Tag Archives: board

WPSD school board

Transportation cost sharing (again!)

If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know I’ve been hounding the board and Witt about transportation cost sharing for over a year now (read part 1, part 2, and part 3 if you need to get up to speed on this). I believe it’s unfair to not ask Merit Academy to pay a proportionate share of this cost, and when I’ve confronted the board, I’m met with either silence or denial and spin.

I first pointed this out to Witt and the board in May of 2023 both in public comment at a board meeting and via email, but did not receive any constructive feedback. In my email, I said,

“parent fees, mentioned to be $50 per child, only cover approximately 1.3% of the total cost, and this is expected to rise slightly next year. The state contributes around 15% towards the total cost, leaving the remaining burden to be shouldered by the General Fund of the five traditional public schools. Astonishingly, Merit Academy has not been asked to share this cost, which is undeniably unfair.”

In the May 10 board meeting where I talked about this in public comment, the board broke with their own rules and replied to the concerns I had raised, and Witt said,

“…every student and every family in Woodland Park pays the same amount to ride those busses…”…which totally ignored my point about where the bulk of the money for this service was coming from.

We saw this topic come up again in the 6/12/2024 board meeting, when Witt gave the budget presentation to the board (our CFO’s last day was in the weeks prior to this). When talking about transportation, Witt said, “…our transportation costs are fully covered by state reimbursement”, and went on to explain that the transportation fund was for transportation to and from the school, and all activity, extracurricular, and sports transportation costs were covered by fees and the general fund.

The thing is, he’s wrong. As I had pointed out to him back in 2023, the state only provides a small portion of the actual cost of transporting students to and from the school. He’s stuck to his story this whole time, but in the past year, I’d learned much more about school finance and was able to challenge him after the meeting, via email. I was able to point to actual expenses recorded in our General Ledger which showed how some of the monthly charges for transportation were charged to the transportation fund, but the majority was being charged to the General Fund. Further, I was able to show the worksheet used for calculation of the state reimbursement the previous year, which further shows how the state reimburses only a small amount of the actual cost. Faced with these facts, he finally admitted he was wrong, saying “So, simply stated, approximately one third of the to and from school transportation was covered by the state-provided funds (accounted in Fund 25), and two-thirds were not covered by the state-provided funds (accounted in Fund 10). I apologize for the error.” (I think the one-third is high but it’s in the ballpark so no need to dwell on that).

Why does this matter? As enrollment in Merit Academy grows and enrollment in the public schools declines, the per-pupil cost of daily transportation services is increasing, while total revenue into that General Fund decreases (due to declining enrollment). This reduces the money available for teacher salaries, by hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s just another way that Witt and this board are providing preferential treatment to Merit Academy, and sabotaging the other public schools.

WPSD BOE votes to give entire Middle School building to Merit Academy, and cut fees charged to Merit

The August 9th school board meeting contained a vote on changes to the Contract and the Facilities Usage Agreement with Merit Academy. The board did not read the changes, did not present them in the meeting, and did not make them publicly available prior to the meeting. Nevertheless, the board packet contained very detailed redlines of the proposed changes, as learned via a recent CORA request.

When you look at the actual changes, it becomes pretty obvious why the board hid this information. Their decision to move 6th grade out of the Middle School this past March created quite a stir…and if people realized what the board did for Merit, I suspect there’d be even more of an uproar. Here’s what the new FUA says:

As Merit grows, the new FUA gives them whatever space they need, with no regard for the 7/8th graders currently occupying that portion of the building. They’re currently expanding one grade level per year as each cohort moves up; they might add preschool in the future. The BOE put in place a legal agreement which will squeeze the 7/8th graders out of that building. More importantly though, they have not disclosed any plan for what will happen to the 7/8th grades currently in that building.

Here’s the currently floorpan for this ’23-24 school year:

On the financial side of things, the BOE gave Merit two sweet deals. First, Merit will no longer be asked to share the district facilities costs on a per-pupil basis. Instead, their share will be computed based upon the square footage they are using.

The district has unused building space, but Merit won’t have to help shoulder the cost of that – they get the benefit of using a district building rent-free, but get special treatment compared to the tenants (schools) of the other buildings. Second, their administrative withholding decreases from 5% to 3.5% (this is expected to give Merit about $61k, though final amount depends on pupil count).

Obtained via CORA, you can view the new Facilities Usage Agreement or the new Contract.

More on the ACLU lawsuit against the district

As previously reported here, the ACLU has filed suit against the district on behalf of former employee Logan Ruths, regarding his one year banishment from district property. This story has been covered by NBC, the Colorado Sun, the Colorado Springs Indy, KOAA, and the Gazette (and given that media focus, I suspect I missed some!).

Court papers were served to the district Friday, and also Friday board president Rusterholtz announced he’d like to retract the ban against Ruths. Right now, that action is pending review by board attorney Brad Miller and feedback from the other board members.

Here’s KOAA’s news coverage of this case (see story here):

You can watch the board meeting that promoted this action below, timestamp 16:10 is about where this all started:

You can read the entire court filing here.

Leaked audio shows how Brad Miller is driving change in our town

As this article in the Colorado Times Recorder details, leaked audio of a recent meeting has attorney Brad Miller explaining the actions he’s been driving in Woodland Park, using our Board of Eduction to further his own plans. There’s so much in that article, please read it for yourself! It helps show how Brad Miller is one of the main forces behind all the change happening in our district. We need to take back LOCAL CONTROL of our school board and kick out him and Ken Witt by voting in new board members this fall.

Open Meetings Law case in Denver mirrors WPSD

There’s an ongoing court case in Douglas County, alleging the board violating open meetings laws by discussing the firing of their superintendent in private one on one discussions. This had previous been a gray area of Open Meetings Law…seeming to violate the spirit of the law while not actually being prevented by the law. This latest case though might be setting legal precedent in this area, as a Judge is ruling one on one discussions is a violating, saying “Circumventing the statute by a series of private one-on-one meetings at which public business is discussed and/or decisions reached is a violation of the purpose of the statute, not just its spirit.”

Interim Superintendent Ken Witt even admitted that he has one on one and one on two meetings with board members, though there’s never been any doubt prior that this is what the board was doing. Maybe the best documented case was their total lack of deliberation when deciding upon a new board member to replace a vacant seat.

With the law still not black and white in this matter, it doesn’t mean we can expect any change in WPSD’s board behavior. But hopefully it’ll lead to clarification of the law and improved government transparency statewide.

Fact check – Letters to the Editor

Board Director David Illingworth II, up for reelection this fall, submitted this letter to the editor in the Courier…let’s do some fact checking:

Many have complained about not enough space at the May 10 Board of Education meeting (in fact my own wife was unable to get in). These complaints are either misinformed or misleading.

First, the overwhelming majority of our meetings are held in that meeting space, and it is exceptionally rare that there is not enough room for everyone. We can’t know when that will happen, but we do know that there was very heavy attendance at this meeting due to the presence of NBC News and the coordination and organizing by well-known local activists whose goal was to swamp the meeting and get on TV. They were there for the cameras and the attention, not the schools or the students.

Second, we cannot change the fire code or the weather. Everyone who could not get into the meeting room was offered the chance to watch the meeting from the WPHS auditorium, rather than stand in the rain. They all declined and decided, of their own free will, to stay outside and shout where the TV cameras just happened to be.

Finally, everyone was able to sign up for public comment, and many of those who addressed the BOE that night were escorted in from outside, so they had the same opportunities as those who had arrived earlier.

Let’s be clear: anyone who stood in the rain did so of their own choice after refusing staff offers to come inside WPHS where it was warm and dry. No one was denied the opportunity for shelter or to publicly address the BOE.

Dave Illingworth, Woodland Park Board of Education

source

I don’t think we can quantify whether it’s ‘exceptionally rare that there is not enough room for everyone’, but the board commonly opened up an overflow area outside of the main conference room for those occurrences. At other times, they held the board meetings in either the high school auditorium, or the middle school commons area, to accommodate larger crowds.

Both the pro-board side, and the anti-board side, encouraged heavy attendance by their respective followers. The board had no reason to expect that a 90 person room would provide sufficient space for everyone, not when all indications were that turnout at this meeting would be extraordinary.

No one was offered a chance to watch the meeting from the auditorium. Towards the end of the public comment portion, I was offered a chance to take shelter in the commons area (not the auditorium), with no promise of any livestream in there.

The NBC TV camera was inside the conference room, not outside as he claims. A local TV reporter had her camera outside.

He claims ‘no one was denied the opportunity for shelter or to publicly address the BOE.’ That second part is false. The BOE cut public comment off at 30 minutes as has been their custom for a while now. Not everyone who signed up to publicly address the BOE was given that opportunity. Further, they were asked to wait outside in the rain to see if their name would be called (the commons area wasn’t opened up as shelter until public comment was almost over).

What about the claims that fire code meant they couldn’t open up the overflow area? We have not found any evidence to support that claim. Yes, the main conference room has a 90 person capacity limit sign posted, and that seems reasonable for that size of a space. However, our inspection of the overflow area revealed no posted capacity signs. A CORA request (#446) requested the fire department documents listing the maximum occupancy for those rooms:

I am requesting the official Fire Department documents listing the maximum occupancy for the WPSD District Office, the Distric Office Large Conference room and the two district office rooms that have traditionally been used to accommodate overflow for the WPSD BOE meetings.

This was met with the district’s response of, “There are no responsive documents to this request.”

Not only did the BOE recruit Charis students to pack the conference room, but they encouraged those students to show up early – an hour ahead of time, the line was already long enough that those showing up after did not get in to the building. As evidenced by audience reactions during the meeting, the room was clearly packed with BOE supporters. The BOE knew there would be a large crowd, did not choose to move the meeting to a larger space, and took steps to actually reduce the number of people that would be allowed to attend the meeting (when compared to previous meetings).

Chaos ensues as parents and teachers barred from entering superintendent vote | FOX21 News Colorado

FOX21 spoke with multiple members in line from the Charis Bible College who all said they had no relation to the school district but that they were there to support the school board.

“I don’t really care what’s happening very much… I’m really advocating for peace and unity,” said Tanner Wride, a member of the Charis Bible College.

Around 5:30 p.m., chaos ensued when officials with the school board said they would not be letting anyone else in. Hundreds of angry people were left outside in the pouring rain.
— Read on www.fox21news.com/top-stories/chaos-ensues-as-parents-and-teachers-are-barred-from-entering-woodland-park-superintendent-vote/

How conservatives transformed the Woodland Park, CO, school district

The leaders of the Woodland Park School District are enacting an experiment in conservative governance in the middle of a state controlled by Democrats, with little in the way so far to slow them down. The school board’s decisions have won some praise in heavily Republican Teller County, but opposition is growing, including from conservative Christians and lifelong GOP voters who say the board has made too many ill-advised decisions and lacks transparency. 
— Read on www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/woodland-park-colorado-school-board-conservatives-rcna83311

This article was written by NBC reporter Tyler Kingkade. Tyler spent a few days in Woodland Park last month talking to people and learning about the situation here. I think he did a really good job of telling this story in his own words in this article, instead of just repeating what people tell him…the work he put in to listening and learning really shows.

Resignation letter – Laura O’Connell

As reposted on Facebook:

May 7th, 2023
Mr. Witt,
I am writing this letter to inform you of my resignation from the School to Work Alliance Program (SWAP) Coordinator position for Woodland Park School District. My last day will be the final day of my current contract, June 30, 2023. This decision has been reached for a variety of reasons, all directly related to the actions of the current WPSD Board of Education, but the two most recent occurrences in our district finalized my choice to resign.
First, as I read the contract of employment offered to me by Woodland Park School District last week, I was taken aback that it stated, “The District, or its representatives, has explained the School District mission, philosophy, and goals and the Employee has expressed a commitment to work for the District in accordance with such requirements.” Neither the district nor a representative had explained these things to me, so I reached out to Mr. Salt asking for this explanation to take place. After not hearing from him for days, I chose to reflect on the actions of the board in an attempt to understand their mission, philosophy, and goals on my own:
Through this reflection I have determined that their mission, as evidenced by their actions, is to defund traditional public schools, funnel the money into charter schools who do not have to be accountable to the taxpayers, and into the outstretched hands of their wealthy friends, yourself included. I am sure that is upsetting for you to hear. However, as someone who has spent countless years to achieve and continue to increase my knowledge and credentials in an effort to ensure I was able serve young people to the best of my ability, I have no other way to rectify a superintendent, with less credentials than the majority of the WPSD staff, working part time making a full superintendent’s salary. I also believe the Board’s actions have shown a strong mission to devalue the education profession as evidenced through the constant bullying of high-caliber, deeply caring teachers, and administrators, as well as the environment of fear they, and now you, have intentionally curated within the schools. I entered education with the understanding that our children deserve more in terms of funding, not less, and the belief that our educators are a unique gift to our society in that they love, think about, give to, and hope for each and every child as if they were their own. Therefore, I cannot ethically and in good conscience help this board achieve their missions, as shown by their actions.
Upon reflection of the actions of this Board of Education, I also determined that the Board’s philosophy is that lower-level learning will somehow lead to higher levels of achievement, and that education is nothing but a business to profit from, with children being nothing but products. I have reviewed the American Birthright Standards, and as a person who holds a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction, my expert analysis is that these standards will only lead to the memorization of basic facts, with little chance that knowledge will be retained through higher levels of thinking such as analysis, application, and evaluation of how history can be compared to current events. As for my conclusion that this Board views the education of children as a business, this is derived through statements made by the BOE, and most recently stated by you in a meeting with WPSD educators. I entered education with the understanding
that it is a public service, not a business, with the desired outcome being that each individual and thus society may reach its highest potential. As a result, I cannot ethically and in good conscience commit to helping this BOE lower the bar for learning and turn children into business products.
Lastly, through my reflection of their actions, I determined that the BOE’s goals are to do whatever it takes, including committing what I genuinely believe would be considered crimes if they were fully investigated, to ensure that their personal agendas are realized. In my opinion, these crimes include large sums of money paid to people such as yourself and Mr. Miller for little work, and the possibility that the Board hid that Mr. Illingworth physically trapped Dr. Neal in his office and refused to allow him to leave, resulting in a hefty sum being paid to Dr. Neal. Also, the fact that Mr. Miller can be heard on audio recording telling the Board that they do not have to be transparent with their constituents, and the use of apps that delete communications to circumvent the Open Meetings Laws. It is obvious to me that these heinous behaviors are utilized to achieve an equally immoral goal of ensuring that each student and staff member in our schools thinks, believes, and acts as this Board does. This is also evidenced through the board pushing their religious and political beliefs onto our school community, censoring or limiting access to ideas, beliefs, and perspectives that are different than their own, limiting self-expression, and their apparent attempts to end critical thinking, civic participation, and supports for those students outside what they consider the norm. In my mind if these goals were met, children would either 1) become white supremacist and exhibit cult like behavior, incapable of critical thought, or 2) if not white, straight, Christian, or otherwise willing to go along with the demands of this board, they would learn to hate themselves. With no mental health support to help them overcome the damage done by this type of group thinking that the board wishes to impose on students, the outcomes will be catastrophic for our young people. I entered education with the belief that ALL children contain infinite potential and worth, and therefore, deserve an equitable education that honors their unique identities, personalities, gifts, cultures, and families. I also believe, and have witnessed, that the world is a better place when the next generation is taught to think for themselves and challenge the status quo. Therefore, I cannot ethically or in good conscience commit to helping this BOE achieve their goals.
The second most recent occurrence that has led to my final decision to resign, is the announcement by the district that they would be buying memberships into the Professional Association of Colorado Educators (PACE). Upon being informed of this I immediately reached out to Mrs. Gonzales to ask if I would be able to opt out of this membership, to which I was informed that the district would be paying for the membership regardless. In my opinion, this is contrary to the freedom that this BOE touts as one of their main beliefs. While PACE may claim to be a “non-union” and non-partisan, they are an association just like the Woodland Park Educator’s Association (WPEA). They lobby at the state capital for change, and their parent organization lobbies at the Capitol. Members pay dues to pay for these activities to take place. They are a union. But unlike WPEA, the district is forcing all WPSD staff into membership into this union. A union that lobbies for the defunding of traditional public education under the guise of “school choice,” much like this BOE is currently doing, the end of SEL and a focus on
mental health in schools, and the end of collective bargaining for teachers. These are all beliefs that do not align with my values. As a result, I will not have my name added to PACE’s membership roster, nor monies paid on my behalf to further their political agendas. To be clear, Woodland Park School District, its Board of Education, or any of the district’s representatives do not have my consent to give PACE, or any affiliated individuals or organizations, my personal information, including my name, nor give PACE, or any affiliated individuals or organizations, monies on my behalf. If the PACE memberships will be bought prior to the final date of my contract, and WPSD is inclined to give my information as a current employee, my last day of employment will be the day prior to any such membership being bought.
In closing, I would just like to say that I feel an immense amount of gratitude for my years as an educator in Woodland Park School District. Administrators such as Yvonne Going, Erin Street, Nicole Geniesse, Kevin Burr, and Tina Cassens challenged me to always do what is best for students, to partner with parents every step of the way, to value data over opinion or any personal bias, and to constantly reflect in an effort to be better than I was the day before. My colleagues supported me in my endeavor to be the best educator I could be, because that is what our students deserved, and lifted me up in ways too numerous to count when life threw curveballs. I am grateful for the families I was lucky enough to partner with, who trusted me as a professional with their children and refused to settle for anything other than seeking their children’s highest potential. Last, but definitely not least, I am grateful for my students, who, little did they know, were teaching me far more than is likely I taught them, and who I am a better person for having gotten to know, and for getting a front row seat to watch grow. I hope that my, and other WPSD staffs’, unwavering belief in them will be more prominent than any of the indoctrination and thought-limiting policies and ideas this board forces upon them.
Prior to this Board of Education and its current representatives, Woodland Park School District, was a wonderful place to work, live, and grow. We strived every day to see, hear, and love each and every child, and I watched them bloom in incredible ways as a result. I am thankful for those years and look forward to that work continuing in communities across the state and nation as nearly half of the Panther staff find new homes to do this work without the immoral, criminal, fear-cultivating behavior of this Board of Education and its representatives.
Laura O’Connell

Transportation costs in the Woodland Park School District RE-2

I think we all love the idea of students from Merit Academy being able to take the bus to school…I’ve heard zero complaints about that. The question though, is money. Are Merit kids being asked to pay the same amount as kids in the public schools (or as the board likes to say ‘traditional public schools’)? Is our school board and interim superintendent treating all students fairly? The answer, I believe, is a resounding ‘no’.

To participate in the bus transportation to/from schools, parents pay $50 per child, or a maximum of $100 per family. The district’s signed agreement with Merit Academy, from April 12, 2023, ensures that all parents of all schools abide by these same guidelines, which seems fair on the surface. Perhaps some people view $50 as too high, but the district found in the past that if a nominal fee weren’t charged, many parents would sign up with a ‘just in case’ or ‘why not’ attitude, which resulted in challenges to determine actual capacity and routes required.

Let’s look at what the district has budgeted for transportation expenses in the current ’22-23 school year. If you pour through our ’22-23 budget, you’ll find the board has allocated $1,202,419 from the General Fund, $1,000 from the Grants fund, and $359,758 from the Transportation Fund, for a total Transportation Budget for ’22-23 of $1,563,177. Of that money, they budget for only $20,000 to come from the fees paid by parents (that $50 fee mentioned above). $235,000 is expected to come from the State as a reimbursement (I believe, but am not certain, that this is due to the rural nature of our district). With the 1676 student enrollment in our (traditional) public schools, that works out to $779.94 per student ($1,202,419 from General Fund and $104,758 from current fund balance), being used to cover transportation costs in the district in the ’22-23 school year.

The board put in place an agreement with Merit where Merit students pay $50 if they want to use the service, $0 if they don’t – there is no cost sharing beyond that $50 fee. The students in the (traditional) public schools will be paying $829.94 if they opt in to the bus service, $779.94 if they don’t use the service (due to money being taken out of their General Fund to pay for the transportation costs). Of course, this money doesn’t come directly from the students – but it is money from the general fund that could otherwise be used to fund teachers or counselors in the public schools.

If the board were to split costs equally amongst all students, that would equate to $651.31 per pupil in base fees coming out of each school’s General Fund, plus the $50 for each kid who opts in. To look at it another way, if the district split the base transportation cost based on enrollment numbers at each school, that would result in $215,583.25 more money in the General Fund for the (traditional) public schools, money which could be used to pay for some of the lost counseling/social worker positions.

I recognize this is an approximation – precise costs for the ’23-24 school year would require us to know:

  • Actual costs of Durham services, which per contract can increase 2.5-4% per year
  • Actual enrollment in all schools
  • Number of parents from each school participating (this will impact the $20,000 revenue estimate)
  • State reimbursement ($235,000 for the current school year)
  • Costs of transportation of field trips (which should not be a shared expense)

So keep that in mind…but when we’re comparing $779.94 to zero, those details are just noise, lost in the bigger picture here. The issue here is the foundation of this cost sharing agreement and the inequity it imposes upon the students in this district.

Why did the Woodland Park School Board not ask Merit Academy to share in the transportation expenses? Merit is funded on a per-pupil basis just like the district public schools…why is the board asking our public schools to subsidize transportation costs for Merit Academy? This isn’t fair to the public school children, and isn’t fair to Merit Academy as it might make them look bad when this is the WPSD board’s decision, not theirs.

(if you notice any errors with my math, please reach out to me using the Contact form)