The board has rescheduled their next meeting, originally scheduled for May 11th and rescheduled to May 18th. This is planned to be a town hall format to discuss the Merit Academy contract (which has not been released yet). They’re tentatively planning to approve a lease for Merit to use the Middle School on May 25th per the timeline.
They plan to tour Gateway Elementary this Friday at noon (agenda).
The Feasibility Study Presentation to be shown at tonight’s board work session can be downloaded here.
Points of note:
In the April 27 school board work session, the board agenda had the following item: “Feasibility Study Presentation by Executive Director of Technology & Operations Miles Tuttle” (source). This information was to be presented to the public in that work session. Instead, the school board decided to keep it secret and hidden from public view. Considering the financial ramifications of a potential contract with Merit Academy, this is unacceptable to the taxpayers of this community. CORA requests for this information are pending. This post will be updated with a video recording of the meeting shortly.
First up is a work session on Tuesday, April 12th. Topic is, “Cooperative Strategies community meeting regarding master facilities planning.” I suspect the topic of sharing the middle school with Merit Academy will be the main topic. This meeting starts at 6:00PM, and is being held at Columbine Elementary. The agenda is here.
Wednesday will be a regular school board meeting, held in the commons room at the Middle School and also starting at 6:00. The agenda is here. One item of note is that it looks like Brad Miller’s influence as the district’s attorney is coming to an end? We’ll learn more at the meeting I’m sure. But I suspect that he’s accomplished goal, to get a contract in place for Merit (this is not finished yet…contract is written we think, but not signed), so he’s going to move on to enact change in other districts. But let’s see what we learn Wednesday.
There’s a public meeting this Wednesday, March 30th, at 6:00 in the Middle School Commons area, to discuss the board’s plan to let Merit Academy occupy a portion of the Middle School building starting next school year.
As per the agenda, “Members of the Board of Education will attend the Community Linkage meeting and meet with School Accountability Committee Members.” 6:00PM, in the District Office Large Conference Room.
The topic of discussion is not specified in the agenda.
This was emailed to the board today:
Board President Rusterholtz,
I would like to formally request an opportunity to present at a WPSD Board Work Session regarding facility usage. On February 24, 2022, there was a presentation given by a group calling themselves ‘The Taxpayers.’ In this presentation, the recommendation was to immediately surrender one of WPSD elementary schools to a charter school which hasn’t even officially been offered a contract by the district yet. I am appalled that the board would even consider this without proper data, a feasibility study, and a lengthy timeline for review.
Woodland Park Community Education Coalition would like an opportunity to present factual data as well as another viewpoint, held by many people in this community. We would like the timeline of this presentation to precede any action item or vote taken by the board regarding building usage, reallocation of grade levels or determination of Merit Academy obtaining a building through WPSD.
Please note that I have blind copied a group of approximately 60 individuals for both verification and in support of this request. I have also copied multiple media outlets so that they will remain aware of the ongoing situation in WPSD.
Please confirm the date and time of the work session we can present at. We are looking forward to ensuring that you hear all of the facts before you make any decisions on building usage and related issues. Thank you.
Regards,
Erin O’Connell
Woodland Park Community Education Coalition