<<  -- 7 --  Madeline Jenkins Millard    FAUST AND THE 'FREE WORLD'

Two days after the board meeting, Waggoner heard from the school district. 'It was a letter that said: "We had our meeting. No decision was made. You will remain on paid administrative leave until further notice,"' Waggoner reported. 'So I phoned the district and asked: "What is further notice? Is this to the end of my contract? You're really leaving me out in limbo. I read that you were quoted in the paper saying, 'It's a done deal.' You're not going to deal with me; but you haven't even told me, the employee, that". Now the school's not talking to me,' she said. 'They're not talking to the media. They want this to die.'

There was further collateral damage when, on 24 February 2006, Karen Grossaint, Bennett's mayor, resigned her post in disgust. 'Waggoner's removal was the last straw,' said Grossaint. 'Waggoner was the last in a very long line of very peculiar situations. Bennett has a mean-spirited undertone. I had enough. The issue with Tresa Waggoner wasn't the opera, but that she had run the holiday pageant without Christmas songs.'

Grossaint, a native of Leadville, Colorado, is familiar with small-town culture, but she told The Denver Post: 'This is just the weirdest place. It's like there is some kind of negative energy here ... a mean streak runs through a portion of Bennett. In recent years, that streak has manifested itself in disagreements over the validity of Mormonism as a branch of Christianity' and, she added, a town meeting 'grew so heated that police had to escort the city planner out of the building because of fears for his safety.'

Grossaint estimates Bennett's current population to be 2,500. According to city-data.com, 92.5 percent of the population is categorized as 'white non-Hispanic'. Perhaps especially relevant to this story is that, of those 25 years and older, 87.6 percent are high school graduates, 12.3 percent hold bachelor's degrees and less than 2 percent have achieved graduate or professional degrees. City-data.com found the percentage of Bennett's population with a bachelor's degree or higher to be 'significantly below the state average'. The number of students currently seeking those degrees is also below the state average. The town is a bedroom community approximately 30 miles from Denver. It takes up 3.1 square miles of Adams County and its elevation is 5,486 feet above sea level. The nearest hospital is about 27 miles away and the mean commute to work takes 33.7 minutes.

Bennett School District 29J is comprised of four schools: high school, elementary, middle school and preschool. Perhaps unsurprisingly, access to the district's web site requires a password. However, publicschoolsreport.com indicates that the district hires 25 classroom teachers for its 387 students. Standardized testing results show Bennett students scores to be in line with the state averages. Given the current paucity of public funding for arts education, the Bennett school district should be commended at least for trying. In 2004, the town approved a $10 million bond issue which included a 500-seat auditorium for cultural activities. Sauter told the press: 'We want to expose kids to things, to help them see there is another world beside Bennett out there.' However, music educators, Michael Mastronicola and Timothy Snyder wondered in The Denver Post: 'Considering how Tresa Waggoner has been treated, how does Sauter expect that to happen?'

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