With education on everyone’s minds these days, especially regarding our rankings in the world as compared to China and India, what could the school board do to better energize and engage our community on vital education issues and needs?
Mike Harvey, Project Manager for Recreation Engineering and Planning
The current Salida School Board has done an admirable job of communicating education needs within the School District boundaries. This past Fall’s Mill Levy election was arguably the best ever run local election. The level of information available to the voter about the needs of the schools and the potential impact of the Mill Levies was remarkable.
I do not think the question is how could the schools more effectively communicate with our community. I think the needs are clear. The issue is that people are left with a very difficult decision when it comes to funding schools. Since school funding is tethered directly to property tax it puts some businesses and individuals in the difficult position of choosing between funding schools or keeping their monthly or annual bills low.
Now, I happened to believe that the requests this last fall were very reasonable and should have been funded, but I cannot blame those people who were concerned about the potential impact to their pocketbooks. There is a ton of literature out there on better methods to fund education and I am not qualified to suggest the perfect solution. However I would say that a creative solution to school funding on a local level should be sought and it can’t simply rely on fundraisers or the goodwill of the community to donate money. Funding for schools should be a required spending priority that does not force people out of the valley because property taxes become unreasonable.
Walt Harder, Real Estate Agent
We first need to recognize that we have a declining school population – a trend that is likely to persist given the direction Chaffee County demographics are moving. With that in mind I think consolidation of assets is in order to reduce overall cost of education. I’d like to study how poor areas of our country do a better job of educating children with two-thirds or less of the funding and use that information to better the quality of ours.
It’s no secret that our educational infrastructure is in poor shape. I’d like to see some of the $23,500 in property taxes I paid this year go to improve that situation. Thanks to the Gallagher amendment my commercial and vacant land taxes are more than three times those of residential housing in Colorado. I don’t mind paying my fair share but if it gets any fairer I’ll be out of business. Even this playing field and I think you’ll see business owners get behind some of the efforts to increase funding for our schools. Without this support we’ll see school tax elections turn out like they have for the past 10+ years.
Additionally, I don’t know how to motivate voters whose kids are beyond school age to support school tax issues. They got theirs, now they’re done. Tough luck. Poor schools have driven away several families that I know of personally. The loss of their collective talents and energy and economic input is hard to replace. In 20 years we’ll be the “Sun City of the Rockies” and I’ll have long-ago moved away.
Asa Geiger
- Self-discipline
- Energize the community to discover the career paths available to competitive students.
- Focus, focus, focus on math and science. Engage the community to use their tools (home computers and the Internet) to assist the student.
- My daughter, a PHD in biology working in Brazil, is attending a conference in Germany this Fall and is studying the language on the Internet for free. How many in the community know this is available?
- Request community volunteers for a mentoring program; Salida has a surplus of brain power to help.
- Turn off the cell phones during school hours and use “messaging” to challenge the student to achieve.
Laura Donavan, Graphic Designer and Co-owner of Dog Sonic Design
This is truly the million dollar question for the district. Certainly last year’s campaign proved just how difficult it is to find support for our schools. In Januray I attended the “state of the schools” meeting at the John Held Auditorium. Attendance was poor. Maybe 50 people showed up and it looked as if close to half were teachers or employees of the school district. Several interesting ideas were presented including; the loss of students to private schools, the need for a possible alternative High School, upgrading technology, a four day week, year-round schooling, closed campus at the high school, PILT funds, BEST funds and state budget cuts. Why weren’t more people in attendance? I will admit that I have never been to a school board meeting. I have attended the “public input” meetings they hosted and the “state of the schools.” I volunteer in the classroom and I helped with last fall’s campaign. I have two children in the public schools, so, how do you engage me? How do we engage the community? Not just the parents of students but also business owners, retirees and students.
I think we are missing a huge component in educational outreach when we do not use available technology. How many parents and community members have an email address, a website, a facebook or MySpace account? Investing in an online outreach program could have dramatic financial and philosophical benefits for the schools. (The Salida Citizen is experimenting with just this sort of idea.) The school district should have an online forum for survey questions, open dialogue, debate, and ongoing project information. School board members, teachers, students, parents, and community members could have a place for information and discourse.
People spend more and more time online, this crosses all social and economic factors. Perhaps some funds should be made available to update the way our district communicates. It’s much more convenient and productive for me to sit behind my keyboard for a half hour, watch a video, fill out a survey and have a discussion with a business owner than it is for me to spend two hours at a meeting. I think we need to take it to the people. Barack Obama ran an internet campaign unparalleled in history. Incorporating just a few of these online tools could propel Salida’s schools well into the future.
Greg Felt, Fly Fishing Outfitter, River Advocate and Co-owner of Arkanglers
China? India? Whatever. That doesn’t motivate me at all. My daughter attends boarding school and many of her schoolmates are there from Asia – refugees from 12 hour-a-day cramming schools where the entire focus of teenage life is “The Test” that determines your future. We are a different culture and we don’t have to evaluate our system in the light of another. This is one problem we can solve in our own little society, thanks. In fact, we can do it in a way that honors and accentuates our unique community. Here is the approach I would take:
There are several steps that come to mind, and they all fall under what one might call inventory. First, find out what we think we need – ask teachers, parents, students, employers,…everyone. Second, conduct an inventory of the community resources we have, especially the knowledge, experience, and special skills of our people. Make it exhaustive. Then go out to schools where they are clearly doing something right and figure out how they are doing it. Bring those ideas back and lay them aside the list of needs and community resources. Start connecting the dots. Get a committee together of the most animated and connected people you can find – in many cases, entrepreneurial types will be best. These will be your ambassadors, the people who will call on community members to share their special attributes with our students and teachers. It is amazing what happens when you ask someone if they can help, if they can bring their specialized knowledge or skill to bear on a specific challenge. Asking them to approve bond issues, i.e. begging, just turns people off to the whole school system. Especially commercial property owners who are expected to carry the property tax load on their backs. Pulling people and their unique talents into the mix will engage them, better our school experience, and make future revenue requests more of a point of pride.
When I say look at schools that are doing it right, I’m not necessarily talking about Cherry Creek. I interview candidates for admission to my alma mater – a well-known selective university. In years of doing this, I have never been asked to interview a kid from Salida. I’ve interviewed many from the San Luis Valley, and most came from Centauri High School down near the state line. What is going on down there? Kids with real potential are truly embraced. They have an outstanding college counseling program (not the CU, CSU, Ft. Lewis, Western or CMC only menu that our kids have traditionally received). And they reach for every grant, special program, and higher ed affiliation that crosses the desk. They strike me as an example of a community working to make the best of their situation by tapping all of the resources at their disposal.
Dave Armstrong, Owner of Altamont Landscaping
Education is a critical ‘leg of the stool’ for any community or nation! Thus the educational system must be linked effectively within the national education system and the local needs/issues of families and students. I’m presuming this is the case in Salida. Additionally, the system should support and reinforce the community growth strategy; involving residents, business and government.
The Board could use its access to information on both the national, state and local level to build and communicate the long term plan for providing excellent educational experiences to all. This may have been done already? This plan becomes the basis for communicating where the Salida schools are today and where they are headed, how they will get there, what is needed to be successful and how residents/business/government can help.
My presumption is that there maybe a number of untapped resources in the community that could accelerate the growth and performance of our schools in Salida. Initiating the conversation and laying out the challenges is the beginning. While money will always be a need and an issue, focus on where we’re headed and how to get there provides a basis for all parties to get behind the challenges and together figure out a way to meet them. The Board is responsible for leading the conversation/dialog; the community is responsible for participating, supporting and working together with the Board. Not just voting bond issues up or down. The talent is among us/within us. We will not retain the values we cherish or develop the economic environment we need to succeed without a very high performing education system that attracts the best people. I hope the journey and work begun by many can be accelerated and positively reinforce the growth of our community.
Merrell Bergin, Software Business Consultant
The top 15 jobs of 2015 don’t exist today. Prepare for the future. Any future.
This billboard is one of several featured prominently throughout Denver International Airport. All are designed to encourage passersby not to fear the future, but to embrace it. Sponsored by the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, the message is: don’t chase today’s jobs or even try to guess at tomorrows. To thrive – not merely survive, we must develop an adaptable toolkit that works for Salida and for our global economy.
A lifelong learning toolkit includes diverse skills and aptitudes, utilizing both hand and mind. Especially in our rural economy, can we fend for ourselves by making simple household repairs, planting a garden and making meals from scratch? What about applied math and science skills? Are we fluent in more than one language? Fully literate in computer applications, networking skills and information searches? How well do we communicate both in writing and when speaking to one or many? Finally, and most importantly: are critical thinking, listening and appreciation of culture, travel and the arts a part of our world? I suggest that our school board consider these criteria when evaluating the performance of both teachers and students.
Note: Read the full text of Merrell’s answer in this recent commentary piece.
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This question could have been written: “What could this community do to better support our school board and our schools?”
The folks on the board and in the administration are as a rule smart, competent and doing an enormous public service.
Our schools are not failing. On the contrary, in this district we have seen some great successes recently. Could schools be better? Sure.
Would schools be better if more people showed up to school board meetings? If more parents spent time helping their kids with homework or teaching them how to read? If more people from the community volunteered to help in classrooms? If we, as a community, prioritized education and funded our schools adequately so that the people we select to create/implement a vision for educating our kids have the resources to do the job? Undoubtedly.
Thinking and doing are two different things. Instead of suggesting idealogical solutions for the current state of affairs for the Salida School District DO SOMETHING! A good start could be by educating yourself like Laura has by attending meetings and forums about the challenges this district faces. It seems that many are concerned but so few are willing to take steps like Laura has. This district is in need for a community to pull together and actively support it.