Some people have become so alarmed by what children might read in school or in libraries that they want books they don’t like removed — immediately. The targeted books include
— Read on https://gazette.com/pikespeakcourier/banning-books-is-for-bullies-writers-on-the-range/article_34d7c554-9db6-11ed-8d25-cb9a566cc720.html?fbclid=IwAR1zfhKHPusA50ruYBTm4jgfwO0QxtrtVjU3EXiPdKtF-v-w0hJI0xDYces
A Woodland Park educator stood up for her students — and lost her job | Colorado Public Radio
Teachers in this small district northwest of Colorado Springs, like teachers across the country, are scared and uncertain about what they can and can’t say in school.
— Read on www.cpr.org/2023/02/01/woodland-park-teacher/
Woodland Park School District RE-2 pulls course material after critical race theory complaint | Pikes Peak Courier | gazette.com
Woodland Park School District RE-2 is pulling material from a high school course following a complaint that it teaches critical race theory concepts.
— Read on https://gazette.com/pikespeakcourier/woodland-park-school-district-re-2-pulls-course-material-after-critical-race-theory-complaint/article_a5aadc5c-a195-11ed-bbfc-17926d9f7a45.html?fbclid=IwAR1TRN_LRoVN6nxrCd0M7luG58mCrpGbJppxJBI_SP5Ou56gvISUgqkv1Xw
Union Intimidation in Woodland Park
We are witnessing intimidation of the teacher’s union in Woodland Park, the Woodland Park Education Alliance (WPEA). This started with board director David Illingworth, who wrote (emphasis added is mine):
“If you expect me to play nice with the union, then you don’t know me.”
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This union is openly attempting to organize a coup in our schools using our equipment. They have abused our agreement. Therefore, I expect the board to review that agreement for modification or termination.
Further, they clearly feel emboldened and unchecked by your principals and executives. We will not employ people who seek to undermine and resist the people’s business. The exceptional education of our children is our highest priority, not begging forgiveness from people who have underperformed.In light of the open warfare launched by the union, with the tacit support of leadership, changes that might have been unnecessary before now become imperative. As our employee, I encourage you to use your best judgment in preparing a list of positions in which a change in personnel would be beneficial to our kids, and would likewise help the union see the wisdom in cooperation rather than conflict.
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Can you please ask the Superintendent to provide us any information he has about WPEA membership and command structure?
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Now, a resident relatively new to this town (with no kids in the schools), Jameson Dion, has obtained video footage of the WPEA’s recent meeting (CORRECTION 2/1 – this meeting was open to all teachers, not just WPEA), and is promising to post it online. He already posted a short segment of the video online as a ‘teaser’ of what’s to come. A screenshot is included below, but please note – the yellow markups are MY doing…Dion posted this unaltered, so you could see the face of the person speaking as well as the names and faces of some of the people joining the Zoom call and shown at the top (and note, he posted an actual video segment, not a still photo).
January 2023 summary
Here’s what happened in January:
- The Courier published various letters from community members
- The January 11th board meeting saw policy changes to facilitate charter school adoption in the district, and the board voted to adopt the American Birthright standard for social studies.
- Read Colorado Public Radio’s story on this
- Read KRDO’s reporting on this
- Read more about this from the Thompson School District Reform Watch.
- The Woodland Park school district banned its first book from a classroom, “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
- We reported on the fiscal recklessness of this school board.
- The January 25th board meeting saw a new board member chosen (Mick Bates).
- Here’s the video of all questions/answers with Mick Bates
- KRDO’s coverage of the meeting
- David Illingworth’s interview questions to board member applicants regarding the book, “Between the World and Me”
- Local residents saw Mike Miles, from Third Future Schools, touring district buildings on a Saturday with David Illingworth and Ken Witt.
- Third Future Schools submitted a letter of intent to apply to operate a ‘partnership charter school’ in the district.
- Students are continuing to be active, expanding into an online presence with the Woodland Park Student Alliance.
Third Future Schools expresses intent to submit charter application
As expected, Third Future Schools has notified the district of their intent to submit a charter application. We expect the board to quickly approve this, and to enter into a facility usage agreement to give them either the Columbine or Gateway school buildings.
Illingworth interviews board candidates about “Between the World and Me”
On Wednesday, the board interviewed three candidates for the vacant board seat. The video here is David Illingworth’s question, which he thinks is connected to the book “Between the World and Me” but really seems unrelated (I don’t think he actually read that book). This is the book that was removed (banned) from a high school class recently (read more about that here).
The board selected Mick Bates, the second person to be interviewed.
KRDO on Wednesday’s meeting
Video here:
January 25, 2023 board meeting
This board meeting was more of the boards usual shitshow. You can read KRDO’s coverage here, or watch it for yourself at the link below.
The budget discussion seemed to have some good news about revenue, but we’ll need to dive into that more later.
The board approved Witt’s proposed policy changes that would allow the district to bring on new charter schools at any time of year, instead of following the state schedule around fall applications. They skipped the (legally required?) second reading of the policy and just jumped to the vote, eager to get on to interviews for the board seat vacancy!
Out of the list of applicants, the board selected three candidates and interviewed them one at a time in this meeting. Each was asked the same questions. The candidate they chose, Mick Bates, had some polarizing answers to the questions. Watch it for yourself below (he’s the second candidate to be interviewed). And stay tuned here as we explore his words and background further.
Book Banning has begun in Woodland Park schools
High School parent Bridget Curran has a child in the ‘Civil Disobedience’ class in the high school. The BOE gave the teacher an ultimatum, remove the reading of the book “Between the World and Me” or the class would be eliminated completely. The teacher refused, the class is gone. We’ve submitted a CORA request for emails related to this.
In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?
Amazon
Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.
Hailed by Toni Morrison as “required reading,” a bold and personal literary exploration of America’s racial history by “the most important essayist in a generation and a writer who changed the national political conversation about race” (Rolling Stone)
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NAMED ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF OPRAH’S “BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH”