Dear Gov.-Elect Polis: Here’s what CO Teachers Want You To Know

ACROSS COLORADO – By Erica Meltzer, Chalkbeat Colorado. We asked Colorado educators to tell us what they want Gov.-Elect Jared Polis to know about their jobs, their schools, and their students as he sets his education agenda, and they had a lot to say. More than 100 teachers, administrators, counselors, and paraprofessionals responded to our request.

Some of the letters we received were startlingly succinct. “It is underfunded,” said one letter in its entirety. “My school needs a full-time school counselor, social worker, and nurse,” said another.

Many expressed great pride in the work being done by their colleagues and their students. Teacher after teacher urged Polis to come to their schools and see for himself what goes on in classrooms.
Polis, who has a long history with education issues and founded two charter schools, takes office with Democratic majorities in both chambers of the Colorado General Assembly but without the added guaranteed revenue for schools that Amendment 73 would have provided. Polis declined to endorse the measure, and voters rejected it. Polis’ platform included funding full-day kindergarten and expanding access to preschool.

Here’s what teachers had to say.

These letters have been edited for length and clarity.

We have done our very best to offer a quality education to students while resources have declined. When Arby’s can pay employees $14 an hour, it makes it difficult to hire a $12-an-hour cook to prepare healthy meals for our students. When our local municipality can pay bus drivers $18 an hour, it makes it difficult to hire a $15-an-hour driver to safely transport our students. When a qualified math teacher can make $100,000 in private industry but only $40,000 with the school district, we have a hard time attracting and retaining qualified instructors for our talented students.

— Stephanie Juneau, business manager, Gunnison Watershed School District

The majority of staff put in many hours outside the school day and on weekends. The workload keeps getting bigger, and the salaries do not measure up. We will lose good teachers soon because of the stress due to extra work and expectations from the state and administration and the lack of resources and compensation. Many of us have second jobs. I, for one, work 18-20 hours a week waiting tables to supplement my salary.

— Stacey Petersen, K-5 counselor, Crested Butte Community School

READ MORE in The Colorado Independent

Jared Polis in September 2018. (Photo by Rachel Lorenz)