Academy District 20 School Board Watch

2026

May 2026

• Academy School District 20 names interim superintendent | KKTV11
• E-mail announces D-20 in Colorado Springs is ‘parting ways’ with superintendent | KOAA
  • An email sent to parents and guardians on Thursday night from the D-20 Board of Education announced that the board has “unanimously determined that we do not have confidence” in the superintendent’s leadership moving forward.

2023 Moms for Liberty El Paso Note about Superintendent Haberer

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• Advocacy Guidance on D20’s Policy ACA | Inside Out Youth Services

• 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

• District 20 awarded $30,000 grant to teach news literacy to students

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

• DAVIS: A Strategic Evolution in the Fight for Colorado Schools | CTR
  • According to the document I was sent, which was signed by D20 board president Amy Shandy and district superintendent Jinger Haberer on January 20, Miller’s firm took over representation of the district beginning on February 1, 2026. The letter of engagement provides for up to 80 hours per month of legal work at a rate of $18,000 per month (or otherwise billed hourly if a month comes in substantially below 80 hours).
• Protect Our Schools: Reject the Hiring of Brad Miller

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2025

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Sept. 2025

• Franchised Outrage: Porn Panic, the Trans Athlete Pivot, and the Machinery of Manufactured Fear | The Colorado Times Recorder
  • “In 2023, Derrick Wilburn and his slate of Advocates for D20 Kids stormed into power in Academy District 20 driven almost entirely by one message: our schools were peddling “pornography.” 

July 2025

• Community members hold a protest against a Colorado Springs school board with concerns about a proposed policy change | kktv
  • On Tuesday, the Board of Education looked at Resolution 248-25, which, according to the D20 meeting agenda, allows the Board of Education to review and make decisions about administrative policies and provides additional transparency to the community. The full resolution will be included further down.
    

June 2025

• D20 officials say they’re prepared to defend their position in transgender athlete policy debate  | KRDO
  • This week, the D20 school board voted to join a federal lawsuit challenging Colorado’s current rules and passed a resolution directing the district to define sports, bathroom, and locker room access based on a student’s biological sex.
• The Man Behind Colorado Schools’ Efforts to Ban Trans Athletes

March 2025

• Academy School District 20 Board President stepping down effective June 1 | KOAA
  • The Academy School District 20 Board of Education held a special meeting in which Director Aaron Salt announced he was stepping down as Board President.

• Federal judge dismisses claims against Academy District 20 officials for ejecting man from meeting | Colorado Politics
  • A federal judge on Monday concluded a man who was ejected from an Academy District 20 school board meeting in December 2023 had not stated viable claims that district officials violated his constitutional rights.

Jan. 2025 

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

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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.“

• Colorado Springs school board member files lawsuit against district parent
  • “Derrick Wilburn, who was elected to the board in November 2023, alleges that Bernadette Guthrie has made false and defamatory statements about him on social media, at school board meetings, and to the District Attorney’s Office, according to the 26-page lawsuit document.“

Feb 2024

• Parents file petition to the DA’s office against D20 board director
  • “Gayle is part of a group of District 20 parents who, together, say they sent a petition to the district attorney’s office. It centers around a moment from an October candidate forum.“
  • “Wilburn in response to a question from a student about banned books quoted a book he says is found in D20 libraries. The group calls the passage obscene. 11News reached out to both District 20 and then-candidate and now school board director Wilburn.”

• Discussion about armed staff, teachers in D-20 draws hundreds of attendees
  • “Parents, teachers and advocates came out in droves Thursday evening in support and opposition as Academy District 20’s Board of Education held preliminary talks to update security policies by allowing teachers and staff to carry concealed firearms at schools.”

• 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.”

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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.”

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May 2023

Former El Paso County Moms for Liberty Chair interviewed on CNN

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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

• Superintendent is retiring after Colorado school board president urged parents to search schools for “objectionable material | The Colorado Sun
  • ”Parents and educators in El Paso County’s largest school district are calling for the Academy District 20 board president to resign amid clashes over the role of parents and politics in schools.”

• Protest, criticism of school board president highlight tense District 20 school board meeting Thursday | KRDO

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.

• 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.

• National watchdog group accuses D49 board of promoting personal religious views | KRDO
  • At Thursday’s Academy School District 20’s School Board meeting, recently elected School Board Director Aaron Salt read a Benjamin Franklin quote following the pledge of allegiance. The quote encourages a bible in every house.

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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.
• 1776 Project PAC School Board Endorsements

• 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 Organizations Attacking Public Education in Academy 20