On the Eve of Election Day
My name is Ben Honeycutt. I became a teacher because I was driven to be someone who could be there every day for my students. I taught at Woodland Park Middle School (WPMS) for five years. This school district in a town of 8,000 people has received a surprising amount of national attention, ranging from a reported gag order on its teachers, choosing to allow grants that supported 15 mental health professionals to expire, and moving 6th grade out of the middle school so that 7th and 8th graders would share the building with Merit Academy Charter School.
I was a part of bringing a new makerspace and piloting a STEAM program at WPMS from 2022-2023. Parents of the district have asked that I talk about my story before the upcoming school board election. To be abundantly clear, my experience is only a small chapter in the overall story of the amazing teachers and students working in Teller County. To do right by them I promise to tell only my truth and will stick to the facts.
At WPMS I worked with an incredible staff who made it their mission to give students a place in school. My administration and colleagues gave me unbelievable support as my students started anti-bullying campaigns where they painted murals with positive messages throughout the school. In August 2021, 89% of WPSD students reported having a trusted adult in their schools, but our administration did not want to stop until that number was at 100%.
Murals, like this one in the WPMS library, were designed, sketched out, and painted by 7th grade students who consulted with our media specialist, myself, and our art teacher throughout the process.
In November 2021, the community elected a school board who had a broad vision that included moving a new charter school called Merit Academy into the Woodland Park School District (WPSD). I looked at Merit’s entry into WPSD with an open mind, as I started my career at Monument Academy Charter School, and saw first hand why Monument Academy was a regular winner of the state’s John Irwin award.
In the spring of that year, the district announced that Merit would be moving into half of our middle school, and that WPMS’ entire middle school would be relocated into one half of the building. This move to share the middle school building between the schools has been described by the board as what’s best for both Merit and WPMS students. WPMS’ administration encouraged me to see this as an opportunity for WPMS students. They pushed me to pursue my dream of starting a new STEAM program and bringing a makerspace to WPMS. My 8th grade students took the lead on 3D designing the new space. Meanwhile, I worked on an incredible team with our school’s media specialist, art teacher and district tech leader. I received over $8,000 in grants to purchase 3D printers and equipment to help start the program. To give full credit to our school board, they put in incredible support and funding towards the makerspace to make the program a reality for Woodland Park’s Middle School
This slide captures the rapid timeline where a 8th grade student’s vision transformed into an extraordinary lab and makerspace for students.
Some students and parents were skeptical with the changes. I told my students they had a chance to build a legacy with the long-term commitment the district had made by giving them a state of the art space. WPMS students responded by taking the STEAM program to an incredible level. Students designed and 3D printed the trophies for our home forensics and track tournaments, started a campaign where they 3D printed christmas ornaments to get a library constructed for a school in Kenya, and won the Jostens National Program of Excellence.
These trophies were handed out at WPMS’ forensics tournament and were designed by 8th grade students, who worked closely me on 3D printing the trophies while working with our art teacher to laser cut the inscriptions. Students worked with our media specialist and forensics coaches to make sure they met their deadlines.
My students presented their progress to the school board, and the school board recognized the WPMS students’ and teachers leading the program and extended an invitation to work with them anytime. The Vice President of the school board later wrote in an op-ed that the school board promised to help every child in the school district reach their potential and the STEAM program felt like confirmation of that fact.
The Kenya Read project is an ambitious, WPMS student led project to help construct a library for a community in Eldoret, Kenya.
My thoughts changed in the spring. I was informed that despite the funding commitment the district had made, the school board planned to make it possible to move Woodland Park Middle School Students out of their school building, not only causing WPMS students to lose their makerspace, but their entire middle school. After all the work my students had done in the STEAM program, this news was a betrayal of my values as a teacher. I realized the promises I made to my students about their long term opportunities in the STEAM program had been a lie. In August 2023, the board voted on changes to the contract with Merit Academy and their facilities usage agreement with WPSD, making it possible that Woodland Park’s middle schoolers will be moved to the high school while Merit will receive the entire middle school building in the Fall of 2024.
After the events of the spring, I accepted a position at an amazing school in Colorado Springs. However, on the day before this election, I can’t help but think of the Woodland Park and Teller County community. The STEAM program has been left in hands of tremendous teachers who are taking it to a new level and have big dreams for what the program could be. There are amazing educators still at Woodland Park who are doing transformative work for students every single day. The school board incumbents are up against three candidates; Keegan Barkley, Mike Knott, and Seth Bryant. As I’m sure both sides would agree, a lot is at stake in this election. As I have always done, I will hope and pray for an outcome that best serves ALL of WPSD’s incredible students and teachers.