Woodland Park interim superintendent has big vision for divided district

Mar. 6—Woodland Park's latest interim superintendent had a tumultuous entrance into the school district. Students protested outside of their high school. Parents shouted at school board meetings. Not everybody in the district has been supportive of his vision.

Nevertheless, he isn't discouraged.

Ken Witt, whose interim term lasts only the first six months of the year, said he is planning for the district's long-term success. He's already made big moves on his top three priorities: improving student success, utilizing facilities, and recognizing and attracting great teachers.

"There's nothing better I could be doing," Witt said, "and I'm delighted to be doing it."

'Pioneer in education'

Woodland Park has endured a series of superintendent shake ups in recent times. Former Superintendent Matthew Neal resigned last year, and in 2020, former Superintendent Steve Woolf mutually agreed with the district to terminate his contract after an arrest on charges of driving under the influence.

After two district administration members occupied the interim role for the first half of this school year, the school board voted unanimously in December to install Witt as interim while it searched for a more permanent fix.

Board Vice President David Illingworth II described Witt as a "pioneer in education" with a proven record for obtaining desired results, having worked with schools of all sorts.

Illingworth refers to Witt's role as executive director for Education reEnvisioned BOCES, an organization that authorizes and oversees schools including conventional brick and mortar, online and homeschool enrichment programs.

Witt has worked with BOCES to cater to a broad portfolio of student needs, he said. The organization has created homeschool programs such as equine and forestry, and has implemented a school for dyslexic children. Under his vision, BOCES has also implemented a "half-high school" for juniors and seniors, where all classes are dual enrollment and students can fast track their college credit earnings.

But Witt's most high-profile role in education thus far — and his most controversial — was in Colorado's second-largest school district, where he served as school board president from 2013-2015. Witt and two other Jefferson County Public Schools board members were ousted halfway through their terms via a recall vote due in large part to their proposal to review a new Advanced Placement U.S. history curriculum. The proposal would have promoted patriotism and downplayed social disorder, The Associated Press reported.

Hundreds of students left class in protest, and the board ultimately backed down.

Sitting in his Woodland Park office, however, Witt said his past experiences have little to do with his current goals. Woodland Park is neither BOCES nor Jefferson County.

"I think it's always dangerous to compare something else to something now," he said. "If you're constantly looking backwards to see what somebody did last time or what you did last time, you're missing the most important point, which is, what does the information you have tell you about what's needed here and now? And that's what we're gonna focus on."

'The loudest voices'

Dozens of students staged a protest outside of Woodland Park High School in December following the school board's announcement that Witt was the sole finalist for interim superintendent.

"Witt's vision on the Jeffco School Board was patriotism and whitewashing history," student Jacob DeScmidt told the Pikes Peak Courier. "He has proved in the Jefferson schools that he is vastly, vastly incompetent."

Parents and students alike echoed those concerns at a board meeting the following week, where Witt was officially selected for the job. Board members spoke over riled crowd members who turned their backs as the board announced its decision and yelled as it explained its reasoning.

Though vocal, Witt said, those community members do not represent the popular opinion.

"The loudest voices are rarely the majority," Witt said, "and we have clear evidence that the loudest voices that have been opposing this board and its direction were not the majority because, in fact, the voters said something different."

Several Woodland Park school board members, whom protestors decried for their decision to appoint Witt, faced their own recall push earlier last year. Recalls require the signatures of at least 40% of votes cast for all candidates for school board director in the preceding election, which for the November 2021 election in Woodland Park RE-2 amounted to around 2,700 signatures per board member.

The effort failed to gain enough community support to be included on last fall's ballot, indicating a majority of the community's values still aligned with the board it elected to represent it, Witt said.

'I won't stop caring'

Witt's role at BOCES connected him with Woodland Park for the first time in 2021.

BOCES helped Merit Academy open as a contract school after a previous Woodland Park school board had turned down its charter application. Witt played an important role in introducing Merit Academy to its current home within Woodland Park Middle School.

Since stepping into his new role, he has already gotten to work on his top priorities through two notable changes he said align with the conservative board's communicated mission and values.

Within a month of taking office, Witt worked with the district to implement the American Birthright curriculum standard for social studies courses. Though the change was Witt's idea, he said the board had spent its first year in office establishing its core beliefs and priorities. He felt American Birthright best reflected those values, a sentiment with which the board agreed.

American Birthright was created by the Civics Alliance, a conservative coalition with the stated mission of combating a "new civics" approach of the progressive left that it says prioritizes activism over the responsibilities of American citizenship.

The Colorado State Board of Education introduced a proposal in October that would have adopted American Birthright as Colorado's base standard. The board ultimately rejected the proposal in a 4-3 vote along partisan lines, but Witt said it was nonetheless proposed and vetted by "some of the best minds of Colorado state education" before Woodland Park adopted it for district use.

It's been implemented to mixed reactions.

"Change is hard," Witt said. "Anytime you step in and say, 'We've adopted a new standard. We're going to hold ourselves accountable to it,' then everybody has to think about what that's going to look like."

Since its adoption, Witt has stated on several occasions that he does not anticipate pervasive curriculum changes. AP courses will not be impacted, nor are graduation requirements expected to be. Only one course to date has been flagged under the new standards: civil disobedience, a class exploring the foundations of protest movements using nonfiction texts throughout history.

A required class reading material, "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates, was in clear violation of the new standards, Witt said. The book depicts the Black experience in modern America using language that critics say demonizes white Americans.

"We will not teach racism in our schools," Witt said.

Last week, the district also announced sixth grade students would move from the congested middle school — which began sharing space with Merit Academy charter school in 2021 — to the three existing elementary schools. The move is a step in Witt's stated goal of maximizing the use of district facilities and resources.

Some elementary schools are operating at just 50%, he said. Meanwhile, the district is experiencing growth for the first time, with most of that growth occurring within the middle school.

The move is as much a response to current conditions as it is planning for the future should growth continue. Nearly 300 more students enrolled in Woodland Park schools this year than last, a percent change of 15.8% in the roughly 2,100-student district, according to Colorado Department of Education data. The district remains more than 500 students short of where it was a decade ago.

"It's by far the best choice for the sixth graders," Witt said. "Sixth graders perform much better academically, socially, behaviorally, when they're put with the elementary students than when they're moved up into a combined middle school high school context. ... We have to make some facilities decisions, and we're gonna make the best decision for our students."

The decision was not met with universal praise as school district members again took to protesting. More than two dozen teachers called in sick in protest on Wednesday.

Even so, Witt and the school board remain on the same page about the decision.

"Since 2012, school boards have discussed consolidating because of declining enrollment," school board President David Rusterholtz told the Pikes Peak Courier. "All of our schools are approximately half full. ... We had to do something."

As Witt moves into the third month of his six-month tenure, and as he grapples with mixed reactions to his decisions, he said his goal remains unchanged from when he assumed the role: to make Woodland Park the educational destination of the area.

"I care a whole lot about Woodland Park School District," he said, "and I won't stop caring in four months."