WOODLAND PARK • In contrast with previous years, this year’s Woodland Park School District RE-2 Board of Education election is highly competitive, with nine candidates running to fill four seats.

The district is holding four candidate forums for the public to meet all the candidates. In the first of the four forums, the two candidates running for Director District C, David Illingworth and

Misty Leafers, met on Oct. 18 at Columbine Elementary School in front of about 120 people.

All forums are moderated by Carrol Harvey, past and current

Woodland Park Planning Commissioner and former Woodland Park City Councilwoman. Helping her with timing were three Woodland Park High School students.

Each candidate gave two-minute opening statements before Harvey delved into the questions. The candidates were given two minutes to answer each question and 30 seconds for rebuttal, if desired.

Illingworth is a deputy district attorney. He served in the Air Force and was an attorney in the Judge Advocate General’s office. He is married and has four young children.

“I want to turn the district around,” he said, referring to the district’s declining enrollment. “I want the best possible education for my children. … The school board shouldn’t be bound by 20-year-old rules.”

FACT CHECK: The school board updated its policies or “rules” about six years ago, according to Carol Greenstreet, who served on the board at the time.

Illingworth said he wants to eliminate the district’s Summit Learning Platform and “empower democracy in the community.”

He mentioned declining enrollment and eliminating the learning platform in nearly every question he fielded.

Leafers is a former Woodland Park Middle School social studies teacher who is now a professional mediator. She also served as the district’s wellness coordinator. She has two school-age children. She is listed as an incumbent, but was just appointed to the board a few months ago.

She agreed that district enrollment is on the decline, but said there should be no “knee-jerk reactions.”

“We need good sources of information,” Leafers said. Later in the forum, she said anecdotal information isn’t good enough.

Both candidates agreed that the needs of the students should have top priority, but each expressed different ways to meet that priority.

The first question asked each candidate which of the district’s strengths makes them proud.

Illingworth said he is proud of the community. “We have good facilities, a good budget and good teachers, but our schools are practically empty,” he said. “We’re not attracting new families.”

“I’m proud of our students,” Leafers said. “They are amazing and so bright. I’m also proud of our staff. They are dedicated professionals even in the face of so much criticism. The purpose of education is to help students become good citizens.”

She said she’s also proud that the district has created a fiscally-responsible, mental-health program.

A question on teaching methods brought up similarities and differences in the candidates’ opinions. Both agreed that students learn in different ways and emphasized listening but there the similarities ended.

Leafers said the board doesn’t control the modes of learning, but

does understand how to leverage staff expertise in choosing curriculum and teaching methods.

“It won’t be true that the board has no say on curriculum after I’m elected,” Illingworth said, adding that he wants an active board that takes a stand on curriculum and can hire and fire teachers.

“The school has adopted a top-down, one-size-fits-all curriculum,” he said. “The Summit Learning Platform is unpopular — you need to listen to the parents.”

Leafers said new Superintendent Mathew Neal is reaching out to the community and is having an outside consultant evaluate the platform. She also pointed out that students are not on their computers 100% of the time (as part of the Summit platform), as Illingworth said.

When asked about charter schools, Illingworth said the district had a chance to open a charter school but chose not to because of its bottom line.

“Leafers believes Merit Academy is the enemy, that parents wanting to start their own school are the enemy,” he said. “We have to unite. ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ This school board has no plan.”

Leafers rebutted, “I’m not against school choice. I taught in a charter school. I’m pro smart choice.”

When asked what the district should do to stop declining enrollment, Leafers said there is a lot of work to do. “We need to meet with parents who left, find out why they left and fix it,” she said. “We also need to publicize the good things the district does.”

“We know what the problem is,” Illingworth said. “It’s our hands-off board that isn’t willing to assume its legal, constitutional authority.”

“Changing the board into an activist board — you need to be careful,” Leafers said. “A board should be able to find consensus. They shouldn’t be politicians.”

Illingworth spoke about Colorado’s school-choice laws that allows parents to send their children to any public school. “Parents need to take advantage of this and change schools based on the needs of their children whether it’s agriculture or a STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) school,” he said. “Instead of sending them to a school run by a do-nothing board.”

Leafers said the term “do-nothing board” is offensive. “The board works hard to provide students with opportunities for the best education possible,” she said. “We need to be respectful of everyone. We need to make sure students have the opportunity to develop critical thinking skills, to be a part of their community, to work on all kinds of things and to be able to work with colleagues.”

On curriculum, Illingworth said the district should focus on teaching why America is great, to celebrate the Constitution, especially the First and Second Amendments; to celebrate its great heroes — George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.

“We don’t need to be teaching young children of different races that one is an oppressor and the other is oppressed, based on the color of their skin,” he said.

Although he didn’t reference Critical Race Theory, Leafers said “Our Social Studies classes are none of that — we don’t teach CRT or the 1619 project. These are just scare tactics.”

“We need to prepare students as citizens,” Leafers said. “I taught Civics to seventh and eighth graders. We teach them about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and how government works; to be respectful of other people’s viewpoints, opinions and perspectives. Good citizens know they won’t always get their way.”

At the end of the one-hour forum, Illingworth thanked the audience for its patience and thanked the student timekeepers.

“We need an active board,” he said. “There is no reason to talk to board members if they won’t act on what you tell them. You need a board that listens and has the courage to act,

Leafers said the board may not be loud, but it gets things done.

“We wanted to move here,” she said. “We wanted a small town that is invested in its community. I’m here for the kids. I want to represent all kids not just the ones who reflect my world view.”