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

2/19/23 Weekly update

Last week:

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

  • The next scheduled board meeting is Wednesday, March 8th. However, they’ve been on a pretty regular two-week interval for much of the past year, so be on the lookout for them to possibly add a meeting for this Wednesday at 6:00.

Report: Colorado’s education system is in crisis, and teachers are feeling it | Colorado Public Radio

Colorado’s education system is in a state of crisis, leaving many teachers feeling overworked, underpaid, not respected and worried that large, systemic issues connected to underfunding are hurting their students.

That’s according to the annual State of Education report from the largest teacher’s union in the state, the Colorado Education Association.
— Read on www.cpr.org/2023/01/31/colorado-teachers-report/

It’s not a battlefield, it’s a school district | From the Editor

This article was originally published in March of 2022 but is worth bringing up again as it’s a reminder of what this district has been going through for the past year or so. Things have only gotten worse since this was published.

https://gazette.com/pikespeakcourier/its-not-a-battlefield-its-a-school-district-from-the-editor/article_be9d1514-a23a-11ec-a1ce-c7872ee20f33.html?fbclid=IwAR1AC-Bd9lY-Wph36vAELiL8Wc-0BjgUJVyo4zUBoG69FIoAu-7pjwBYvtQ

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.

Are the Bad People Really Winning?

You are the one who can step from the shadows and tell the darkness that it has had the run of the house for long enough; who can send the brilliant floodlight of hope streaming into the shadowed places from where it had been vanquished.

It is only a matter of opening your mouth and releasing the truest of your truth without fear or hesitation or decorum. It is in you moving from looking for hope on the horizon and to finding it in the mirror.

— Read on johnpavlovitz.com/2023/02/09/are-the-bad-people-really-winning/

Conservative program meets inclusive standards in this Colorado school district – Colorado Newsline

More about Woodland Park’s implementation of the American Birthright standards. This is mostly information we’ve already posted here in other articles, but one new bit of information that’s come to light is that many classes no longer have NCAA approval…students that need this eligibility will, we believe, have other course options available to them, them just need to be careful when making class decisions and might be stuck with an online-only class.
— Read on coloradonewsline.com/2023/02/16/conservative-program-meets-inclusive-standards-in-this-colorado-school-district/

Podcast – Have You Heard, episode #151: Divide, Scatter, Conquer

Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider talk about Woodland Park in their latest episode of their Have You Heard podcast! They talked to many parents, students, and some teachers for this one. Check it out on Apple Podcasts or Soundcloud!

Please note, the podcast erroneously states that Sara Lee has made the decision to leave the district. That decision has not been made at this time.