CORRECTED: Woodland Park School District RE-2 board chooses Kenneth Witt for 6-month interim superintendent contract; raucous crowd greets decision
Editor’s note: The original version of this article had an incorrect number for the number of signatures the change.org petition “Stand Against Ken Witt and the WPSD Board of Education” had received. The site had 584 signatures as of Dec. 28.
There weren’t quite as many people attending the Dec. 21 Woodland Park School District RE-2 special meeting as there were for the Board of Education/District Accountability Committee interviews held two days prior, but they made up for size in noise.
Crowd members turn their backs to the school board during the Woodland Park School District RE-2 meeting Dec. 21. Dozens showed up in opposition to the board’s unanimous decision to select Kenneth Witt as interim superintendent.
About a third of the meeting audience in the district administration building conference room were students, many of whom brought signs expressing opposition to the board’s selected finalist for interim superintendent. They weren’t allowed to show these signs during the open meeting, but they held them up during an executive session.
On Dec. 7, the board named Kenneth Witt the sole finalist in the interim superintendent search that started in November. Witt is executive director of the Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Education Services, which oversees the education of about 5,000 students. Until recently, the Merit Academy Charter School was an ERBOCES contract school.
Witt served as president of the Jefferson County School District Board of Education from 2013-2015, until he and two other board members were recalled. He has a background in security, cybersecurity, information technology and business management.
One of the Woodland Park High School students who spoke at Dec. 14 regular meeting, Bode Wolin, started an online petition at change.org, “Stand Against Ken Witt and the WPSD Board of Education.” He was seeking 500 signatures against hiring Witt. As of Dec. 28, the site had netted 584 signatures.
As the audience filed in for the Dec. 21 Woodland Park School District RE-2 special meeting, seats were saved for district administrators.
Despite several calls for good meeting decorum by board President David Rusterholtz, the Dec. 21 meeting was filled with catcalls and laughter, especially when Rusterholtz said words to the effect that the board might not choose Witt for the interim superintendent position.
It took only about 20 minutes for the board to make a decision to hire Witt, via a unanimous vote, after which they went into executive session to discuss contract negotiations. As the board was leaving the large conference room, some audience members shouted about the decision, calling the board a “joke” and the meeting a “sham.” A few people in the audience walked out after the vote. Some were crying, but most appeared angry. A few quietly supported the board’s decision.
When the public meeting reopened about an hour later, most audience members stood with their backs to the board.
It took the board members only a couple of minutes to ratify Witt’s contract and adjourn the meeting.
They were ten directed by security officers who were present to leave the conference room quickly, Director Suzanne Patterson said.
Witt, who was not present at the meeting, said via an interview the next day that he is delighted to have the opportunity to serve the school board and lead the district.
“Woodland Park is a unique and remarkable community, and the district is a real gem in Colorado,” he said. “Unfortunately, it has seen a downturn in enrollment, but I think I can do great things to turn that around. I believe in starting by listening and allowing people to express their concerns. I want to be transparent and involve the community as much as possible.
“I’m excited to hit the ground running in January. … I will spend as much time as possible getting to know the district and the community.”
Witt’s contract is for six months. The board will start a new search early in 2023.
The DAC interview
Witt’s Dec. 19 public interview started out with questions compiled by the District Accountability Committee. These were followed by board questions and a few questions from students and community members. Most of these were read aloud by Rusterholtz.
Some audience members shouted that he didn’t read their question, but Rusterholtz said he did read it, only rewording it to be “more polite.”
The question in contention was “How will students feel valued and not bullied by your approach to leadership?”
“At one level, we choose how we feel; someone doesn’t choose our feelings for us, so personal responsibility comes into play when you’re trying to understand someone else,” Witt said. “I believe in listening and seeking to understand before seeking to be understood. A healthy dialogue is listening first.
“Students are valuable. All I can do is make certain they understand that the whole enterprise here is to make sure they have great opportunities and great pathways into their adult life. The way to do that is to focus on … bringing them the best array of choices and making certain they know we’re listening and that we hear what choices they’re seeking.”
DAC Chair Seth Bryant said committee members submitted their questions after Witt was named. These were then compiled and presented to the board.
“No voices were left out, but some questions were consolidated when they were similar,” he said. “We will compile the answers and submit our feedback to the board. Thank you for letting us be involved in this process.”
The questions covered four categories — Witt’s strengths, educational background, life experiences, and goals for the district.
On his strengths, Witt said a broad range of options both in curricular and extracurricular activities are parts of a good education and surveys are inherently biased and he prefers scientific polls.
WPHS parent and DAC member Aaron Helstrom asked Witt how he plans to increase staff retention and attract new teachers.
“People want to work where there is success,” Witt answered. “We need to create a strong culture of success. We also need to evaluate current retention — 100 percent retention is never good. We need to retain the good and the great and attract the best.”
Regarding his educational background, Witt said he has an extremely diverse background. “I run a district with almost 5,000 students in schools all over the state,” he said.
When questioned about test participation and graduation rates in ERBOCES schools, he said most parents of online students opt out of state testing. Graduation rates are low in some of these schools, but one high-performing high school has a 100% graduation rate, Witt said.
He said he applied for the interim superintendent position because he has a passion for education and enjoys teaching, although his teaching experiences have been in various company settings rather than in school settings.
On goals, Witt said he would bring parents back to the district by creating great programs, creating a “magnet” district, and focusing on excellence and success.
On unifying the community, he said listening is first.
“Parents don’t leave unless their needs aren’t being met,” he said.
“Meet those needs and they’ll come back, and they will stay. …You will never have complete unity; you’re never going to have no one complaining, but you can make huge strides by listening and trying to be as transparent as possible. …Change is hard but worthwhile if you have vision.”
Student DAC member Ali Orellana asked Witt what he would do about cyber bullying.
Witt answered, “You can never keep kids from being offensive, but we can teach them how to cope with their feelings and personal resilience, increasing their self-esteem. Use Safe-To-Tell and give the students confidence that they can reach out for help.”
Several audience members complained that DAC members and the board asked only “softball questions.”
Woodland Park High School students made up about one-third of the capacity audience at the Dec. 21 Woodland Park School District RE-2 Board of Education meeting. They weren’t apermitted to hold up their signs protesting the board’s decision to choose Kenneth Witt as the district’s interim superintendent during the regular meeting, so they held them up while the board was in executive session.