FACT CHECK – did the teachers union supply vans to the challengers?

Marvin Logan wrote this in the 9/6/2023 Courier Letters to the Editor:

Big omission

I want to believe Seth Bryant but his words do not ring true. Calling the Teachers Union support he, Barkley and Knott received in his column a “website login” while leaving out the Teachers Union also supplied him and the other candidates “platform vans to perform canvassing and communications scoping” is a big omission. Who helped him knock on doors in those Teacher Union supplied vans?

The Teacher Unions in this country kept our children out of school during Covid 19, and wasted years of their education on indoctrination efforts.

They’re one organization I would not want support from if I were running for school board as a conservative, but he and the other 2 have accepted their help anyhow.

Marvin Logan, Woodland Park

This highlights just how crazy social media is these days, especially the online platform Nextdoor, where Marvin and other have been quite vocal in their anti-union rhetoric.

But to the point – this is FALSE. ‘VAN’ is the computer system the candidates were given access to, a voter database that helps them more efficiently target their outreach efforts like door to door canvassing. NOT this:

Braver Angels group tackles community divisiveness

The Braver Angels, a national organization attempting to decrease divisiveness in communities, met last week at the library. Turnout was fantastic, with around 70 people attending a standing-room-only meeting intended to kick off a longer series of community meetings to bring people together in discussion instead of division. You can read more about it in the Courier. Next meeting will be a workshop on September 23rd.

9/3/2023 Weekly Update

Last Week:

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

  • This Friday, Bryant, Knott, and Barkley are hosting a fundraising dinner at the Cultural Center to support their school board election campaigns.
  • It’s a short week for students, who get Monday and Tuesday off!
  • Next school board meeting is Wednesday, 9/13.
  • I’m still trying to get school enrollment numbers from the district via CORA. Merit Academy was very helpful with this request; Ken Witt’s organization has not been as forthcoming.

Library updates for sixth graders

With the sixth graders being moved from the Middle School building to the three elementary schools, some of us were wondering, what will be done to give them access to library books in these new locations? We’ve learned a bit here so thought it’s worth sharing.

Columbine – 6th grade students were given the opportunity to create a 6th grade library wishlist last year. [Columbine staff] used their list as well as several 6th grade book lists, including one from the National Library Association to create a higher level library. 80% of the books in the 6th classroom are new this year and only available to 6th graders.

Gateway – parents were given the chance to sign a permission slip to allow their sixth graders to walk (as a group) to the public library every other Friday to check out books there.

Summit – we have not heard of the plan there.

It’s great that something is being done though allowing the kids to peruse the shelves of the public library, while simultaneously creating a ‘controversial topics’ section in the high school library requiring specific parental approval to check out, is odd.

The war on public education

Great TikTok video that talks about what’s going on with the attack on public education at a national level…and it helps explain many of the actions in the Woodland Park school district:

@electrobrogers

Remember #christopherrufo? The guy that invented the #crt #culturewar #outrage? Back in April 2022, he just spelled out the reason he did it. Erode publictrust. #publiceducation #propaganda #teachersoftiktok #teacher #defendpublicschools #defendpubliclibraries

♬ Stranger Things – Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein

CDE publishes school performance ratings

The Colorado Department of Education has published its school and district performance ratings, here’s how our district fared:

As you can see, all schools ranked as ‘performance plan‘ (the only higher level is ‘distinction plan’), except for Merit Academy which saw its score knocked down one level to ‘improvement plan‘ due to their lower test participation rates. This highlights the issue that while test scores are important, if a significant number of students aren’t taking those tests, it becomes more difficult to truly judge the performance of a school.

(read more at Chalkbeat)

8/27/2023 Weekly Update

Last Week:

Here’s what’s coming up next week:

  • I’m working to get enrollment numbers. Official numbers won’t come out until October, but I think we’re all curious what’s going on with this.

Fostering transparency: Addressing inaccuracies in recent column | Guest column | Pikes Peak Courier | gazette.com

In response to a recent guest column published in the Courier, I was compelled to respond to the baseless accusations that were levied against me and my fellow candidates. While
— Read on https://gazette.com/pikespeakcourier/fostering-transparency-addressing-inaccuracies-in-recent-column-guest-column/article_e76e4bac-436f-11ee-86c9-734000db04e9.html?fbclid=IwAR313HIWVXw4UXe8GgEkKWnkESFLl5Mt_8GHIfI33up6UVJowfa5j4LIWcc_aem_AUhV5cjkEmwTUZZSD-LO0Sie6M0s3avqLchLB0hVprceeymapexZOP-qFDhblooM4rA