Academy District 20 School Board Watch

2026

August 2026

June 2026

May 2026

2023 Moms for Liberty El Paso Note about Superintendent Haberer

letter to D20 from Moms for Liberty

  • REP. CRANK ANNOUNCES $42.7 MILLION TO EXPAND D20 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
    • The Department of War Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation has approved a federal grant for $42,719,334 to Academy District 20 to address facility capacity and condition deficiencies at Douglass Valley Elementary School at the U.S. Air Force Academy. 

April 2026

March 2026

  • BOE Meeting Discussion starts at 19:55, Director Waldrep mentions that he attended the Colorado Leaders for Academic Success Conference (CLAS)
    • “I just mentioned I went got to attend the Colorado leaders for academic success conference it was really well done it was nice to be able to see a different perspective one I thought had a lot of the things that we really care about is as far as kind of focus on academic outcomes how best achieve those things and I also want to give a shout out though to AJ Longhenry who we just I think highlighted last meeting as well so a lot of the students from Air Academy were there too with their media team they’re filming it and recording it and they did really an outstanding job they’re very professional and I think their their manner and behavior was kind of really a credit upon themselves as well as their teacher and D20 so it’s really great to see that yeah I think there’s a lot of things I would I’d love for more of the members to maybe actually brought some books I’ll share that they were giving out free books I’ll hand those out to people I think we’d really yeah benefit from checking out a little bit more what they have to offer as well so just wanted to mention that especially how great the students were doing” “Okay, maybe we can put that on a future study session or something, I don’t know. “

Feb. 2026

2025

Nov. 2025 School Board Election

  • El Paso Moms for Liberty Endorsed Candidates: Cynthia Halverson, Eddie Waldrep, Susan Payne
Academy District 20 Moms for Liberty School Board Candidate

Sept. 2025

July 2025

June 2025

March 2025

Jan. 2025 

  • Pine Creek students voice concerns over school board member’s explicit remarks

2024

Dec. 2024

  • Parents demand transparency in District 20’s name change policy at board meeting Citizen Portal
    • “My name is Christie Davis, and I am the chapter chair of Moms for Liberty in El Paso County. Our main goal is to protect our main goal is to protect parental rights at all levels levels of government, and I’m afraid to say that I am here in this room tonight because your administration has doubled down on violating parental rights in your district with the nonlegal name change policy ACA.“

Oct. 2024

  • Secretary of state’s office looking into allegations Colorado Springs’ Academy 20 school district violated campaign finance laws | CPR
    • The Secretary of State’s Office is investigating whether Colorado Springs’ largest school district violated campaign finance laws in how it presented a bond measure to voters on this November’s ballot.
    • The complaint also alleges the bond would allocate millions to two charter schools (13 percent of the total) using a per-pupil method when Colorado law states that a school district shall review a charter school’s construction plans and compare those needs to other schools in the district before deciding on allocations.

Feb 2024

  • D20 parent group want a school board member to face criminal charges
    • “More than 200 parents in Academy School District 20 want a board member to be criminally charged for obscenity. This comes after Derrick Wilburn read aloud a passage from a book they call explicit. It happened during a candidate forum at Chinook Trail Middle School in October.”

2023

Nov 2023

  • Conservative school board candidates dominate early election returns in El Paso County’s largest districts
    • “Academy School District 20 Newcomers Amy Shandy and Derrick Wilburn were ahead of incumbents Heather Cloninger and Will Temby, garnering 27.8% and 26.57% of the vote, respectively. If that trend holds, Shandy and Wilburn would join Thomas LaValley, Aaron Salt and Nicole Konz — tipping the board’s ideological scales heavily toward the conservative.”
    • “Colorado Springs Opportunity Fund spent $110,000 supporting Shandy and Wilburn.“

  • Dark money group spends $500K to support conservative El Paso County school board candidates
    • “The fund also has spent $110,235 in support of D20 candidates Amy Shandy and Derrick Wilburn, who are running against incumbents Will Temby and Heather Cloninger.”
    • It’s worth noting that even if the incumbents win, the D20 board will remain in conservative control after Nicole Konz, Thomas LaValley and Aaron Salt were installed in 2021 with the help of conservative dark money via Springs Opportunity Fund.

  • Truth and Liberty Coalition Targets 30 School Boards, including Buena Vista, for what some call its “Rule the Godless” Initiative | Ark Valley Voice
    • “A movement led by Christian nationalist/dominionist televangelist and Charis Bible College founder Andrew Wommack appears determined to force a far-right version of education on Colorado school districts.“
    • “It is this movement, Transform Colorado, that has recruited and trained candidates and filled ballots across dozens of school districts with far-right candidates. According to its website and Wommack himself, they have a stated goal, “that unites Christian leaders to restore biblical values in the public square.”

May 2023

Former El Paso County Moms for Liberty Chair interviewed on CNN

2022

Dec. 2022

  • Emails reveal talk of transgender bathroom policies between parents and Academy District 20 administration | KOAA
    • Defense of Democracy, a public education advocacy organization, obtained several emails between the parties. The emails reveal notes of an hour-and-a-half-long meeting held on Sept. 15 that was originally called by Brian Moody, a district 20 parent and the chair of Advocates for D20 Kids, to discuss the district’s 2021-2022 Strategic Plan. Later in the meeting, Moody brought up concerns that “schools are catering to one group and therefore making others feel disenfranchised.”

October 2022

March 2022 

  • D20 school board quote triggers separation of church and state controversy
    • At Thursday’s Academy School District 20’s School Board meeting, Aaron Salt, a recently elected School Board Director, is scheduled to read a quote from Benjamin Franklin aloud after the pledge of allegiance. The quote encourages a bible in every house.
    • When asked to clarify his statement about “demonic” school curriculum, Bottoms pointed to critical race theory, which is not taught in Colorado schools. “Anything to do with CRT is demonic,” he said. “They’re literally trying to say something that happened, didn’t happen. Anything that starts the beginning of our country other than 1776 is a lie. That’s a blatant lie. Lying is not a God thing. There’s only one other option: Demons.”

  • Parents and a national foundation claim board members in D11, D20 and D49 are pushing religion
    • The national foundation that advocates for the separation of church and state has been busy in the Springs area over the last two weeks, responding to more than a dozen complaints that allege local school board members are using their positions to promote Christian beliefs, Line says.
    • He’s sent three separate letters to the boards of Colorado Springs District 11, Academy District 20 and Falcon’s District 49 since March 16, after a handful of board directors — all of them elected as a conservative force in November 2021 — were believed to have crossed the line separating church and state.

2021

  • Yes, Colorado’s school board races are becoming more politicized. Here’s why
    • Conservative political action groups, sometimes with religious affiliations, like “Stand for the Constitution” in Grand Junction, are also weighing in on races. The 1776 Project PAC is backing a slate of candidates in Douglas County, District 51 in Grand Junction, and Academy 20 and Falcon 49 in El Paso County. The group is dedicated to electing school board members willing to promote “patriotism and pride in American history,” and says it opposes “critical race theory.”
    • In a recent candidate forum in Academy School District 20 in El Paso County, multiple candidates referred to alleged “indoctrination” and “social engineering” of students.

  • Baby We Were Born for War: To Dominionist Christian Groups, No Election is Too Small — and Colorado is Just the Beginning
    • Nine days before the election, Holt announced during Sunday service at his new, much smaller church, The Road @ Chapel Hills, that three members of his church were running for school boards in two districts. All three went on to win: Aaron Salt in Academy District 20 and two of the three members of the winning (and Coalition-backed) slate in District 49, Lori Thompson and Ivy Liu. 
    • Holt asked for a show of hands of people who live in each of the three school districts, District 11, Academy District 20, and District 49. Towards the end of the service he pointed people to stacks of 30,000 cards for parishioners to use to organize people to visit their online voter guide. “So if there is someone who you really don’t think really shares your values—then don’t give them the card,” Holt declared with a twinkle in his eye. “No, I’m only kidding,” he concluded.
    • Right-wing Christians launch an assault on public school. But parents are finding a secret weapon | AlterNet
      • The district’s other new board member was Aaron Salt, already the board chair of a nearby charter academy, who said after his election, “We know that mask usage increases mental health problems and issues. … That’s not something that I’m willing to sacrifice.” They were just two of 28 school board candidates elected across Colorado with the backing of a Christian nationalist organization — the Truth and Liberty Coalition (TLC) — whose ambitions are “national, international and eternal,” as Frederick Clarkson wrote at Religion Dispatches.

Right-Wing Organizations Attacking Public Education in Academy 20

Transform Colorado
Springs Opportunity Fund
Ready Colorado
Moms for Liberty

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