The Woodland Park School District RE-2 Board of Education started its Nov. 9 regular meeting with a recently established tradition of inviting districts students and members of local Boy and Girl Scout troops to lead the Pledge of Allegiance.

Four Woodland Park Middle School students — Reagan Duncan, Morgan Kietzman, Reagan Smith, and Mae Vasek and sixth-grade teacher Amber Hemingson — led the Pledge using American Sign Language and their voices. Board President David Rusterholtz asked them to repeat their signing so that everyone could get a better look.

Another tradition started by this board is the reading of the Preamble to the Colorado Constitution at the beginning of each meeting before the moment of silence that has been part of the proceedings for several years.

One of the first things the board did was to table the approval of the 2023-24 district calendar.

“I’m getting heartburn over this calendar,” Rusterholtz said. “How does giving kids days off a week at a time impact single-parent families and those where both parents work?”

“I would like to hear from more people — parents and staff,” Director Cassie Kimbrell said.

District Chief Academic Officer and Co-Superintendent Tina Cassens defended the calendar saying: “Families book their vacations a year in advance and districts down the pass are following our lead with weekly late-start days and four-day weeks. Preparing a new calendar for next year could take some time and it might not be ready until January — the faster the better.”

“This seems like a business opportunity for an entrepreneur to help parents with childcare during those days and weeks when kids aren’t in school,” Rusterholtz said.

The board then changed two agenda information items — updates from the superintendent research committee and the committee on drafting the board’s purpose and core value language — into action items.

Board Vice President David Illingworth and Kimbrell presented options and a tentative timeline for hiring a new interim superintendent.

The board mulled over the information and consulted the district’s lawyer Brad Miller, who was in attendance, on the legal requirements for meetings, interviews, naming finalists and hiring.

The requests for applications went online on Nov. 10. The application deadline is Nov. 29. The board, with help from the District Accountability Committee, will vet the applications, whittling the pool to six or seven semifinalists, interview applicants and name finalists on Dec. 7.

Finalists’ names must be posted at least two weeks before a superintendent is hired and finalist interviews are public, Miller said.

The board hopes to name an interim superintendent on Dec. 21 to finish out the school year and let co-superintendents Cassens and Del Garrick,who have been sharing superintendent duties, go back to the jobs they were hired to do.

“I want someone to come in and make the changes we need,” Rusterholtz said. “My thoughts are that we need a person who sees parents as our customers … someone who can move things forward — a CEO or a change agent.”

“We can hire a change agent from within the district,” Kimbrell said.

“Everyone is welcome to apply,” Director Suzanne Patterson said.

Kimbrell added that the board can schedule as many meetings and work sessions as necessary. “We will need a lot more meetings,” she said. “We’ll also need a town hall and surveys.”

Board Treasurer Chris Austin favored waiting for public input before starting the process, but agreed that having a joint public meeting with the District Accountability Committee on Nov. 16 will suffice.

“We can consider the application period as a time for stakeholder input,” Patterson said.

Cassens asked the board to remember how busy district staff and students are in December.

“Traditionally the (superintendent) hiring season starts in December, with hiring in February,” Cassens said. “A lot of applicants have contracts to fulfill or have to give notice.”

She asked the board when they would hire a permanent superintendent for the 2023-24 school year. Illingworth said that would depend on how things work out.

Miller said gathering information from the public makes good political sense, but the public’s choice was made when the people elected each board member to represent them. “You can do what you want,” he said.

The board moved on to the second action item, approving the board Purpose and Core Beliefs statements after some editing and amending.

“We take an oath and teachers take an oath to uphold these constitutions,” Patterson said. “People worry about ‘subversive teachings’ like Critical Race Theory and 1619. That (worry) underlies my reason for including the constitutions and the Declaration of Independence in our core-beliefs statement.”

Austin asked the board to allow more time for public input and voted no on approval of the purpose statement. The board unanimously approved the core-beliefs statement with amendments.

The statements will be posted on the school website, wpsdk12.org, and will be added to the superintendent application form.

Woodland Park High School Principal Kevin Burr went over the opportunities for juniors and seniors to earn college credits, vocational certifications, or prepare for a military career, while also earning high school graduation credits.

The district works with Pikes Peak State College, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Metropolitan State University, and several organizations that provide vocational certification testing.

Burr said starting a Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps is on the table but could cost the district as much as $100,000 to start, depending on which branch of the service sponsors it.

In honor of Veterans Day, Woodland Park Education Association President Nate Owens gave a moving tribute to U.S. military veterans.

Merit Academy Charter School Chief Academic Officer Gwynne Pekron gave an update on the academy’s programs as it gets ready to add a 10th grade and students celebrate a variety of achievements.

Woodland Park Middle School students and sixth-grade teacher Amber Hemingson used American Sign Language and their voices to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at the Nov. 9 Woodland Park School District Board of Education meeting.

Norma Engelberg, Pikes Peak Courier