EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KOAA) — A new face has joined the District 49 school board following one of the closest elections in recent memory, with both races decided by fewer than 100 votes.
Holly Withers secured her seat on the D49 school board by just 17 votes and has been sworn in as vice president. The narrow margin wasn't lost on the new board member.
"I understand that I barely won," Withers said with a smile.
As a mother juggling her family responsibilities, Withers brings a personal perspective to her new role. Much of her motivation stems from her experience as a parent of a special education student.
"I have a SPED [Special Education] student, and I think that that was my main motivation, just because I've seen ups and I've seen downs, and I just wanna get it up, and I wanna keep it up," Withers said.
The new board member hopes to bring a more focused approach to board meetings.
"I want to shift the narrative. Let's make school board meetings boring again—let's just get down to business," Withers added.
In the other contested race, former board president Lori Thompson secured re-election by 60 votes over her opponent. Thompson, a REALTOR and mother with grandchildren and great-grandchildren, reflected on her first term's accomplishments.
"First and foremost, we focused on improving reading and writing, and then added improving our math scores," Thompson explained.
Thompson emphasized her commitment to individualized education approaches, drawing from her early experiences helping her mother teach special education Sunday school when she was young.
"My mother used to teach special education Sunday school, and I would help her," Thompson recalled. "And that's when I first got involved with the world of special education. And one of my favorite sayings that I learned back then is that 'normal' is a setting on a dryer. There's no such thing as a 'normal kid.'"
The board has garnered statewide attention for several policy changes during Thompson's tenure. The Colorado High School Activities Association recently settled with D49 regarding a policy that maintains biological sex-based policies for sports, preventing biological boys from participating in girls' sports and vice versa.
"A lot of the people who said respect the science during the COVID shutdown, now they want to completely disregard biological reality, and to me, it's a common-sense approach," Thompson said.
Withers, who wasn't on the board when the policy was voted on, indicated she would have opposed it.
"If it came up again, I would definitely speak my piece on that, but, you know, what's done is done," Withers said of the Preserving Fairness and Safety in Sports policy.
The D49 school board meets every second Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m. Their next meeting is scheduled for January 8.
"This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy."
___
New state law raises cost of furnaces and water heaters
A new law is restricting how your home is powered. Gas furnaces and water heaters installed in Colorado must adhere to strict emission standards beginning this year.
____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
