MORE ELECTION NEWS
| What in your background makes you qualified for office? | |
| I am a father to a Jeffco Public Schools graduate and a current senior at Wheat Ridge High School. Our oldest daughter graduated from Jefferson Junior/Senior High School in the spring and started college this fall. We have lived in Jefferson County for eighteen years. My wife Hillary started her education career as a paraprofessional at Lumberg Elementary and now is a preschool director in Littleton. I have served on the Lumberg Elementary PTA, Jefferson Jr/Sr High School Accountability Committee (SAC), Jeffco Public Schools District Accountability Committee (DAC), and Gifted Education State Advisory Committee. I currently sit on the Colorado Department of Education School Transportation Task Force. I serve as the Executive Director of Edgewater Collective for the last ten years. Edgewater Collective is a local nonprofit that is focused on supporting Title I schools in the Edgewater area and co-creating economic opportunities for Latino families in east central Jefferson County. | |
| Regarding consolidating/closing high schools, what tenants would a proposal from Superintendent Dorland need to include to earn your vote? | |
| Having walked alongside the Molholm community through their closure, I know the process is very hard for school communities. To students, families, educators, and staff, the school feels like a family and a home for them. Community stakeholders need to be brought together before the decision to close schools is made, not after like last fall. Our communities need to understand the facts and also have a voice in what happens next before a decision is made. Jeffco also needs to involve the community and school staff in proactive solutions like the merging of Moore Middle School and Pomona High School. I am concerned that school closures have more impact on students and families of color in Jefferson County. The closure of Molholm and Arvada K-8 have been hard on Spanish-speaking and Latino families. As proposals to consolidate or close schools come to the Board of Education, I will be asking tough questions about the impacts to students and families that face more hurdles to learning. | |
| How do you believe the district can best utilize closed school facilities? | |
| The transition of Campbell Elementary School to Campbell Early Learning Center is a great use of a closed elementary school. Utilizations like this won’t be possible at all other closed school facilities. With the budget challenges facing the district, Jeffco Public Schools needs to sell most of the district facilities that have been closed. The funds from the sale of the these properties can be used to invest in current school buildings. Though school closures have been very difficult, in the end the hope is that with the financial savings and combined resources, students and educators will have access to a better educational experience. The better question is how communities surrounding closed school facilities can best utilize the space. Jeffco Public Schools leaders have been and will continue to be in communication with municipal staff and communities as to how they would like the land be utilized in a way that benefits the community. It’s important for communities to think strategically and engage all members of the surrounding neighborhoods to see what the area needs. I believe there can be strategic partnerships that can create new housing for educators, workforce, and families on the school facility land. This would need to be done in a way fits the surrounding neighborhood and has the support of neighbors. | |
| Do you feel that a child should be able to (confidentially) discuss topics of gender and sexuality with their teachers? Why or why not? | |
| Educators play an important role in ensuring that their classroom is safe and welcoming for every student. As this welcoming space is created, students might feel safe talking to their teacher about issues of gender or sexuality. First, it is important that educators and school staff are following district, state, and federal policies and procedures as they talk with students in age-appropriate ways. According to district policy, teachers have the right and duty to recognize and use preferred identities and genders in class with their students. Second, conversations should be age appropriate and families should be seen as partners in these conversations as determined by the student. The goal is that each school has other resources for students to talk to about these topics beyond the teacher. These topics have been in the news recently for Jeffco Public Schools. It is important for the district to listen to the community, get feedback on their policies, and update them if necessary, to ensure that every Jeffco student feels safe and valued in their classroom. | |
| With more Colorado school districts — including neighboring Clear Creek — moving to four-day weeks, do you think there’s a chance Jeffco could do the same? Why or why not would you be in favor of that? | |
| The jury is still out on the effectiveness of four-day school weeks. Some research has shown that four-day weeks helps recruiting educators, adds flexibility to educator schedules, and saves the school district money. Yet the impacts on students who need extra academic support can be negative. Families have a hard time finding options for their children on days when school is not in session. At this point, I am not in favor of four-day weeks. District leadership should continue to work with principals and educators to ensure that educators have more flexibility in their schedule to plan and collaborate with their peers. Through the budget prioritization process, we need to do the hard work of prioritizing funding directly to classrooms, educators, and school staff. | |
| Assess the effectiveness of the changing start times at Jeffco schools. | |
| This fall has been tough on family schedules with the changing start times and transporting students to different schools. The rationale of the change was to improve student health, increase attendance, and ensure all students receive equitable instruction. It is important to measure these outcomes over the next few years. As we enter the second semester in 2024, there’s a great opportunity for the district to engage families and students through surveys to understand how the start time changes have impacted them and what improvements or changes might be needed. | |
| In addition to closing schools to accommodate declining enrollments in Jefferson County, what other measures do you propose to improve students’ learning experiences while saving money? | School funding is complex, yet we need to take a hard look at how the funds currently spent are actually improving the learning experiences of students. With declining enrollment, we need to ensure that funds are improving the student and educator experience. As a school board, it is our role to ask tough questions of district leadership on school funding and budgeting, so students and educators have what they need to succeed. |
| Do you see any alternatives to future school consolidations? | |
| I believe district leadership is involving the community in discussions around strategic alternatives to school consolidations. They are trying to be proactive with creative solutions. As school budgets shrink, the district has an opportunity to develop strategic partnerships in each articulation area to invest in career pathways for students and paid training for educators. My hope is that the Reimagining High School emphasis takes these career pathways in Jeffco to the next level. Using some portion of school campuses in creative ways to strengthen the development of career pathways could be a great alternative to some school consolidations. | |
| How will you handle Jeffco educators’ perceived need for higher compensation in the face of declining enrollment/revenue? | |
| As I talk to educators, there is a real and important need for higher compensation that aligns with the community’s value of ensuring our educators receive a thriving wage. Each spring School Accountability Committees made up of parents, school staff, educators, and community members, decide their priorities as they look at their school budgets. Community surveys are administered to get feedback from the community about their priorities as well. The District Accountability Committee compiles the survey results from the schools and presents their budget priorities to the school board. Year after year the Jeffco community has prioritized higher compensation for educators on these surveys. I highly value the work our educators do every day as well as the work food service, transportation, custodial, and other school staff do to support our students and schools. We need to do the hard work to study where funding that doesn’t directly impact students can be cut, so that money can be invested to support educators and school staff. | |