Representatives of the Buena Vista Education Association Asks Again for their Concerns to be Addressed
The July 10 Buena Vista (BV) Board of Education meeting was kept quite short with three members (Board President Suzette Hachmann, Director Lynn Montoya, and Secretary Tracy Storms) absent for the evening.
About ten members of the public attended with the public comment focused on supporting the Buena Vista Education Association (BVEA), which was not on the regular agenda.
Their message; speaking out against the board’s previous decision during their June 26 meeting not to officially recognize the organization. Members of the BVEA in attendance wore matching blue shirts in solidarity with one another.
Buena Vista School District Logo courtesy bvschools.org
Public Comment
Kevin Walek spoke of educator retention. Walek was a social studies teacher at Mountain Valley School in Saguache until he recently accepted a teaching position in Gunnison. Walek said the relationship between educators and the school board deteriorated, in a similar manner as he is seeing in Buena Vista, adding that in Saguache this led to a high turnover rate of around forty percent.
Walek’s decision to leave for Gunnison came down to improved working conditions. “What was more important to me than pay is that educators there feel valued and listened to,” said Walek. He gave credit to collective bargaining for that atmosphere.
Despite improved working conditions, Walek was upset to make the decision to leave Saguache in the first place. He expressed worry for the students who will suffer due to the loss of a significant number of trusted teachers. Walek urged the BV Board not to go down the same path.
“When you value your staff, you value your students,” said Walek. “Do not lose them. Don’t do that to students in this community. Choose a different path.”
Next up for public comment were three BVEA members who stood up and spoke together. Fifth-grade teacher Carolyn Kerby, elementary paraprofessional Sarah Case, and elementary librarian and teacher Bonnie Grover made the case for school employees.
The BVEA’s comments were respectful yet firm as they explained again that the CEA (Colorado Education Association) resolution has no impact on BVEA and how they conduct themselves locally. “To be clear, BVEA has taken no action in response to any actions from the delegate assembly, nor have we asked for any action from the board on that matter,” said Kerby, the first of the three to speak.
“We have not made any asks for any changes to classroom curriculum, nor do we understand where the board got the impression that our local members were asking for these changes,” she added.
Buena Vista Board of Education discusses BVEA and CEA. Photo by Carly Winchell.
She continued, indicating that the Board found time to discuss the CEA while claiming that there was no time to address employee concerns.
“We were told the board did not have time to address employees or their concerns, while you have made ample time for discussion on actions we never asked for. We heard more comments from many of you on a topic we did not bring forward than most meetings we have seen over the past several years.”
Kerby said she wondered if the board intended on addressing the concerns the petition had raised or if any of the seventy-five percent of school staff that signed the petition would be included in such discussion. The BVEA also said that members have attempted to connect with the Board of Education but have been brushed off in the past.
“Many of us have attempted to engage in those spaces and have not seen our concerns addressed. Others have simply been told their concerns were not valid or real. This lack of acknowledgment and response leaves us feeling unheard,” said Kerby.
Sarah Case was the next to speak on behalf of the BVEA. She highlighted two things the organization has worked to achieve (in conjunction with educators across the state) to improve employee working conditions and student learning conditions.
Case indicated that BVEA members had been active in petitioning and contacting elected officials and legislators to help them understand what underfunding public education does to their students. Case said these efforts helped to pass the School Finance Act, which provided millions of dollars, a new task force, and an adequacy study dedicated to improving public schools.
Next, Case discussed Colorado Senate Bill 23-111, which “gives public employees the right to organize, form, join, or assist an employee organization or refrain from organizing, forming, joining, or assisting an employee organization while prohibiting certain public employers from discriminating against, coercing, intimidating, interfering with, or imposing reprisals against a public employee for engaging in any of the rights granted.” Case emphasized that this bill helps to uphold principles of democracy and encourages employees to actively participate in public discussion to stand up for their needs and the needs of their students.
Bonnie Grover was the last to speak on behalf of the BVEA. “What we have seen over the past few weeks is that even when we provided you a hand-signed petition, listing many of the topics of concern, such as safety in our classrooms and support for our English Language Learners, our needs are still not being heard. We are not being included. You are asking us to trust that you are listening, but it’s not happening.”
Grover concluded by echoing sentiments shared early by Walek, that it isn’t too late for the Board to choose another path. “We are again calling on you to do the right thing, to work with your employees, parents, and community, not against us. It is not too late for this board to change course, and recognize that we are here, right in front of you asking to be included, to be recognized, and for this to be a positive opportunity for growth, to rebuild trust, and to recognize us all as the professionals that we are,” said Grover.
Mitchell thanked them for their comments and indicated that the board would send an email response before moving on to the remaining business for the evening.
DAC Charge 2023-24
For the remainder of the meeting, the board kept things short. There was a discussion about the potential responsibilities of the DAC (District Accountability Committee) for the 2023-24 school year. The DAC suggested monitoring the implementation of advisory and capstone and its effectiveness. Superintendent Lisa Yates also indicated that the DAC has looked extensively at Work Based Learning and what is happening with career exploration for the students.
During this discussion, Mitchell suggested the DAC could potentially shift focus to grade school teachers and “increase their effectiveness towards getting these scores up.” Mitchell indicated that the test scores are lower among the younger age groups, but test scores improve as BV students get older.
Olivia Bartlett spoke up about using the DAC to communicate better with community members who don’t necessarily have students in the school district. Yates indicated that the administration had taken steps to address this issue but results couldn’t yet be seen because it was July and school is out for the summer.
Board Planning Calendar
A brief discussion occurred on the topic of the board planning calendar. The Board has been attempting to identify times for “linkages” with different groups, such as staff and students.
After a conversation in the previous meeting, the Board concluded that it would be best to keep the timing for these flexible to tailor them to the specific groups with which the Board wishes to link. No action was taken other than to acknowledge that they would need to plan for these linkages each month, on a case-by-case basis.
Preschool Planning
The final topic of the meeting was the state of the district’s preschool planning project. Director Stacey Moss indicated that they were having a difficult time, but they had met with Watershed, LLC to discuss the potential project. The Board moved to direct the Superintendent to use an amount not to exceed $50,000 to provide feasibility, concept design, and cost estimating for a preschool in a remodeled maintenance building. This would include the cost to relocate the maintenance building no later than October 31, 2023.
The full agenda and packet link for the July 10 meeting are available online here.
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