Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a correction. Academy D-20 has not had an auto-pedestrian crash fatality involving a D-20 student as claimed by a school board candidate.

School board candidates for Academy District 20 fielded questions ranging from future facility needs to recent board actions during a public forum held at Liberty High School Wednesday night. The seven candidates vying for three open seats were largely in agreement on some issues and differed greatly on others.

The terms for current board members Lauren Yanez, Nicole Konz and Susan Payne are up this November, with only Payne running for reelection. She was appointed to the board earlier this year following the resignation of Aaron Salt in March.

Newcomers seeking election on Nov. 4 are Brandon Clark, who attended the forum remotely, Cynthia Halverson, Renée Ludlam, Jennafer Stites, Holly Tripp and Eddie Waldrep.

During their opening statements, Clark, Stites and Ludlam aligned themselves and their campaign priorities for the board, while Halverson separated herself from the other candidates by pointing to her background in working in Midwest schools and her recent graduation from the Charis Bible College in Woodland Park.

Each candidate except Halverson said that they have or have had children or grandchildren attending D-20 schools.

Safety and security

In light of the recent shooting at Evergreen High School in Denver Metro, the topic arose of how candidates would approach safety and security situations.

All candidates noted the system and personnel currently in place in D-20, along with individual actions like Safe2Tell tips and 911 calls, while Waldrep mentioned prioritizing deferred maintenance as a way to enhance security.

“That’s one of the things that actually saved a lot of lives (at Evergreen), is that a lot of the kids were able to go into classrooms, and the doors did not open when the shooter was going around trying to open different doors,” he said.

Other candidates, including Ludlam, said they would address safety concerns brought by parents regarding students getting to school. She highlighted busy streets, such as in the Rockrimmon area, as safety hazards she would look to address.

Last month, a 6-year-old girl was hit by a vehicle while crossing a street near Rockrimmon Boulevard and Red Hill Circle on her way to school. Last December, a child was hospitalized at the intersection of Vindicator Drive and West Rockrimmon Boulevard while walking to school.

“There was a student who got hit going to the bus stop this year. Last year, a few blocks down, another student got hit going to and from school,” said Ludlam, who erroneously claimed that a D-20 student died in an auto-pedestrian crash in recent years.

In 2023, a Doherty High School student was struck and killed in a crosswalk in front of the school which prompted the installation of a school zone in the area that included flashing 20 mph speed limit signs and road markings. Doherty High is a Colorado Springs School District 11 school and the Gazette independently verified that a D-20 student was not killed at a bus stop in 2023.

Board and district transparency

In recent years, the D-20 board has enacted changes to how they conduct their business that include reducing monthly regular meetings from two to one and limiting the amount of time permitted for public comments.

Candidates were asked what they think is the best way to go about ensuring effective board functions and transparency while maintaining public engagement. Payne and Waldrep defended the Carver model of governance currently used by the board, with the latter also suggesting greater board dialogue with the superintendent and board updates outside of regular meetings.

Stites said the topic of transparency has come up multiple times in her discussions and she emphasized the board’s role in “governing, not managing,” as it pertains to the superintendent’s role in achieving their goals.

To improve transparency, she suggested returning to two regular meetings per month and relying less on executive sessions, which are closed to the public, to come to board decisions.

“I don’t know what’s happening in the executive sessions, but they have quadrupled in the past year,” she said. “And so, I know that parents are really interested in knowing what’s going on, and it must be pretty important, since it’s taking a lot of time.”

Transgender athletes, CHSAA suit

This year, the D-20 board passed a resolution to draft and implement a policy classifying access to locker rooms, restrooms and athletic participation as being based on biological sex and joined a lawsuit filed against Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, the Colorado Civil Rights Division and the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) over disagreements with this policy. 

Payne, Halverson, Tripp and Waldren voiced their approval of both the resolution and joining the lawsuit, with Tripp saying that allowing transgender males to participate in female sports undermines the protections provided under Title IX, creates competitive disadvantages, and introduces an “element of unsafe play” toward biologically female athletes.

When asked this question, Halverson went on to say that the morals and values that used to be held in schools are now gone and that schools should focus on academics rather than transgender messages.

“Our first schools, the only textbook in the school was the Bible. That’s not being used today,” she said.

“And other books that are coming into the schools that are promoting things like boys being in girls’ sports and so forth, we have 1,400 books in our libraries that our children’s eyes should not see, their ears should not hear, and I am just adamant that those books get out of there.”

Clark, Stites and Ludlam all said that biological sexes participating in the opposite sex’s sport is a worthwhile topic to discuss, but disagreed with the district joining the lawsuit, believing that it’s a nonexistent issue in D-20.

“We have a policy that’s protecting our students already in place,” Clark said.  “Why do we need to be spending the money when we could be ticking off more on our deferred maintenance or start using that money for other things that are more prevalent, in my opinion, to supporting our students in the district?”