In just over two months following the November elections that ushered in three new members to the Woodland Park RE-2 Board of Education, its longest-tenured member has stepped down.

Former board President Mick Bates resigned on Jan. 7, which the board formally approved during its regular meeting last week. He did not attend the meeting.

His three-year tenure marked one where it took a decidedly conservative approach to district operations.

“I’m very proud of what we did as a conservative school board,” he said in an interview ahead of the board meeting.

Before joining the school board, Bates served as the chair of the Teller County Republicans. He was then appointed to the school board in January 2023 to succeed Chris Austin, following his resignation. He would get reelected later that year and ran on a conservative slate with candidates Cassie Kimbrell and Dave Illingworth II. Kimbrell also won a board seat but did not seek reelection last year.

Over the next three years, the district would opt not to renew a $1.2 million grant for social-emotional learning and endure staff and administrative turnover, declining enrollment and the consolidation of its middle school into its high school.

The district also experienced notable successes during this same period. Bates specifically highlighted a new policy requiring students to check their phones in the morning and the district’s academic improvement. The Gazette previously reported the district seeing the fourth-most improvement and ranking 29th out of the 169 districts in Colorado in 2024.

“That is spectacular, and I’m very proud of that,” Bates said.

During that time, he and other board members also received regular scrutiny from members of the community.

Points of contention included the hiring of Superintendent Ken Witt; the adoption of social studies standards favored by conservative groups; the closure of Gateway Elementary; the consolidation of the district’s middle and high schools; and the rapid development of its charter school, Merit Academy. All of those decisions offered little to no public input or notice.

Over the past year, the Woodland Park City Council repealed a local sales tax earmarked for the district, citing what they believed to be bad-faith actions regarding their intergovernmental agreement. The tax had generated an average of $3 million annually for the district. Witt announced he would resign as superintendent the day after the repeal.

A perceived lack of transparency by the board also led to a state Supreme Court case that ultimately ruled in favor of the plaintiff, a local district parent.

Largely in response to the actions taken over this time, Kassidi Gilgenast, Laura Gordon and Carol Greenstreet all campaigned for open board seats this past fall. They would win decisively, with margins ranging from 15%-20% of total votes ahead of more conservative candidates last November.

Bates acknowledged being disappointed in these results.

“The turnout for conservatives was poor,” he said.

When asked why he decided to resign, he referred to discussions at the board meetings since the elections.

He defended Witt’s decision to cancel the state grant for mental health services, which removed 15 mental-health professionals across the district, stating that “there was too much of the peripheral stuff” during a Dec. 17 work session, while other members argued for their need in the schools.

When he suggested moving interim Superintendent Ginger Slocum’s hiring to a final vote and forgoing the ongoing search that involved a hired firm, his fellow board members rejected this idea.

Bates figured there was a message in the vote that followed.

“There is no point in my being there,” he said.

The board then held a special meeting to declare the vacancy Jan. 16.

They will now accept letters of application from those interested residing in the district until Jan. 30. Interviews with applicatnts will take place over the next 60 days following the declared vacancy.

“First, I just want to thank Mr. Bates and acknowledge the time he spent here on the board and wish him well in the future,” board president Keegan Barkley said ahead of their vote.

Merit Academy True-up approved

Earlier in the meeting, the board approved the annual true-up for Merit Academy after receiving an update from the district’s Chief Financial Officer David Kuritar.

Because funding amounts and actual costs can differ from initial estimates in approved annual budgets, the true-up reconciled what the charter school received or was charged with the actual amounts earned and the services provided.

It was found that Merit received less revenue than budgeted and incurred higher buyback service costs, resulting in the school being owed $362,600 for the 2025 fiscal year. Specifically, transportation costs and administration fees were calculated as one-time adjustments owed to the district.

The initial true-up report, uploaded to the district’s website, indicated that Merit owed the district approximately $799,795, which includes about $437,213 in transportation and charter administration fees.

When accounting for overpayments and costs for Merit covered by the district, he added, the revised amount the charter school owes for the 2025 fiscal year is about $362,600.

The motion to approve the true-up was passed unanimously.

Going forward, these costs, along with certificate of participation fees, will be passed through to Merit Academy starting in the next fiscal year to simplify future reconciliations.

Pikes Peak Courier’s Pat Hill contributed to this report.