By now, most of us have read the recent online NBC article attacking the Woodland Park School Board. My first reaction to the writeup was disbelief. I know many of the board members personally, so to see their names highlighted in a national outlet was confusing and painted a picture of them I had never seen.

The article begins by discussing how Woodland Park is the first district to adopt the American Birthright social studies standard, which meets the state’s history and civic standards.

The standard focuses on a full representation of American history. It does not leave out, as NBC would have us believe, the ugly truths that are scattered throughout our past. American Birthright teaches students about Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as Jim Crowe Laws and American slavery. Unlike other standards, American Birthright standard focuses on American history in its entirety without ideological influence, assuring students receive an accurate account.

The article also makes it seem as if the school board is pulling all mental health funding. Fortunately, in a recent interview, School Board Member David Illingworth mentioned the rejected grants had conditions attached that went against the school’s standards and parent’s desires for their children. Most importantly, Illingworth assured us that student mental health is still a top priority for the board and that every school has a salaried counselor to meet any mental health needs.

Another common theme throughout the article pushed the idea that the board and superintendent were going behind parents backs to implement their own agenda. The board has been in place for 18 months and has slowly been adapting a new, and superior, set of standards, which they have been forthright in discussing publicly. NBC emphasized the 100 people who supposedly were kept out of the last school board meeting but failed to explain there was an occupancy limitation due to fire code. They also omitted the fact that parents and others were offered the gymnasium as an overflow room (which they did not accept).

Unsurprisingly, NBC didn’t mention a single positive thing this school board has done for WP schools. For example, the board granted teachers the biggest pay raise in the district’s history and has helped to offer transportation services to students to attend classes. They have approved funding for meal services so any student in the district who needs a free meal is able to get one. The board also started the first charter school in the district, giving parents greater choice. Most notable, for the first time in over a decade, enrollment grew by an astounding 15%, placing Woodland Park district in the Top Five for student growth in Colorado.

NBC tried its hardest to make the superintendent and school board seem like a group of fanatics, but the truth speaks. Parents are encouraged by the recent changes and are flooding to this district because they know their children will receive a comprehensive education.

I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of NBC, but I look forward to continuing to correct the record and make sure the truth is preserved.

Aaron Helstrom is the Woodland Park parent representative on the School District Accountability Committee.

Aaron Helstrom