In today’s Weekend Rant Editorial, I discuss the Colorado Open Records Act that I used to obtain the Separation Agreement Between the Estes Park School District and former Superintendent Sheldon Rosenkrance. While this is a vital tool in our toolbox for accountability and transparency, there is a lot of room for improvement not only in Estes Park but in Colorado.

I break things down and suggest some ways we as a community might work at improving things moving forward with our public records.

I usually never post two podcasts in a day, but I felt that these breaking stories needed to be shared with the community, especially the School Board-related items.

I have obtained two new items of information related to the Estes Park School District Board of Directors. The First is the financial settlement regarding the Separation Agreement between the School District and now former Superintendent Sheldon Rosenkrance. This was obtained through a Colorado Open Records Act Release. You can find the full document further down in this article.

The second item is a Voter guide released by Christan Voter Guide.com out of Woodland Park, Colorado. It does shed some light on the beliefs of two of the newly elected board members.

Finally, we speak with Patrick Beard, the owner of Cousin Pat’s Bar and Grill, who was subject to a Colorado Racial Discrimination Complaint. The Complaint has been dismissed.

Here is the Separation Agreement that was released today by the Estes Park School District:

In total, this decision will cost the School District $166,490.18.

In today’s Episode of the Colorado Switchblade, we have some updates on the extreme fire dangers we find ourselves in. This includes burning restrictions issued by the Estes Valley Fire Protection District.

Here is the email sent out:

Subject: Open Burning RESTRICTION (Stage 1)

All affected agenciesDavid Wolf, Fire Chief Estes Valley Fire Protection District April 22, 2022

Due to continued dry conditions, the danger of wildfire, forest, and grass fires is very high in the Estes Valley. Repeated fire incidents in adjacent jurisdictions also decreases the amount of mutual aid resources available to fight a wildfire once it starts. Pursuant to International Fire Code Section 307.1.1, I hereby issue an open burning RESTRICTION within the Estes Valley Fire Protection District effective 08:00, April 22, 2022.

Please visit https://www.estesvalleyfire.org/fire-restrictions-bans for the most current fire restriction information, including an informational sheet showing what is permitted during Restrictions.

These restrictions are dependent on the current fire danger and will be evaluated regularly. This restriction shall be effective until otherwise lifted or changed by the Fire Chief or his designee. To learn more on preparing your property for the risk of wildfire, please visit our website at: https://www.estesvalleyfire.org/wildfire.

David Wolf, Fire Chief

We have some updates on the Estes Park School District Board of Education meetings, including information on how to speak at Monday’s meeting.

Here is the email sent to the community:

Just a reminder that our regular EPSD Board of Education meeting will be held on Monday, April 25th, 2022 at 6:15 pm via Zoom.  The Board of Education will be meeting in person in the Middle School Commons located at 1500 Manford Avenue, Estes Park, CO 80517. (Please note that this is a new location). 

If you would like to attend the board meeting in-person, please reach out to the board secretary, Heather Gooch ([email protected]), so that arrangements can be made.  We encourage the public to take advantage of the ZOOM link to watch the live stream, or you can watch the meeting recording approximately 24-48 hours after the meeting HERE. 

The agenda can be found HERE 24 hours prior to the meeting, and the Zoom meeting link information is at the top of each posted agenda. Additionally, the agendas and minutes can be found on our website at www.estesschools.org/BoardofEducation.  

Public Participation is open at the beginning of each regular meeting by reaching out to Board President, Stacy Ferree ([email protected]), at least 2 hours prior to the meeting via the following Public Participation Procedure.  Please note: you will receive a confirmation that your request to speak publicly has been received.

Meeting minutes are recorded then approved at the following month's meeting (example: September meeting minutes will be approved and posted to the website following October's regular meeting) and the regular board meeting recordings are posted to our EPSD YouTube and on the website within 48 hours (you can subscribe to our channel as well). 

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out. We hope to see you there! 

We speak with local Denali Lawson for our primary interview, who was part of the initial initiative to create Estes Park’s first skate park in the ‘90s.

I also include an announcement of an emergency school closing by the Estes Park School District due to a stomach bug running rampant in the Estes Park Elementary School. Here is the email put out by the district just as I was finishing today’s episode:

EPSD Community, 

Due to the continued spread of the stomach bug at the Elementary school, in collaboration with the Larimer County Department of Health, we have been advised to close down the Elementary School Monday and Tuesday. 

* April 25th and 26th EPES will not have school

* April 25th and 26th EPMS and EPHS WILL be in session

 Any event at the EPES, including the Bee Hive Party, is canceled. 

The custodial staff will be focusing on deep cleaning in the MS and HS this weekend and will focus on deep cleaning EPES Monday and Tuesday. 

Why this decision? The incubation period is 24-48 hours, therefore the recommendation from the county is given in order to break this spread to maintain that 48 hours. 

As a reminder, your child must be symptom-free for 48 hours prior to returning to school. If you have a sibling in the Middle or High School and your Elementary student is ill, please keep ALL of your children home. 

Staff and Teachers are asked to not enter the Elementary School building on Monday or Tuesday unless they have been cleared to do so or are part of the custodial team. 

Please refer to the earlier communication regarding the illness information. 

Thank you, 

EPSD Health Team 

04/22/2022, 3:20 pm CORRECTION: I accidentally referred to Fire Chief Wolf as ‘Captain Wolf’ and that was incorrect. It is Fire Chief Wolf.

The Estes Park School District Board of Education held a Special Meeting on Tuesday. After the usual opening of the meeting and approval of the agenda, the board went into a closed Executive Session for a personnel matter regarding Superintendent Sheldon Rosenkrance.

The Executive Session concluded after approximately an hour and the next item of business was the approval of a Separation Agreement between the district and Rosenkrance. That agreement passed by a unanimous vote, which was followed by well-wishing by the board.

But was that the whole story?

I took the time to interview Rosenkrance and his wife who attended the meeting with their daughter. Newly elected Board of Education President Stacy Ferree and some of the parents and community members that attended (28 community members attended.)

No public input was considered, in fact, no public comment was allowed.

The meeting announcement was supposedly made public (which is required by law.) But many community members never got an email announcing the meeting nor could find it posted on the School District’s website

This riveting episode goes over these interviews and more.

There are questions left unanswered about why the board and Rosenkrance came to this decision. Why the details of the Separation Agreement (including financial obligations) are not being made public and why the timing has been so rushed. Especially after Rosenkrance has had such good performance reviews.

I have included his most recent here:

In this special breaking news podcast, I break down the happenings within the Estes Park School District’s Board of Education with tonight’s special board meeting with an executive session to possibly oust the Estes Park School District Superintendent Sheldon Rosenkrance.

I will be attending tonight’s special meeting which was announced at the last possible minute to be legal yesterday evening. (I am a parent to two students and also a grandaughter in the district and receive School district emails and after going back through my email records, never received the notification.)

I have also submitted a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request to gather further information on this topic as now there is no word coming from the district due to a possible Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA.)

This is a developing story and I will update it as more information becomes available.

I reached out to Board of Education President Stacey Ferree but had not heard back by publication.

Here is the email release put out last night by the District:

This email will serve as notice of a EPSD Board of Education Special Meeting that will be held on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 at 4:15 pm via Zoom.  The Board of Education will be meeting in person at the Administration Office located at 1605 Brodie Avenue, Estes Park, CO 80517. 

If you would like to attend the board meeting in-person, please reach out to the board secretary, Heather Gooch ([email protected]), so that arrangements can be made.  Space is limited to work within our smaller conference room. We encourage the public to take advantage of the ZOOM link to watch the live stream, or you can watch the meeting recording approximately 24-48 hours after the meeting HERE. 

The agenda can be found HERE 24 hours prior to the meeting, and the Zoom meeting link information is at the top of each posted agenda. Additionally, the agendas and minutes can be found on our website at www.estesschools.org/BoardofEducation.  

Meeting minutes are recorded then approved at the following month's meeting (example: September meeting minutes will be approved and posted to the website following October's regular meeting) and the regular board meeting recordings are posted to our EPSD YouTube and on the website within 48 hours (you can subscribe to our channel as well). 

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out. 

Local historian and scientist John Meissner comes back on the podcast to talk about the Hospital Board Election happening in Estes Park.

John is once again running for office in this election and he gives us his thoughts on the state of our local hospital and the upcoming elections.

He also speaks on his recent experience being a jury member here in Colorado.

Happy Easter everyone!

In today’s episode, we have a conversation with 970 Comedy’s Jacob Erdman about how the Northern Colorado comedy scene is responding to complaints of a sexual predator who was within its midsts. Jacob reached out to me to give another perspective in response to the interview I did with comedian Kevin Dumont on April 4th.

An interview with 970 Comedy's Jacob Erdman responding to our interview with comedian Kevin Dumont.

In today’s episode, we have two quick interviews. The first is with Laurie Dale Marshall (LDM), executive director of the EVICS Family Resource Center about the lack of housing here in Estes Park. You will remember that LDM was the lone dissenting voice speaking up in favor of the Short Term Rental fee imposed by the town trustees during the last town board meeting. We had a great conversation about how the housing crisis is now reaching across demographics and the impacts it is having on our community.

In the second installment of today’s episode, we have a short conversation with Addison Herron-Wheeler, Editor in Chief, co-owner, and co-publisher of Out Front Magazine (OFM), and Willam Thomason, owner of Bitfactory Gallery in Denver about their Neon Nights, networking events.

Read Jason’s supernatural horror fiction novels based in Colorado.

I had a chance to sit down and have a conversation with the Town of Estes Park Town Administrator Travis Machalek about what steps the town currently takes to reduce fire hazards with our town’s power supply.

Fire Season is already here. Now is the time to start thinking and talking about what steps we can take to reduce the risk of wildfires in our Estes Valley Community.

a group of students from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts is in town for seven weeks to study the effects of the wildfires on local communities.

The students reached out to me for an interview as a resident of the Estes Valley Community. This episode includes the interview, which spans several topics surrounding living with wildfires in the mountain communities of Colorado.

We also recap yesterday’s ‘unofficial’ election results.