The Colorado Supreme Court is reviewing whether the Court of Appeals in 2023 incorrectly rejected the awarding of attorney fees to plaintiff Erin O’Connell, who successfully challenged the Woodland Park school board — at least initially — over a meeting-notice violation that the board “effectively cured” at a subsequent meeting.
— Read on coloradofoic.org/cfoic-brief-eliminating-penalties-for-cured-violations-eviscerates-enforcement-of-open-meetings-law/
Tag Archives: Brad Miller
Elizabeth School District Asks Permission to Hire Non-Licensed Substitutes
Elizabeth School District Superintendent Dan Snowberger submitted a request last November asking Colorado’s Board of Education to waive the state’s
— Read on coloradotimesrecorder.com/2024/03/elizabeth-school-district-asks-permission-to-hire-non-licensed-substitutes/60416/
Is the Elizabeth School District the next Woodland Park?
the Elizabeth School District, which shares many similarities to Woodland Park, where the school board’s policy changes earned national news coverage and sparked multiple lawsuits, is primed to become the state’s latest example of far-right ideology taking over public education.
— Read on coloradotimesrecorder.com/2023/12/is-the-elizabeth-school-district-the-next-woodland-park/58495/
Witt and Miller address the staff – August 22, 2023
On August 22nd, 2023, Ken Witt and Brad Miller addressed the district staff in the annual convocation. Ken Witt talked about updates to benefits, PACE, universal pre-K, their partnership with Mindsight (counseling company), SROs and security, and introduced his administrative staff. At timestamp 14:30 in the audio recording below, he handed it off toe Ariel Elliott, regional director of PACE (Professional Association of Colorado Educators), to discuss that program.
Brad Miller takes the mic at about 25:15. He talked first about policy KDDA (which the district is being sued over). He says the point of it was simple things like if there’s a snow day, they didn’t want misinformation going around about whether school was canceled (note that KDDA was cited when Witt fired a staff member last spring).
The most important part to listen to starts at 35:06, where Miller outlines the district’s new policy for ‘students who want to express or identify their gender differently than what they were born.’ He acknowledges Colorado law on the matter and says they’ll comply (he calls it ‘unavoidable law’), but it won’t be a slam-dunk for kids who fall into this category. Before the school will respect the kids’ wishes, administration will hold a meeting with the parents of that kid because, as Brad Miller put it 37:50 into this audio recording, “it’s the parents’ decision to make” (not the kids?!). I’ve heard too many stories about kids in families where they’re not free to talk about such things…I worry for the mental health and safety of kids that are facing these conversations.
Updates on WPEA vs. WPSD lawsuit
Earlier this month, the Woodland Park Education Association (a local affiliate of the Colorado Education Association…more commonly referred to as ‘the union’ though there are some subtle differences) filed a lawsuit in district court against the Woodland Park school district, alleging violations of teachers’ first amendment rights to free speech and free association, mostly related to district policy KDDA (what some refer to as the ‘gag order’). If you’re not already familiar with this lawsuit, catch up quick by reading the CPR article.
From the KRDO article:
The lawsuit is asking the U.S. District Court of Colorado for several resolutions, including removing the policy that “punishes school-based employees if they speak publicly as private citizens about matters of public concern regarding the school district, declare that no employee who makes statements about their employment as private citizens on matters of public concern can be disciplined, terminated or retaliated against and declare that attempting to compel members to join PACE is unconstitutional and an unlawful use of taxpayer money.”
link
You can read the entire court filing here if interested.
On August 16th, lawyers filed for a preliminary injunction against the district, asking for:
Specifically, WPEA seeks a preliminary injunction as follows:
- Enjoin enforcement of current School District policy KDDA.
- Revise School District Policy KDDA to the policy language in effect prior to
February 2023.- Prohibit the School District from forcing employees of the School District to become
members of PACE.
One interesting detail in that request for preliminary injunction is on the last page…the attorneys this is being served to include of course Brad Miller, but notably, there’s a new attorney listed working on this case for this district. It’s Matt Werner of Alpern Myers Stuart. His website lists his practice areas as:
Defense of Persons Accused of Serious Felonies, Sex Assaults, Domestic Violence and DUI; Juvenile Defense; School Expulsion and Discipline Defense; Complex Civil Litigation and Personal Injury; Administrative Hearings.
Including him in a first amendment lawsuit does not appear to align with his advertised specialties and is a curious move. With the earlier addition of Scott Gessler to handle the appeal on the CORA lawsuit, this makes at least three law firms now working for the Woodland Park school district and board of directors.
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.
DAVIS: The Specialists: A Woodland Park Investigation
From the outside, the events unfolding over the past year and a half in Woodland Park – where a far-right school board won control in late 2021, and has since pursued an aggressive agenda of banning certain books, demonizing the local teachers’ union, cutting funding for mental health services, skirting open records and public meetings laws, approving a highly controversial charter school without due process, and firing staff and faculty for speaking out against them – seem like an extension of the right-wing’s long standing animosity to the public school system. On closer inspection, though, what’s happening in Woodland Park looks like something new: an evolution of that old fight, where the goal is no longer to shrink and dissolve the public schooling system, but to seize control of the system and use it to train up a new generation of conservative voters.
— Read on coloradotimesrecorder.com/2023/06/davis-the-specialists-a-woodland-park-investigation/54189/
Moms For Liberty Claiming Credit For School Districts Opting-Out of State-Funded Student Mental Health Services
According to a May 15 Facebook post from Darcy Schoening in the “Moms For Liberty — El Paso County” Facebook group, the author is “The infamous attorney Brad Miller, who’s been working hard around the state to urge conservative boards to adopt common sense policies such as the Parental Bill of Rights, a HB23-1003 opt out, and a resolution to oppose the anti-capitalist teachers unions.”
— Read on coloradotimesrecorder.com/2023/06/moms-for-liberty-claiming-credit-for-school-districts-opting-out-of-state-funded-student-mental-health-services/54024/
Brad Miller has been running the show in Woodland Park since day one…
Who is PACE, and why should we care?
Today, we need to talk about PACE – the Professional Association of Colorado Educators (PACE). PACE is a state chapter of the Association of American Educators (AAE) – an organization which supports school vouchers and is funded in part by the Independence Institute and the Walton Family, Jacquelin Hume, and the Bradley Foundation. These donors, and PACE, are, quite simply, not supporters of traditional public education and are actively working to weaken public education. PACE itself is marketed as an alternative to groups such as the Woodland Park Education Association, the Pikes Peak Education Association, and the Colorado Education Association. Or what the board likes to refer to as ‘the union’.
The National Education Association (NEA), the largest labor union in the United States, and its state affiliates, have accused AAE and its state affiliates of being “pro-voucher” “anti-public education” and “anti-union.”[20][21] The NEA cites as evidence that major contributors to AAE Foundation have also contributed to school choice initiatives, which the NEA labels as “anti-public education” and “anti-union.”[21] The NEA has distributed a “toolkit” advising local members on how to respond to the AAE, including talking points and action plans. The NEA has labeled AAE “the leading anti-NEA organization.”[21] AAE and state affiliates have responded by highlighting that over 90% of their membership are public school teachers and the AAE has never taken a position supporting vouchers.[18][22][23] AAE has supported school choice, although their activities for National School Choice Week primarily involve public charter school teachers, never vouchers.[24] Also, the major funders cited by the NEA as proof of AAE’s agenda, have also given grants, albeit of much smaller value, to public school districts and universities. For example, the Walton Family Foundation donates heavily to public charter schools and groups focused on influencing policy toward school choice, including vouchers, but also granted some money to a few public school districts as well as Teach for America and the United Negro College Fund.[25][18] Counter to these claims to neutrality, organizations such as SourceWatch, citing documents obtained from some of AAE’s funders, continue to describe the association as a right-wing organization contributing to efforts to weaken unions and undermining their political objectives.[26]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_American_Educators
PACE, a Colorado-based organization, was originally incorporated in 2006 with Kim Shugart as the sole member on its Board of Directors. However, after a few years, Shugart seemed to have lost interest in the organization, causing it to fall out of compliance with the Colorado Secretary of State in 2010. In 2022, Shugart rectified this by bringing PACE back into compliance.
Interestingly, the original articles of incorporation made no mention of the parent organization AAE, suggesting that AAE’s involvement with PACE did not begin until 2022. Regardless, PACE’s current principal address is listed as the AAE office in California, and its legal representative in Colorado is attorney Robert Gardner in Colorado Springs. This information is readily available on the Colorado Secretary of State’s website.
While PACE’s website lists its address as 9800 Mount Pyramid Court, Suite 400 in Englewood, Colorado, it is worth noting that this space is currently available for lease as a coworking space. Therefore, it is uncertain whether PACE has a permanent office there. It is important to note that PACE differs from the CEA, which boasts 19 physical offices throughout Colorado.
What do the WPEA/PPEA/CEA offer that PACE doesn’t? Skilled legal protection, real professional development, and lobbyists providing teachers with a strong voice in government advocating for education and educators. Coloradans acting in support of teachers and staff statewide. PACE, on the other hand, has very few employees. The one staff member listed on their website is Ariel Elliott, their Regional Membership Director. The other name we see associated with PACE frequently is Tim Farmer, who at various times in PACE’s blog has been referred to as their Membership Director, Policy Director, Staffer, and Regional Director. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he currently works with the WPSD attorney Brad Miller as a partner in Miller Farmer Law.
Why does all this matter…why are we talking about PACE? The Woodland Park School District sent an email to teachers on May 1st, outline changes to their benefits for the upcoming school year. One benefit being added is membership in PACE for all school-based staff. We had previously reported about actions the district has taken to attack or weaken the WPEA in the district. such as not withholding union dues and introducing policy prohibiting union leadership from using district computers to contact members..now they’re actively working to replace the WPEA with PACE.
According to PACE’s website, membership costs $19.50 per month, or $234 annually. We counted 296 staff for the ’23-24 school year, so that’s a potential cost to the district of $69,264 – though it’s unclear at this point if staff would be automatically enrolled, and if they’d be allowed to opt-out if that were the case.
So, we have our school district implementing policies to weaken the WPEA, while at the same time promoting an organizing that our district’s attorney has close ties to. Just another day in Woodland Park, Colorado.
Connecting the Dots
The Thompson School District Reform Watch on Facebook does a really good job of detailed investigations with supporting evidence. They recently ‘connected the dots’, and it’s worth reading below.
“Connecting the Dots” proves the agenda in Woodland Park is MUCH BIGGER and much more dangerous to public education than anyone knows!
RW: Our post here is long but it has a story to tell that must be said.
One thing that is for sure is that the WPBOE & their supporters are on a mission to “Get Rid of the Woodland Park Teachers Association and the Colorado Education Association”. This was a major item on the agenda in Jeffco & Thompson back in 2013. The Thompson Education Association sued when their MOU was in major trouble and the courts ruled in with the teachers. The voters spoke loud and clear as well. Gone were Kerrigan, Rice, Langner and Brad Miller. Jeffco said bye-bye to Miller, Witt, Newkirk and Williams. Miller resigned in both instances.
The union IS our teachers and they work for all students & parents in a positive and fair manner. Not at all like the board members and their supporters that we have observed at board meetings and those who came disguised as teachers or pro-public ed supporters that were planted by the far right to disrupt, swear and threaten and give their masters something to blame on the education association. How about the public comment speakers who give false names?
The Woodland Park SD Bully Pulpit can be connected way back, to not only to the Independence Institute/Leadership Program of the Rockies/Americans for Prosperity, but higher yet.
Just some of the team that we find have been involved for years in this agenda are: Paul Lundeen, Brad Miller, Tim Farmer, Bryce Carlson, Barry Arrington, Gwen Benevento, Bob Schaffer, the Centennial Institute (Jeff Hunt), Colorado Christian University (Deborah Scheffel), Luke Ragland, Jon Caldara, Ben DeGrow, Ross Izard, Kevin Lundberg, Owen Hill, Tim Geitner, Ken Witt, Bob Gardner, the Neville family, Steve Schuck and many others.
Attorney Brad Miller’s actions during his tenure in Jeffco, Thompson, Falcon 49 and now other districts has often brought out concerns about his ethics, his knowledge of the law, his behavior behind closed doors and more. Some question whether he is a school attorney or a school entrepreneur because of how he appears to drum up business for himself and the Independence Institute agenda.
In reviewing other law firms that are legal counsels to school districts, that behavior is not observed. They are not out creating new charter schools, network schools, home school enrichment programs, online charter schools and more as Miller & Witt have been doing. The emails between Miller & Carlson with Mesa County 51 that were CORA’d speak volumes as to why the concerns should be addressed.
When a new conservative majority has been installed (and even before it has happened) Miller seems to have been the attorney who suddenly appears on the scene as new legal counsel. The Sup and current legal counsels are soon gone. And then it is chaos as we see happening in Woodland Park.
SOURCE: https://annelandmanblog.com/…/emails-between-d-51…/
This situation deserves an investigation from people who are much bigger than RW and the Woodland Park teachers, parents, students and community members who are working hard to SAVE THEIR WPSD!
The latest effort to take over our public schools and rid school districts of teachers unions doesn’t just exist in Woodland Park, Colorado.
If you come across organizations that include words like “freedom, patriots, guardians, liberty and conservative” beware!
Thompson saw it with Rumfelt’s ‘Liberty Watch’. Jeffco had several groups. In Northern Colorado and all across the state we are seeing Cain’s ‘Task Force Freedom’, The Front Range Patriots and the Northern Colorado Conservative Patriots. In Weld County it is “Guardians of Weld Re-4 and Guardians of Greeley Evans 6. In the Colorado Spring’s area we see ‘Liberty on the Rocks’ and ‘Pikes Peak Patriots’, ‘Truth & Liberty Coalition’, ‘FEC United’. At the national level we see the ‘Moms For Liberty’, ‘Parents Defending Education’, ‘Freedom Foundation’, ‘Freedom Watch’ and ‘Freedom Works’. We could list many more here. Americans for Prosperity and KOCH have their mitts in all of it.
But, do you know that ALL of these DOTS connect?
****************
Now we see “WP Families for Freedom” and their FB page ‘Freedom Watch News’.
These two new groups may sound new to the WP scene but the names behind them are not new at all. RW started digging and found plenty of cause for alarm and further investigation.
The web site – ‘WP Families for Freedom’ & and their FB page, ‘Freedom News Watch’ include some of the very same people that RW and Support Jeffco Kids has followed for years. At the top of the that ladder sits the Independence Institute & Americans for Prosperity and all of their created organizations like Ready Colorado, Advance Colorado and more.
‘FAMILIES FOR FREEDOM’ – Even the name tells you to run!
https://www.facebook.com/freedomwatchnewsonfb
A very important point about the current post on FWN needs to be made here regarding the ‘Families for Freedom’ fund raiser for the overdue school lunch accounts. Yes it is a great project and one badly needed, BUTTTTTTTTTTTT there is a catch here. ‘Moms For Liberty’ uses this project as a way to gain favor with the communities they are in and portray themselves as Good Guys who are there for the kids. It is a well planned image campaign. School supply backpacks are another one they are doing.
MFL have done this is Cheyenne, WY and other districts across the nation. Now we wonder if Moms For Liberty El Paso County has themselves involved in the Woodland Park school district as well.
FFF: “Freedom Watch News is a news source brought to you by a Teller County, Colorado based non-profit. Families for Freedom was started to promote school choice, access to classical education, parental rights and scholastic excellence. Families for Freedom will also pursue citizens right’s for transparency in government, free and fair commerce, and other pressing issues.
Families for Freedom and Freedom Watch News was created by Teller County residents to help provide fact-based news for pertinent issues in our community.”
RW: The founder of ‘Families For Freedom’ is Jameson Dion a well-known GOP activist in Teller County. Known for his numerous letters to the editor and more. Appears on the Kim Monson show (also II & LPR) with Jen Gibbons (Cherry Creek Parents Advocacy Network) – “Teachers unions are not focused on educating kids but is focused on power and control.” He is the latest feature in the book banning campaign.
CO ID #: 20228012078 – The address on the SOS document is Dion’s address although his name is not there. It is who his agent is that tells the real story here. She has a long history in supporting the far right extremist agenda. J Dion is, like Cain of Task Force Freedom, just another willing pawn in their game.
AGENT: Gwen Benevento (Maven Law Group) aka now as The ‘West Group’ (Name was changed Dec 2022) https://westgrouplp.com/professionals
Benevento:
• Agent for Cain’s Task Force Freedom & another Task Force Freedom Action.
• Agent for LPR’s Michael Fields & George Brauchler’s ‘Advance Colorado’. https://advancecolorado.org/ Brauchler is president of AC.
• Spouse of Doug Benevento, former controversial DougCo BOE member leading the school voucher cause, pay for performance and anti-union agendas with Ben DeGrow of the II as well as the controversial president of the Douglas County Board of Health with his anti-mask/mandate agenda.
https://www.denverpost.com/…/resignation-dougco-school…/
‘FREEDOM WATCH NEWS’ – FWN is not the ‘CREDIBLE SOURCE for educational news at all’ as they claim to be! Sharing posts from Epoch Times and the Freedom Foundation which are true fake news conspiracy sites proves that.
WHO do we find on the website and FB page?
NAMES & Posts THAT STAND OUT FOR GOOD REASON!
• Plenty of fake news site articles including many from the Epoch Times & the Freedom Foundation!
• Several names are fake as WP parents have found. How ethical is it for a board member to be doing (if he is)?
• Jameson Dion – Among the many complaints he has was the one that he and Illingworth pulled together to remove not only a book but the high school teacher as well. Witt was fully supportive. Dion hosted a conservative board candidate ‘Meet & Greet’ at his home prior to the November 2021 election for Illingworth, Rusterholtz, Patterson & Brovetto on 9.25.2021.
• Clinton Smith is believed to be either Dion or D Illingworth.
• Woodrow Parks aka Curt Grina – “How can we get the WPEA out of our schools here in Woodland Park?”
• Curt Grina aka Woodrow Parks – Very outspoken against the teachers and their union among other things. Check out the posts by both C Smith and W Parks on the FB age.
https://gazette.com/…/article_2bda2f9c-87b7-11ed-8d91…
https://gazette.com/…/article_acd880b0-9047-11ed-8c6d…
• Andrew Wommack: ““We decided that we were going to take Colorado back,” Wommack said. “Colorado is a very liberal place, and so we’ve got a thing in place, and during the last election cycle we started with the school boards. We singled out five districts in Colorado, and we put out 417,000 voter guides. The GOP got incensed at us because we asked, ‘How do you feel about men competing in women’s sports? What do you think about critical race theory?’ They did not want those things to be public. So, we asked all the candidates—Democrat and Republican—and we put out these voter guides, and out of 178 people that we were supporting, we got … somewhere around 78 or 80 of them elected. So, we’re beginning to make an inroad, and we’ve got some big plans in place this year.”
“I sent a spy into our public school system to check out what the books are,” Wommack revealed later in his speech. “I got a list of I think it was 54 books in the Woodland Park School System—and this is a small place, 7,000 people in the community—and there’s 54 homosexual books that we know off. I’ve got a list of that, and I’ve got people that are on my staff that go to every school board meeting, and as soon as we get [the books] looked at so that we can defend what we’re saying, we’re going to stand up in the school board.”
“We now have a number of our Charis graduates that are on school boards, and we’ve got Christians in places,” he added. “Praise God, we’re seeing things change.””
RW: Other names that are common in this agenda include:
• Nicole & Derek Wagner – Merit Academy founders & also Florida residents.
• Katie Illingworth – Merit parent & now supposedly former Merit board member. Spouse of WP BOE member David Illingworth. How is it that he, as a board member didn’t recuse himself from voting on the Merit application? As the media has shown, he appears to enjoy being a controversial thorn directed at educators and their union. As a Deputy District Attorney, all should be concerned.
• Mary Sekowski – Merit board member. Her name shows up many times.
• Jen Gibbons – Cherry Creek Parents Advocacy Group aligned with J. Dion on the far right ‘Kim Monson’ (II & LPR) conservative talk show pushing conspiracy theories about the teachers unions.
• Bob Schaffer – Liberty Common Founder/Headmaster/LPR Chairman
• Tom Krannawitter – A very controversial guy (easy to Google him) that we find to be someone Rumfelt in TSD appears to admire as she posts links to his conspiracy agenda.
Please take time to browse the two Woodland Park conspiracy pages and note the comments by Woodrow Parks & Clinton Smith and remember as you do that they are fake names.
Sources:
Merit & ERBOCES: https://www.cato.org/blog/friday-feature-merit-academy
Liberty Common Newsletter, Oct 6, 2022 Bob Schaffer, Casey Churchill and Merit board members
https://www.denverpost.com/…/charter-school-liberty…/
The Federalist: https://thefederalist.com/…/no-politics-public-school…/
K. Illingworth ‘Go Fund Me for Merit Academy’ in May, 2021. Appears to have raised $9,000 of a $300,000 goal. https://www.gofundme.com/f/small-school-great-expectations
https://www.facebook.com/TSDReformWatch/posts/pfbid0Poxg6xbrcJ9jtY6WvEYXmXFjyLWvfr9HgyvmVVHLkDa1d3EbSZdamzLVvHBqF9mel?cft[0]=AZWCzqlKi_jIdDT1SVOG_V_WvqRH4_M6AvRdJJ6mAPX9rr-0ZPw_fBBf7WyhKNuMBjHQV-qzx-ncaQJrMIFktWXc9KVCMHIDwAMezskbcIgBpZeIrkwD69_AFSpmYjV64tPE3aatECdr0fGRVqYOwZ6h&tn=-UK-R