The fate of the property currently housing Merit Academy remains on the mind of Woodland Park.

During the Woodland Park RE-2 Board of Education’s regular meeting June 11, multiple community members voiced their concerns over the potential sale of the building to the charter school.

The board would go into executive session during the meeting for legal advice on “Merit Academy facility proposals and for negotiations and directions to negotiators regarding Merit Academy facilities and charter contract,” per the meeting agenda.

This was not open to the public and no decisions were made.

Regardless, numerous people used the public comment portion of the meeting to urge the board to consider the needs of the entire district rather than perceived preferential treatment to Merit. The building, which formerly housed Woodland Park Middle School, was referred to as one of the larger assets in the district that they couldn’t afford to lose, given the financial challenges they currently face.

“With respect, this building is not yours,” Woodland Park resident Suzie Graf told the board. “It belongs to the stakeholders of the Woodland Park school district and they should have an opportunity to discuss what happens to it.”

The calls for public input and engagement stem from previous attempts hastily presented by board members regarding the sale of the building to Merit that received little to no public input. This resulted in a public outcry and the city council voting to repeal a sales tax for funding the school district.

Additionally, community members called on the school district to conduct a forensic audit to identify and address all financial discrepancies from recent years and improve public transparency. Tony Perry, president and CEO of Park State Bank & Trust and founder of a local community task force, presented the board with a 50-page report with recommendations to improve district operations.

The board would later be presented by a new audit proposal from interim Superintendent Aaron Salt and agreed to schedule a work session next week to weigh their different options. Board members said that a decision is needed sooner rather than later to prevent any additional stress on staff members.

Ahead of the executive session, board President Mick Bates took a moment to explain to the public the purpose of the closed meeting, given the large number of messages he and other board members received about it.

He said that their intention was to discuss the pros and cons and all options of working with Merit Academy regarding the future of the facilities.

“It’s multifaceted and we really need to pull the whole board together and have an open dialogue about this so we can get some kind of consensus as for where we want to go from here,” he said.