Newly-Elected Board Members Seek More Transparency and Accountability
Trevor Phipps
After a highly competitive election last November, three new board of education directors got the initial green light to serve the Woodland Park RE-2 School District by fairly substantial margins.
But due to absentee ballots, the new board members could not take the oath until a meeting in late November. Once the ballots were certified, the changing of the guard became official, a development which could represent big changes from several years ago, when an extremely conservative slate of candidates took charge of the district. In late November, Carol Greenstreet, Kassidi Gilgenast and Laura Gordon, often referred to as the “three Gs,” were sworn in to serve on the local school board for the next four years. Since their terms have not yet expired, veteran board members Keegan Barkley and Mick Bates will remain on the elected panel.
After the brief swearing-in ceremony, a special meeting was called on Dec. 2 The special meeting was short and it was called just to assign positions to the new school board members. It also served as a preamble to their first regular meeting, which was held on Dec. 10.
Former school board president Mick Bates started leading the meeting, but his reign as the board leader didn’t last long. Bates promptly nominated Director Barkley to take over as president of the next school board. Barkley was unanimously voted to the top board spot.
In addition, Greenstreet, who served on the school board previously, was appointed as the new board’s vice-president. The board then voted to give the board secretary position to Laura Gordon.
The board appointed two more positions, involving district staff members. These positions didn’t change from the previous board. The board voted Candace Blake as the secretary to the board, David Kuritar, who now serves as the district’s chief financial officer, as the board treasurer.
School Board to Pursue a New Direction
For 2025, the campaign leading up to the school board election was extremely competitive, but maintained a rather calm atmosphere. During the past two school board elections, heated debates and controversies ensued after several of the candidates grouped together and ran as a “conservative” faction. The other candidates were labeled as “progressives,” and “liberal Democrats,” although none of them were associated with the Democratic Party.
This time around, that wasn’t the case. Also, there wasn’t as much money spent as with the previous two elections, which shattered all kinds of spending records. and In fact, all of the candidates ran independently, instead of in factions.
The aggressiveness of the 2025 election was toned down considerably, compared to the previous two elections. The public meetings took on a much calmer demeanor and were quite civil. The real mudslinging occurred on social media outlets.
During their campaigns, pretty much all of the victorious contenders stressed many of the same ideas. Due to the bad press the former school board has received over the past four years, the three Gs, all expressed their desire to be transparent. They also all had ideas on how to regain trust from the community.
However, even though six 2025 board candidates all ran independently, there were a few contenders that spoke more favorably of the previous school board and wanted to keep many of the changes they implemented, such as a push for better academic standards and championing many of the goals of the Merit Academy. The three Gs, though, seemed to focus more on re-establishing trust and making decisions that benefitted all of the schools in the district.
Ever since the Woodland Park City Council decided to end the sales tax increase given to the schools, many residents pointed their fingers at the former school board and district leadership for not being financially transparent. Many believe that the council ended the tax due to the district’s failure to produce detailed financial statements outlining where the money, designated for this tax, had been spent. Moreover, the previous board was blamed for favoring the district’s Merit Academy charter school over its current district schools, when it came to their decision making
In the end, the three winning candidates stressed the importance of changing the course the district has pursued for the past four years and improving relations with the current staff and the teachers. They ended up winning the election by a landslide. In fact, many have believed that the election results proved that the constituents of the school district had had enough with the previous “conservative” faction and contended that their policies caused much disruption and led to many parents sending their kids to other public schools in the area.
Oddly enough, this is a trend that spread throughout much of the Pikes Peak region during the recent November election, with candidates that advocated extremely conservative stances on such issues as parental choice and academic standards and even scrutinizing certain subjects and books, suffering convincing defeats. The results region-wide were quite surprising for an area known for its conservative flavor. According to sources, the Woodland Park election was even cited as an example of how residents and community members can take back their districts from the pitfalls of becoming too political and partisan.
During their campaigns, the three newly elected board members, the three Gs, said that they were focused on having a better connection and relationship with all stakeholders in the community. Therefore, some of the new board’s first steps may be to engage in meetings with government bodies and other organizations across the region. A push could even occur to renew talks with the city of Woodland Park to further discuss the sales tax issue.
One of the first steps the new board said that they want to undertake is a thorough financial audit on the district, including Merit Academy. The board said that the financial audit will give them an idea of where money has been spent the last four years. Using this information, the new board will then decide what steps must be taken in the near future.
The new board held their first regularly scheduled board meeting on Dec. 10. One agenda item was labeled, “Forensic Audit Report.” This could become a topic that gains more much more discussion this winter.
Over the next several months, residents will now anxiously await to see what changes will be implemented by the newly-elected school board. Based on the tone of the recent election campaign, and comments made in the wake of the November vote by the victorious candidates, it’s safe to say that major changes will take place.
