“Go on, take the money and run” Steve Miller Band -1976
Plans for Merit Academy Facility Sale Put On Hold
Trevor Phipps
The political climate heated up once again at the March Woodland Park RE-2 School Board meeting during a wild public comment session that got unruly at times.
Many members of public blamed the school board directly for a recent decision by the city council to axe a school-related sales tax increase the district had received for nearly 10 years.
Other passionate residents called for the resignation of four of the school board members. But despite the tough crowd, business basically moved on as usual with the announcement of Superintendent Ken Witt’s resignation commanding top attention.
A discussion was also held about the possible sale of the former middle school building to the Merit Academy charter school. In the end, the board agreed that the district needs to first focus on hiring a new full-time superintendent and a chief financial officer before any further moves are made. Moreover, the board wants the public to be involved in the decision-making process.
Witt announced in early March that he would be stepping aside as the district’s head boss next month. But after a drastic turn of events to start the month off, Witt’s resignation took effect on March 11. This followed a volatile session with the Woodland Park City Council, which ended with the WP elected leaders voting unanimously to kill the 1.09 percent city sales tax increase, allocated to the district.
During the RE-2 regular board meeting, board president Mick Bates introduced the district’s former Chief Operating Officer Aaron Salt as the new interim superintendent. At one point during Salt’s introductory speech, Bates had to interrupt and quiet down the crowd.
“I understand there has been a lot of broken trust over the last few years,” Salt said. “And I am committed to working to help restore that. I know that I will not be a long-term solution here, that I am in an interim position. But while I am here, I’m going to work to do everything that I can to restore the reputation of this district in the community. I have already started setting meetings and reaching out to community leaders to begin that process.”
The sparks flew once public comment was opened up. Some had words of encouragement, while others demanded that some of the school board members leave their posts.
The fact that the voter-approved 1.09 percent sales tax for the school’s was taken away by the Woodland Park City Council during a special, emergency meeting on March 10 came up a number of times. Many of the speakers blasted the school board for mistakes they made, and said that it was the board’s fault the tax was taken away.
Others blamed the board for the actions taken by Superintendent Ken Witt. Many of the speakers brought up the district financial audit that was recently released and blame the school board for 34 reported discrepancies that were found in the report.
Among the drawn out passionate speeches, one resident, Reverend Nathan Williams, ended his comments in grandiose style by playing part of a popular classic rock tune. “Ken Witt don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you,” Williams said just before he played the clip, “Go on, take your money and run!” by the Steve Miller Band, a main chorus line from the band’s 1976 hit, Take the Money and Run. This generated quite a boisterous responses from the crowd.
Sale of Merit Academy Facility
Board of Education Director Keegan Barkley started the discussion about selecting a permanent superintendent by saying that several public work sessions needed to be held to draft the job description and qualifications. Barkley said that in most cases it takes three to five months from the date the superintendent position is posted to get a qualified applicant hired for the job.
The discussion got heated once again when they started talking about whose idea it was to propose the sale of the Merit Academy facility. At one point, the school board president threatened to clear the room if members of the audience didn’t quiet down. His threats were met with people walking out of the meeting, while yelling, “This is ridiculous!” and “You are OUR representatives!”
In the end, the board agreed that they needed a full presentation about the possibility of Merit Academy acquiring the building. Barkley proposed that the discussion about the Merit Academy facility get tabled until the district finds a new superintendent and chief financial officer.
However, the other board members were persistent to plan the discussion soon and get the ball rolling on a possible sale of the building to Merit Academy. Board of Education Director David Rusterholtz said that the issue arose over concerns from Merit Academy families that a new board could come in and take away their building or end their charter school status. An election is salted for this November, with the majority of board seats up for grabs.
“Merit Academy is one of our district’s schools and they should not have to worry about whether they are going to be chartered, or if they have a facility to use in the future,” Rusterholtz said.
However, the board director’s comments were met with instant backlash by Barkley. “Do you think they worry more than any other students in the other buildings do?” Barkley asked. “We have ripped buildings out of the hands of our other students. None of the students in this district have any security that the building they are currently in will be there tomorrow.”
The board members agreed they would work towards offering more transparency and public input when making major decisions.
