On 25 Aug 2021, TrumpenFuehrer <HeilTrumpenFuehrer@gop.net> posted some
news:sg62nu$sm8$31@news.dns-netz.com:

> Info wrote
>
>> Liberals are all communist agents. Bury them.

WOODLAND PARK, Colo. � When a conservative slate of candidates won control
of the school board here 18 months ago, they began making big changes to
reshape the district.

Woodland Park, a small mountain town that overlooks Pikes Peak, became the
first � and, so far, only � district in the country to adopt the American
Birthright social studies standard, created by a right-wing advocacy group
that warns of the �steady whittling away of American liberty.� The new
board hired a superintendent who was previously recalled from a nearby
school board after pushing for a curriculum that would �promote positive
aspects of the United States.� The board approved the community�s first
charter school without public notice and gave the charter a third of the
middle school building.

As teachers, students and parents began protesting these decisions, the
administration barred employees from discussing the district on social
media. At least two staff members who objected to the board�s decisions
were later forced out of their jobs, while another was fired for allegedly
encouraging protests.

These rapid and sweeping shifts weren�t coincidental � instead it was a
plan ripped from the MAGA playbook designed to catch opponents off guard,
according to a board member�s email released through an open records
request.

�This is the flood the zone tactic, and the idea is if you advance on many
fronts at the same time, then the enemy cannot fortify, defend,
effectively counter-attack at any one front,� David Illingworth, one of
the new conservative school board members, wrote to another on Dec. 9,
2021, weeks after they were elected. �Divide, scatter, conquer. Trump was
great at this in his first 100 days.�

The leaders of the Woodland Park School District are enacting an
experiment in conservative governance in the middle of a state controlled
by Democrats, with little in the way so far to slow them down. The school
board�s decisions have won some praise in heavily Republican Teller
County, but opposition is growing, including from conservative Christians
and lifelong GOP voters who say the board has made too many ill-advised
decisions and lacks transparency.

�I think they look at us as this petri dish where they can really push all
their agenda and theories,� said Joe Dohrn, a Woodland Park father who
described himself as a staunch Republican and �very capitalistic.� �They
clearly are willing to sacrifice the public school and to put students
presently in the public school through years of disarray to drive home
their ideological beliefs. It�s a travesty.�

Teachers grew particularly alarmed early this year when word spread that
Ken Witt, the new superintendent, did not plan to reapply for grants that
covered the salaries of counselors and social workers.

At Gateway Elementary School in March, Witt told staff members he
prioritized academic achievement, not students� emotions. �We are not the
department of health and human services,� he said, as teachers angrily
objected, according to two recordings of the meeting made by staff members
and shared with NBC News.

Someone in the meeting asked if taxpayers would get a say in these
changes, and Witt said that they already did � when they elected the
school board.

Over the past two years, school districts nationwide have become the
center of culture war battles over race and LGBTQ rights. Conservative
groups have made a concerted effort to fill school boards with
ideologically aligned members and notched dozens of wins last fall.

In Colorado, conservatives started making gains earlier because school
board elections are held in off years. Woodland Park offers a preview of
how quickly a new majority can move to reshape a district � and how those
battles can ripple outward into the community. Some longtime residents say
that the situation has grown so tense, they now look over their shoulder
when discussing the school board in public to avoid confrontation or
professional consequences.

David Rusterholtz, the board�s president, believes that chasm predates his
election in November 2021.

�This division is much more than political � this is a clash of
worldviews,� Rusterholtz said at a board meeting in January. He concluded
his remarks with a prayer for the district: �May the Lord bless us and
keep us, may His face shine upon us and be gracious to us.�

Rusterholtz, Illingworth, Witt and three other current school board
members declined interview requests when reached by email and approached
in person at the district�s office. To tell this story, NBC News reviewed
dozens of emails board members exchanged with parents and staff, obtained
through open records requests, and spoke with over 40 Woodland Park
community members, including students, current and former school staff and
administrators, and former school board members.

When asked to respond to criticism from school personnel and parents,
Illingworth, the board's vice president, replied in an email: �I wasn�t
elected to please the teacher�s union and their psycho agenda against
academic rigor, family values, and even capitalism itself. I was elected
to bring a parent�s voice and a little common sense to the school
district, and voters in Woodland Park can see I�ve kept my promises.�

As the school year winds down, many of the Woodland Park School District�s
employees are heading for the exit, despite recently receiving an 8%
raise. At least four of the district�s top administrators have quit
because of the board�s policy changes, according to interviews and emails
obtained through records requests. Nearly 40% of the high school�s
professional staff have said they will not return next school year,
according to an administrator in the district.

The board�s critics have pinned their hopes on the next election in
November � when three of the five school board members are up for a vote �
to claw back control of the community�s schools.

�This is an active case study on what will happen if we allow extremist
policies to start to take over our public education system,� said David
Graf, an English teacher who recently resigned after 17 years in the
district. �And the scariest part about it, they knew that this community
would bite on it.�

A culture shift on the board
The four candidates who won nonpartisan positions on Woodland Park�s
school board in 2021 had to say little but that they were conservative to
win. The mostly white, middle-class city of 8,000 people up the mountain
pass from Colorado Springs had voted for Donald Trump over Joe Biden by 2-
to-1 a year earlier.

But while many conservatives running for school boards across the country
recently were swept into office on a wave of parent complaints about
critical race theory, library book content and policies supporting
transgender youth, Woodland Park had no such activism in 2021. In fact,
few people bothered to attend board meetings, according to Chris Austin, a
pastor and the lone board member who was not up for re-election that year.

�It was a culture of collaboration,� Austin said. �You had freedom to
bring forward your thoughts and evidential data, people listened, we did
not even know each other�s political affiliations. That�s the way I
experienced it for the first nearly two-and-a-half years. Then it shifted
abruptly with the first meeting with the new board.�

Newly elected conservatives on the board acted quickly to approve an
agreement with Merit Academy to become the district�s first charter
school.

Yet, the vote, at a special meeting on Jan. 26, 2022, caught community
members by surprise because the agenda made no mention of Merit � it had
been listed instead as �board housekeeping.�

The district�s teachers union complained in an email to middle school
staff that the board�s action was �underhanded, and at worst illegal.� A
parent sued, aiming to force the board to follow open meetings law. A
trial court judge did not rule on the legality of the board�s actions but
ordered the board to list agenda items �clearly, honestly and
forthrightly.�

In response to the teachers� complaints, Illingworth accused the union of
attempting to organize a �coup,� and instructed then-Superintendent Mathew
Neal to make �a list of positions in which a change in personnel would be
beneficial to our kids� and �help the union see the wisdom in cooperation
rather than conflict."

Illingworth�s emails spread after parents obtained them through open
records requests. Subsequent board meetings attracted boisterous crowds,
as teachers accused board members of creating a hostile environment, while
other community members spoke in favor of the board for supporting �school
choice� and quoted Scripture. A handful of parents, including some
lifelong Republicans, tried to organize a recall, but failed to get enough
signatures to force a vote.