The three candidates vying to become Woodland Park District RE-2’s next superintendent made their case to the board and the public at an open forum on March 12.

Interim Superintendent Ginger Slocum, Hayden District RE-1 Superintendent Eric Owen and Meeker District RE-1 Superintendent Chris Selle all gathered in the district’s administrative building to answer a series of questions that ranged from student success and post-graduation preparedness to their long-term vision for the district and plan to remain visible and approachable in the community.

While the three candidates largely agreed on what Woodland Park’s district needs going forward, that public visibility was crucial to rebuilding trust with the community and that internships, certifications and job-training should be prioritized along with college degrees, each differed slightly on their approach to ultimately achieve these shared goals.

Acting as the district’s leader since last August, Slocum pointed to her work to date in rebuilding relationships with other local organizations like the Woodland Park Police Department and city council, along with her current staff and faculty, through listening tours and surveys. She also mentioned meeting with parents who have expressed frustrations in recent years.

One specific change she would enact as the permanent superintendent is dropping the controversial American Birthright social studies standard that the district adopted in 2023 and returning to the standards approved by the Colorado Board of Education, believing this would better support students’ critical thinking skills.

“When I think as a school leader, we often look at student achievement,” she said. “I also feel that student growth is just as much or more important: making sure that a child has what they need to make their full potential in life.”

As for ensuring future student success, she emphasized supporting teachers and staff as the key to ensuring that they feel valued and able to teach their curriculum freely and support their students.

While Selle agreed that investing in a variety of career pathways in their schools is needed to meet both student and workforce needs, he emphasized strong foundational blocks in literacy, math and critical thinking for students to be properly equipped to pursue a pathway in later grades.

He pointed to his current district’s involvement in Colorado’s Student-Centered Accountability Program as an effective alternative to measuring student achievement. He explained that the program, which is currently used in about 20 small rural districts, takes into account students’ participation in extracurricular activities, college matriculation rates and career readiness through certifications and concurrent enrollment.

“So, that…looks at that on a holistic level and it gives you a better gauge of how your students are doing in terms of where they need to go next,” he said. “It also provides for better accountability with your community (and) better interaction with your community.”

When asked about measuring student success, Owen said student engagement in their school and its offerings and their attendance are what he considered in addition to the standardized metrics.

“Are students feeling as though the time is valuable enough for them to be in the class and get a benefit from that,” he asked. “Do kids have the opportunity to explore what they want outside of our four walls and are we doing what we need to prepare them to do so?”

He went on to note that developing students’ soft skills should be considered for their post-secondary readiness, whether it be college, the military or the workforce.

Following the interviews, the board convened in executive session to…for the following six hours. The meeting can be viewed in its entirety on the school district’s YouTube page.

O’Connell settlement

During the board’s regular meeting the day prior, board members unanimously approved a settlement agreement with Erin O’Connell, who successfully sued the district in the Colorado Supreme Court over public meeting violations in 2022.

The court determined that the school board at the time violated the Colorado Open Meetings Law when they changed a work session to a special meeting with an agenda item titled “Board Housekeeping” to discuss a memorandum of understanding with the school district’s charter school, Merit Academy.

Colorado’s open meetings law requires public bodies to post public notice of meetings at least 24 hours in advance, with specific agenda information where possible.

On Feb. 13, Judge William Moller ordered the board to pay O’Connell approximately $148,800 in attorney fees and court costs.

Ahead of their vote, Board President Keegan Barkley, who was elected in 2023, remarked on the negative impact the lawsuit and circumstances around it had on their community, how the increased focus on transparency has guided their governance since and said it was “beyond disappointing” that a local parent had to resort to these measures to get the board to follow the law.

“Our district as a whole, our community as a whole paid pretty dearly with time, with our resources and with a breakdown of trust,” she said.

O’Connell, who provided a public comment ahead of the board’s vote, thanked the current board members, none of whom were elected at the time the violation occurred, for their efforts in rebuilding trust and transparency with the community. She said that the dollars will go only towards her legal expenses and that she gains no personal benefit from the settlement.

“To be honest, it all feels anticlimactic, after all of the intensity,” she told the board. “I’ve stood up here screaming and crying for years, but standing up for others often feels anti-climactic because you’re not doing it for you.”

Board member Carol Greenstreet, who was at the meeting that prompted the lawsuit, said that she had similar concerns to O’Connell’s at the time. She added that the district’s attorney at the time, Brad Miller, who both suggested the open meetings violation and the continued effort to challenge O’Connell’s case through the court, contributed to the increased settlement for the district, rather than settle on a much smaller fee four years ago, all while being paid by the district.

She added that the district that no longer receives his legal advice is now paying the price.

“Someone said to me today that the real losers were the kids. Just to be clear, it is only funding for the district-run schools that paid for the bad advice that created this lawsuit,” she said.

“They paid to fund the fight of the suit, and they are paying the judgement,” she said. “The only winner is the attorney who provided bad advice and lost defending his bad advice. Perhaps he should do the right thing, which is reimburse the district, the kids, for these costs.”