox21 TV story) reached out to Charis students to help pack the room with supporters, and left around a hundred stakeholders standing outside in the rain, unable to be a part of the meeting.
  • NBC Nightly News’ coverage of this meeting should air Monday evening.
  • Here’s KOAA’s coverage
  • Here’s FOX21’s coverage
  • Here’s KRDO’s coverage
• A resignation letter from staff member Laura O’Connell shed some light on what’s going on behind the scenes in our district and can be considered a must-read.
• The transportation cost sharing concerns continue to go unanswered; Witt dodged the question in the Wednesday board meeting.
• We reviewed the enrollment numbers over time, to see if the board’s claim about enrollment increases is supported by facts.
• Colorado Public Radio talked a bit about us in a podcast this past week.
• District parent Matt Gawlowski, and former district employee Logan Ruths, appeared on the podcast Will This Be on the Test? Teacher Pod.
• Is Ken Witt qualified to be superintendent? We reviewed the qualifications sought in the original job post.
• We learned what PACE membership is costing the district.
• We posted an interesting article about What’s Lost When a Teacher Leaves a School (WPSD turnover is around 40-50% this year).
• (phew – busy week!!!)

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

• We expect NBC Nightly News to air their story about the Woodland Park RE-2 school district Monday evening.
• The District Accountability Committee (DAC) meets Wednesday, 6:00PM, in the district conference room. We expect they will review the preliminary budget, though the details Amy Ryan (CFO) provided in the May 10th board meeting were incredibly sparse.
• The next scheduled board meeting is June 14.

Last Week:

• Former high school teacher David Graf testified in a Colorado House committee in support of SB23-111.
• Nate Owen and Logan Ruths testified in a Colorado Senate committee in support of HB23-1065.
• We published an analysis of the financial impact of the board’s cost sharing agreement (obtained via CORA) with Merit Academy for transportation services.
• We published financial details (via CORA) of the playground the district bought for Merit Academy.
• We published the district’s plan for implementing the American Birthright Standards (obtained via CORA).
• WPSD staff received their contracts to sign for next year, and in those, learned they are being signed up for the Professional Association of Colorado Educators (PACE) – we dove into the details of what PACE is in this post.
• The Denver Gazette published a story about school board secrecy.
• There was some great public comment at the City Council meeting…working to get video to post online!

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

• There’s a school board meeting Wednesday, 5/10/2023, 6:00PM, in the district conference room.
  • Here’s a link to the agenda
  • The board will present and discuss the preliminary budget for the ’23-24 school year.
  • The board will vote to renew Interim Superintendent Ken Witt’s contract for another year, and drop the ‘interim’ from his job title.
  • The board will go into executive session to discuss security arrangements.

Last Week:

• Colorado Public Radio published a great, in-depth article about the current state of our school district, called: Gag orders on teachers, cutting mental health support, operating in the dark — what’s happening in Woodland Park?
• The district has made a number of changes to policies affecting staff, such as changing the grievance policy, and requiring only “natural hues” for staff hair color.
• At Thursday’s City Council meeting, ten community members spoke out against the actions of this board and superintendent in the public comments period of the meeting.
• Via the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) we gained insight into board director Sue Patterson’s view on grant money.
• We published two letters the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent to the district, regarding the district’s failure to maintain separation of church and state.

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

• No meetings are currently scheduled. However, if the board was going to schedule a work session or special meeting, this is the week it would typically be held, in between two regular meetings, and with 1-2 days advance notice.
• While final numbers aren’t in, data shows staff turnover is around 40-50% (we’re told 15-20% is more typical). Considering the controversy surrounding this board, it’s unclear if the district will be able to attract qualified candidates to fill those positions, and what impact this may have on next year.
• The board is expected to review the preliminary ’23-24 budget in its May 10th board meeting.

Last Week:

• We learned that Sue Patterson has reached out to Turning Point USA about starting a TPUSA student club.
• CORA requests have revealed much more information on the use of grants in our schools this past year, and the impact refusing these grants will have on next year. Including some great insider information in an email from District Mental Health Supervisor Laura Magnuson.
• You can see the Academic Achievement report, shown to the DAC already, here.
• We learned that while the district has announced it will extend transportation services to Merit Academy, there is no written agreement in place. As such, it’s unknown how or even if these costs will be shared. The hope is that by making this fact public, the board will be pressured into putting a formal agreement into writing to ensure costs are shared fairly amongst the schools.
• Andrew Wommack’s Truth and Liberty Coalition will be hosting a school board candidate forum on April 15th, at the Charis Bible school.
• Tracking expenses of the district, we learned that Ken Witt charged 14 meals to the district in his first 10 weeks on the job, at an average cost of just under $55 each.
• An email obtained under CORA shed light on concerns Tina Cassens had about the reconfiguration of the Middle School (moving 6th grade to the elementary schools).
• CORA requests revealed details of all grants the district received for the ’22-23 school year, and all applications so far for grants for the ’23-24 school year.

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

• The board has a scheduled their regular board meeting for this Wednesday, 6:00, in the district offices. Read the agenda here. Updates will be provided on redistricting, academic achievement, and the middle school reconfiguration.

Last week:

• With the district on spring break, things were pretty quiet this past week.
• Episode 3 of the Voices of Reason podcast was released.
• The Courier had a story about the district’s recent court loss regarding CORA.
• Aaron Salt started work in the administration offices, assuming Del’s old role we believe.

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

• Ken Witt and David Illingworth will be presenting at the City Council meeting Thursday, April 6th (agenda) at 7:00 (in the city council chambers, near Memorial Park). Presumably, this is with regards to how sales tax money is being spent – before Covid, these presentations were more regular.
• Public comment is open at this Thursday’s meeting. It’s a city council meeting, not school board meeting, so comment should be kept relevant to the matters the council has some control over, such as the sales tax money directed to the school.
• The next regularly scheduled board meeting is April 12th.