Conservative school board faces backlash from teachers unions over public education reform in small town.

Why Woodland Park, Colorado is in the National Spotlight

In the small town of Woodland Park, Colorado, only 28.6% of students scored at grade level in math last year, and just 45.3% can read at grade level. The conservative school board took over 18 months ago and immediately sought to recoup the learning loss. However, district leadership is now under siege from teachers unions resisting the board’s reform efforts. As reformers mount similar efforts to win and maintain school boards nationwide, they must watch the teachers union playbook unfolding in the Rocky Mountains.

National Attention on a Small Mountain Town?

Woodland Park is home to just 8,000 people, including 2,122 students. So why is a national news behemoth like NBC training its sights there? The answer may lie in reporter Tyler Kingkade’s coverage, replete with factual errors and mischaracterizations that portray the board as nontransparent and hasty in advancing its reforms.

• Kingkade wrongly implies that in pursuing its school-choice program, the board rushed to approve the district’s first charter school, Merit Academy, under a vague agenda item in January 2022.
• Kingkade frequently omits key context, particularly when mischaracterizing the board’s decision to pioneer the American Birthright Standards, a traditional social studies curriculum that contrasts with Colorado’s new state standards.
• Kingkade wrongly conflates mental health supports with social-emotional learning (SEL), making district leadership seem heartless for not reapplying for $1.2 million in grants purported to provide mental health support.

NBC News is exploiting controversy over education reforms in small-town America for its own agenda — misrepresenting and omitting key details to generate a false narrative of malintent and suspicion.

Teachers Unions Coordinate Together

The Woodland Park Education Association (WPEA) organized a secret staff meeting led by Nate Owen, WPEA’s president and longtime Woodland Park High School teacher. Representatives from other unions participated, including Chris Idzik of the Pikes Peak Education Association and Thad Gemski of the Colorado Springs Education Association. Their presence is revealing: As Gemski declared, according to a recording of the meeting, Woodland Park is “one of the epicenters” in a “statewide battle, regional battle.”

The teachers unions aren’t converging on Woodland Park because they have extraordinary educational concerns. They’re doing so because their influence and control are imperiled by a school board striving to fulfill the academic-centered agenda they were elected to accomplish.

What Scares the Teachers Unions

Union power over Woodland Park Schools has been unjustifiably strong for too long. That influence is diminishing and educational success in conservative Woodland Park jeopardizes their very existence. Teachers unions depend upon educational failures to expand membership, cement political power, and advance ideological agendas.

The CEA resolution isn’t just a political statement. It affirms the anti-free-market mindset of the teachers unions, which oppose school choice and charters. Their resistance to a successful Merit Academy is a case in point. Why be concerned if you have a superior product?

Let’s be real: Any model exposing their failures is a threat. Capitalistic competition is deemed unacceptable to teachers unions because they simply aren’t about the kids. That’s why teachers unions and national media care about Woodland Park, Colorado. If they successfully thwart this school board’s efforts to prioritize academic achievement, cut out ideological agendas, and address learning loss, it will signal that it’s open season on reform-minded school boards everywhere.

Jimmy Sengenberger is Denver-based investigative journalist, weekly columnist with The Denver Gazette, and host of The Jimmy Sengenberger Show on Denver’s News/Talk 710 KNUS. His Twitter is @SengCenter and his website is www.JimmySengenberger.com.