The leadership of Woodland Park District RE-2 didn’t sugarcoat the realities they face during their “State of the District” address, highlighting recent progress inside and outside its schools and providing an update on ongoing work.

The hour-long meeting, held in the junior and senior high school building’s auditorium on Apr. 28, provided attendees with an update on a new strategic plan in the works, a preview of a financial audit recently completed and options for the district in the coming years.

Board of Education President Keegan Barkley told the crowd of about 40 people that the purpose of the event was to improve the district’s transparency and accountability, along with overall district health, after both had languished in recent years.  

“The district has seen many challenges over the last several years and these challenges have impacted our programs, the culture here, your trust in the district and our ability to really meet our core duty with consistency,” she said.

Among the more recent challenges have included the consolidation of its middle and high school, the closure of an elementary school, the loss of a local sales tax earmarked for the district, shortfalls revealed through a financial audit, a court settlement over an open meetings violation and significant staff and faculty turnover.

Barkley also noted the loss of district documentation and supplemental programming since the last administration, as well as other areas of need they intend to address.

“Much of this work really is starting from ground zero,” she said.

Shortly following the election of three new board members, work began to fill its superintendent vacancy, improve its financial transparency and re-engage the school district with the local community.

To date, they’ve appointed Ginger Slocum as the district’s next permanent superintendent, after having five people serve in this role since 2020, hired David Kuritar as its chief financial officer, after having eight since 2022, and begun training with the Colorado Association of Charter School Authorizers to improve operations with its charter school, Merit Academy.  

Merit’s Headmaster, Dr. Gwynne Pekron, said that, while there have been “some conversations” with individual board members recently, she and the school’s leadership have yet to meet with the newly elected board on an administrative level. She said this is likely due to both parties focusing on their respective growth, but looks forward to future meetings.

They also conducted listening tours and circulated a community survey to gather public input and determine future goals and expectations for the district. These were followed by the formation of various committees to meet these goals.

“We didn’t come into this, assuming we knew all the answers,” Barkley said on behalf of the new leadership. “We didn’t try to guess at what the school issues would be and we didn’t come in with any mandates, right? We just listened.”

In her capacity as superintendent, Slocum has formed four new committees and met with various community leaders ranging from first responders to bolster school safety and security to religious leaders to local realtors, to potentially attract families with school-aged children to the community and address declining enrollment.

Adjustments to the district’s current curriculum were also discussed. The district’s academics director, Karen Hamfellow, highlighted ongoing reviews of its preschool, elementary writing, secondary English and secondary social studies. A community review for this curriculum is scheduled for next month.

Regarding the social studies curriculum, which has been a point of contention since the district adopted the American Birthright standard in 2023, Hamfellow noted that students learned material last year that wasn’t tested on because it wasn’t aligned with state standards or ever approved by the Colorado Department of Education.

“And so, we needed to make some changes,” she said.

Finances

Arguably, the biggest undertaking the school district faces in the year is navigating the budget and accounting for revenue losses in the coming years. Kuritar provided a preview of the recently finalized financial audit, which is set to be presented in greater detail at a May 4 board meeting.

Along with societal factors negatively impacting all school districts’ budgets, like rising costs and declining birthrates, he noted that losing the sales tax, which generated over $3 million annually, students opting out and a shrinking population reduced the district’s overall revenue by 25% over the past five years.

Kuritar then pointed out a heavier reliance on reserve funding during this same time. A graph presentation indicated that the district’s reserves, of which at least 3% of a district’s budget is mandated by the state, had been reduced from nearly $11.7 million to about $3 million over the past five school years.

“We are under fiscal pressure and this has been building for probably four, five, six years with just that decline in revenue,” he said. “So, it’s nothing new to the community. It might have been hidden under the use of reserves, but, in the spirit of transparency, I wanted to let everyone know where we’re at.”

Another factor not detailed but mentioned repeatedly was the likelihood of substantial facility repairs in the coming years.

Along with hiring the personnel needed and updating district software to stabilize accounting shortfalls, the district ended outsourced contracts to fill certain positions like special education and added them to its payroll.

It also implemented a spending freeze for the current year and plans to implement a wage freeze for the upcoming school year, along with leaving certain job vacancies unfilled. Kuritar said that local volunteers could play a greater role in continuing certain activities like athletic teams.

Going forward, in order to sustain existing programs without pulling from reserves, increasing enrollment by recruiting families to return to the district who had left is ongoing, while Kuritar said that raising activities fees and cutting certain athletics are also options.

As for providing supplemental programming for the schools, Hamfellow said that the district has applied for the School Counselors Corp Grant, which funds the hiring of licensed school counselors for four years, the School Health Professionals Grant, which funds the hiring of a state-licensed or state-certified school nurse or other state-licensed or state-certified health professionals, and has already received grants supporting literacy, feminine hygiene and library books.

New ballot initiatives were also mentioned to raise district funds, since few other options are currently available.

Next steps

Despite the myriad of decisions that lay ahead, district leadership also took a moment to highlight the positive developments. In 2024, the district was among Colorado’s most improved in student achievement, while Summit Elementary recently received the Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award, which notes exceptional student growth and exceptional state evaluations.  

The board also provided an update on its new strategic plan, which is based on the assessments and feedback gathered to date. Over the next three years, the district will base decisions on seven priorities – academic excellence, student engagement, educator talent, safe campuses, operational integrity, family and community engagement and enrollment – and provide monthly, quarterly and annual updates.

Two local attendees said they came away from the meeting with “hope for the district.”

Kim Morris, who moved her child out of Woodland Park’s schools and into the neighboring Manitou Springs school district, said that she did so based on decisions made by the board since the 2021 elections.

“I’m here tonight to have hope for Woodland Park for the next generation and for my friends’ kids,” she said. “Our family will not be able to uproot our children once again, but we do hope that the kids that are here can have a better future.”

For Kim Hoffstatter, the mother of a sophomore at Woodland Park Junior/Senior High School, she’s also disapproved of the board’s actions in recent years, but kept her son in the district because of their relationships with its staff and faculty.

“Our kids need so much stability that they still don’t have,” she said.

In her closing statements, to emphasize what it will take to improve the district ahead, Barkley recited a famous line from the classic children’s story “The Lorax” and told the crowd that unless they care a whole awful lot, nothing will get better.

“I have hope for this district. Because I know that this community cares a whole awful lot, I know everyone on this stage cares a whole awful lot and I know all of the teachers in our buildings care a whole awful lot,” she said.

“And that means that we can do better and we will do better.”