The Woodland Park School District RE-2 Recall Committee’s efforts to recall three district directors came close, but not close enough.

The Recall Committee, headed by Erin O’Connell, Samantha Peck and Steve Smith, pulled petitions from the Teller County Clerk’s Office to recall David Rusterholtz, David Illingworth and Suzanne Patterson at the beginning of July.

David Illingworth II

Courtesy Photo

The group of committee and community members spent a month gathering signatures, which they turned in on the Aug. 1 deadline. The Teller County Elections Department spent a month of checking signatures and Clerk and Recorder Krystal Brown issued Statements of Insufficiency on Aug. 29.

According to Chief Deputy Clerk and Recorder Stephanie Kees, the group had to gather signatures equal to 40% of the votes each director received at the last election — 2,692 for Board President Rusterholtz, 2,644 for Illingworth and 2,648 for Patterson.

The group was aiming to collect 3,000 signatures per petition but fell short on each by a few hundred signatures. They submitted only 2,670 signatures to recall Rusterholtz, the board president, which wasn’t enough for the county to process.

Suzanne Patterson.

For Illingworth and Patterson, more than the required number of signatures were submitted but, during the counting process, the county rejected 386 signatures for Illingworth and 409 for Patterson. The most common reasons to reject a signature were that the name was not found in the voter rolls, the person doesn’t live in WPSD, and signatures don’t match those on file.

Kees said certifying petition signature to rule on sufficiency is a tedious process.

Every signature in every section of every page of the petition — more than 350 pages for each petition — must be recorded in a database, Kees said. Then each name and signature must be compared to those on state voter rolls and the signatures on file.

According to Brown’s Statements of Insufficiency, “a record of all accepted and rejected signatures is on file at the Clerk and Recorder’s office and will be maintained as a public record.”

O’Connell responded, “We are encouraged by the people who joined us. It was summer, people were gone and that affected turnout. Also, we were a grassroots organization going up against people with money — that always creates a disadvantage.”

She added that some people refused to sign the petitions because they feared retribution.

“They were afraid of being fired if they worked for the district, or that they would be publicly shamed. Petition circulators and signees were also harassed — another reason many people wouldn’t sign,” O’Connell said.

Rusterholtz, the school board president, said he has no hard feelings about the recall efforts.

“I believe the people who tried to recall us are sincere in their dislike of the course we’ve set, the improvements we’ve made and the chartering of Merit Academy,” he said.

“Reviewing the curriculum, chartering the school, and protecting parents’ rights when it comes to controversial subjects were all part of my campaign promise. I did what I said I would do.”

He continued, “I think they disagreed honestly. But no matter what we do, one group or another would disagree with us.

“None of this is personal, and I don’t take it personally. I know we don’t agree on everything, but I still represent them. To do that, I need to hear from them.”

Despite the issues that arose with the approval of the charter school and other board actions, Rusterholtz said he continues to be proud of the district administration and staff.

“Our teachers are committed, they love our kids and they’re doing a fabulous job,” he said.

“We need to get our heads together and find out why parents are picking other schools and how we can improve our game to better meet the needs of our parents and students.”

As for what’s next for the opposition group, O’Connell said she and others would continue to pursue a contempt of court lawsuit they’ve filed.

The lawsuit, which alleges the Woodland Park School District Board of Education didn’t follow state open meeting laws as directed by a judge earlier this year, was set for a hearing on Sept. 2.

In a message posted last week on the Concerned Parents of Teller County Facebook page, O’Connell stated: “Our desire and effort to hold the Woodland Park School Board accountable for their actions and to advocate for students, families, and teachers is not diminished.

“We will continue to seek representation that mirrors the diversity of our community. …”

David Rusterholtz