Sara Sandstrom-Kobi, Nederland. Nederland parents and representatives from Boulder Valley School District and Front Range Community College met on January 30, 2019, to continue the conversation on how Nederland schools can be refined and supported by the district.

Arlie Hoffman, Director of Career and Technology Education for BVSD, as well as two representatives from Front Range Community College, presented their plan to bring Front Range classes to Nederland High School. They are looking at providing classes on natural resources and geospatial science. The parents attending were pleased with this progress and new addition to the high school curriculum. Students can earn high school and college credit through these classes. The classes are free to students, with the of exception of textbook and/or supply costs.

Five more representatives from BVSD also attended the meeting. They were: Robbyn Fernandez, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education, Nativity Miller, Executive Director of Elementary Education, Margaret Crespo, Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education, Michelle DeBerry, Executive Director of Secondary Education, and Sam Messier, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction.

Margaret Crespo spoke for the group when she said, “We want budget stability and retention of teachers for Nederland schools. We want success up here, and we want to stabilize Nederland’s FTE,” said Crespo.
FTE means full-time equivalent. This is the workload of an employee. The school district allocates the number of teachers and staff based on the number of students. If the numbers drop, then FTE drops. Jenny Nunemacher who spoke on behalf of the parent/community group Nederland Community for Educational Excellence said, “We really feel that FTE instability is underlying many of our issues.”

The group present expressed concern for the retention of teachers, administrators and staff at Nederland schools. Robbyn Fernandez said, “A culture of collective care and concern is essential to retaining staff.”

Nunemacher and other parents agree that there needs to be a good partnership between school staff and the community. “A healthy partnership will mean that: 1) The administration informs parents and community members about what our school offers to students in terms of course offerings, college/career preparation, extra-curricular enrichment and social connectedness. The school district and local administrators will also endeavor to consistently include the community in the hiring process for teachers, coaches and administrators, by making it easy to provide input on values we have and want to see reflected in our schools. 2) The community will support our schools by welcoming teachers and administrators into our community. We will offer constructive criticism, assistance in finding resources for housing and/or transportation, and other signs that we do in fact want our educators to be in our community and not short-term commuters. We will advocate and help to communicate constructively in our community.”

Parents and the Nederland community want a cohesive K-12 program. They want quality core education that takes advantage of the natural resources and environment in the area.

Nunemacher thinks that this meeting was successful. She feels that the district is demonstrating a level of commitment to and understanding of Nederland schools. We need a positive relationship with the school district and both sides are responsible to make this relationship work for the benefit of our kids.

(Originally published in the February 7, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)