A district divided: Counting down to the Woodland Park School District elections

“[The candidates] were outsiders from the community, and they were raising tens of thousands of dollars for their campaigns,” Graf said of the election in the fall of 2021. “Usually they spend about 500 to one thousand [dollars].”

“They ran on a more conservative slate,” he said. “Their signs read, ‘Vote Conservative.’ And Woodland Park is already traditionally conservative, so it means something to be more conservative.”

The Woodland Park School District gained public notice at the beginning of 2023 when the board voted to adopt the American Birthright social studies standards, a new set of curriculum guidelines created by a national conservative coalition known as the Civics Alliance. The standards place an increased emphasis on Western (and more specifically, American) civilization and civics, incorporating themes like liberty, faith and achievement.

American Birthright has been denounced on both the district and national level. The National Council for the Social Studies neither endorsed nor supported the standards, writing they “would have damaging and lasting effects on the civic knowledge of students and their capacity to engage in civic reasoning and deliberation.” 

“They chose this curriculum that we didn’t know about,” said Stephanie Merl, an alumni and current parent in the district. Merl’s parents attended Woodland Park schools as well, and her grandfather taught within the district for more than 30 years.

According to the Civics Alliance, the American Birthright standards were drafted in response to existing social studies standards that “too frequently omit crucial figures, such as Christopher Columbus and George Washington, or excise entire concepts, such as liberty or republican virtue.”

Billboards, posters, and banners are the first and last things you see when driving through Woodland Park.

Photo: Chase McCleary, Rocky Mountain PBS

Witt and the school board adopted the American Birthright standards in January of this year, only about a month after the Colorado State Board of Education rejected them. 

“I always felt comfortable connecting with teachers and staff…now everything’s different. It’s unilateral,” said Merl. “A lot of us want to be hopeful, but we just don’t know.”

In March, the board decided to move sixth graders back to the elementary schools, citing district-wide declines in enrollment. This came as Merit Academy, a new charter school in the district, continued to see increasing enrollment rates. Merit now shares a building with the public middle school. 

Matt Gawloski, a long-time Woodland Park parent, took note. “Their focus seemed to shift to Merit, and they kept talking about a ‘united district.’ They were treating our school as second rate. It felt like they didn’t care about public education.”

Parents, students, and teachers alike walked out in protest, arguing that they were not given a chance to share their opinions on the decision. Some educators began leaving the district; others were let go, further stoking the already simmering tensions. 

Graf was among those considering calling it quits after mental wellness programs like the “Sources of Strength,” a suicide prevention group, began disappearing. The tipping point came when his “Civil Disobedience” class, a class he’d been teaching for seven years, came into question.

“It was called for review by the board at one point,” said Graf, “They approved it. The President said they’d wished they’d taken it when they were in school.” A year later, the board voted to ban the book, “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, a central text in the class. The American Birthright standards were implemented shortly after. 

Graf said he faced a difficult decision about whether to continue his class, “Do I follow the values of an educator, or do I fight back?” 

“I wasn’t aware of anything until my senior came home and told me that a class would be canceled if a book wasn’t removed,” said Bridget Curran, a current Woodland Park mother. The Currans have been in the school district for four generations. “The book was removed, and the class continued on,” she said.

“I continued teaching for two years after, but it was not easy,” said Graf. Graf decided to leave the district this year.

As the 2022-2023 school year progressed, the school community became more vocal about their concerns with the presiding board, as well as Superintendent Witt. 

“There are so many policy changes, it’s hard to keep up with,” said Curran. “Before, you didn’t even know who the school board was. I just trusted the school district. Now, I’m not sure.”

As the schools lost more and more teachers, students and parents alike began to grow increasingly concerned. “My daughter lost seven of eight teachers,” said Elizabeth Douglass. Douglass currently has a junior at the high school. “First it was the social studies teacher, then biology, then math…”

“They’re friends and family,” said Curran. “These are people we’ve known forever… it’s bringing us together to support our neighbors, teachers and staff.”

Concerned parents meet in the Woodland Park Public Library to discuss the upcoming elections.

Photo: Chase McCleary, Rocky Mountain PBS

The tension culminated in a rally in early October, when more than 80 Woodland Park teachers and staff signed and released a letter asking for community support against the board’s conservative policymaking, including the incorporation of the American Birthright standards. 

“Up here, things are always conservative, but I didn’t expect all of this mess,” said Gawlowski. “And it’s not just Woodland Park. This is happening across Colorado and nation-wide.”

No other school district in the United States apart from Woodland Park currently follows American Birthright. However, the Garfield County school board has considered introducing the standards into the district, though recently struck down the proposal after community protests. States including Florida and Arizona have begun adjusting their state standards to accommodate more conservative curriculums.

In response to the increasing politicization and division around the district’s developing policies, the board imposed strict regulations around employees’ communication with the media. The “gag order” named the superintendent as the official spokesperson for the Woodland Park School district. District teachers and staff are not allowed to speak with the media or post on social media about district decisions without district approval. 

“It’s called KDDA, and it says that teachers and staff members can’t make posts or speak to news outlets about policies, or else they’ll be targeted and potentially fired,” said Curran. “It’s so clearly taking away their First Amendment rights.”

The Woodland Park Education Association, a separate group than the board made up of filed a federal lawsuit against the district in August, arguing the unconstitutionality of KDDA. 

Not only have the policy changes prompted teachers to leave the school district, but it has led many students and parents to consider leaving as well. 

“If [my daughter] wasn’t a senior, she wouldn’t be in this school,” added Gawlowski. “She wants to get out of this town.”

“She cries frequently about finding a different school,” said Merl. “She loves school, and she loves her teachers.”

The school board elections will take place on Tuesday, November 7, though many have already submitted their ballots. Now, parents, teachers, and students are anxiously waiting to know the future of their district.

“This is our last chance, our last shot,” said Gawloski. There’s hope, but if this election is not won, it’s lost. And if it goes south, many teachers and students won’t finish the school year.”

David Illingworth denied a request for comment. The rest of the sitting board and 

Superintendent Witt did not respond to a request for comment.

For more information on voting in Colorado, visit the Colorado Secretary of State website here.

Chase McCleary is a multimedia journalist in Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach him at chasemccleary@rmpbs.org.