At the Aug. 14 Woodland Park RE-2 School District Board of Education meeting, Teller County Commission Chairman Dan Williams explained why commissioners refrained from speaking to the board during the recent recall effort.

“We remained silent during the recall effort because it was an election issue,” he said. “The people behind the recall are not bad and neither are the board members. Public service is hard. You had the school board on one side and the people seeking the recalls on the other, putting the kids in the middle. It’s easier to destroy than to build but now begins the hard work of rebuilding relationships.”

He said the commissioners receive a lot of calls from citizens about the school board. One parent of an LGBTQ child said it’s better for a child to tell someone than to find that child hanging in a closet, Williams said, adding that, among other things, parents were worried about marginalization, athletic programs, and the district’s lack of a Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

Later in the meeting Director Suzanne Patterson said she won’t rest until the district has a Junior ROTC program.

“It’s time to support each other,” Williams said. “When the war is over, the anger persists, but we’re not the ones who will cure cancer and make the United States No. 1 in the world. Our kids will do that.”

Commission Vice Chairman Erik Stone said schools are the core of community and that “unity” is a large part of community. Commissioner Bob Campbell spoke of positivity in service and positive experiences reinforcing life’s lessons for students.

Former Woodland Park City Councilman Paul Saunier said he prays for the board and the district’s success.

“Children and their parents are your obligation,” he said. “You need to prepare kids for the future.”

Summit Elementary School Principal Katie Rexford introduced the board to the Elevate Environmental Education program.

“Our focus is that kids learn best outdoors,” she said. “We’re working with Catamount Institute to help kids explore the wonderful world in our own backyard – how could we not use what’s all around us. Kids must learn but they don’t have to know that they’re not just playing outdoors.”

Rexford said the teachers involved with Catamount’s experts wanted to bring back the outdoor experience and vocabulary for other teachers to use in their classrooms, but the other teachers wanted to learn alongside the students.

“These are field experiences not just field trips,” Rexford said. “The kids become the experts.”

Board President David Rusterholtz asked if there could be an environmental track for grade-school children.

“Yes, barring winter,” Rexford said. “We encourage teachers to go outside as much as possible.”

Co-Superintendent and Chief of Staff Del Garrick spoke about the school district’s COVID-19 mitigation plan and all the communicable diseases that must be reported to the state.

Several directors wanted to emphasize to parents that when they report certain illnesses to the school these illnesses and the child’s name are, in turn, reported to county and state health departments.

“The spirit of the state’s reporting statutes is to safeguard communities from widespread illness,” Director/Board Treasurer Chris Austin said. “… We don’t want to encourage families to withhold information.”

Garrick said the state isn’t going to shut down a school because of one case. “They’re looking for trends,” he said.

Garrick also spoke about annual Educator Effectiveness Evaluations and the difference between probationary/non-probationary and tenure, which is a word the district no longer uses.

Qualification standards are the basis for 50% of the evaluation, while the other 50% is based on student outcomes. Starting next year those percentages will change to 70% and 30%, respectively.

Garrick said enrollment was generally up over projections but that official enrollment numbers will not be available until the annual October Count.

Merit Academy Charter School Chief Action Officer and Director of Development Gwynne Pekron gave the academy update. She said there were a lot of highlights from opening day but for students, the big highlight was lockers. Total enrollment was 328, including home-school students enrolled in academy online programs.

Woodland Park School District RE-2’s motto is “Elevate Your Education.”

Gazette file