The Early Childhood Service Corps, which helps train older adults to volunteer in early childhood education centers, will host an informational session with Timberline Learning Center in Breckenridge.

The event will be Friday, April 24, from 6-7:30 p.m. at Timberline. Adults 50 and older can attend to learn more about the corps and the learning center.

The corps provides older adults with free training to be able to volunteer in classrooms or as business advisors at early childhood learning centers. It also provides more extensive training for older adults who want to become early childhood teacher substitutes.

Those with questions about the corps or the information session can email recruitment@earlychildhoodservicecorps.org.

A bill promising to streamline the licensing process for out-of-state educators has been signed into law, removing longstanding barriers for rural districts to hire teachers for vacant positions.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 126 on April 20, along with several other bipartisan bills, after it passed the House in early April.

The bill eases requirements and speeds up the process for out-of-state educators to acquire their Colorado teaching license through the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact. Enacted in 2023, the compact is an existing agreement among 13 states that allows Colorado to recognize and transfer professional teaching licenses held in other states without the need for additional exams or coursework.

Under existing law, licensed educators from other compact states must have at least three years of successful teaching experience within the last seven years to be eligible for a professional teaching license in Colorado. Senate Bill 126 removes the requirement that the experience must be within the previous seven years, expanding eligibility for qualified educators who have taken a break from the workforce for a variety of reasons.

“The seven-year requirement does create barriers for our Colorado workforce, especially in rural areas, where we’re trying to recruit from out of state,” Rep. Dusty Johnson, a Fort Morgan Republican and bill sponsor, said during a March hearing of the bill. “They could be nine years out, but they still have all the credentials and everything else our teachers need, and we would love to have them in our schools.”

The bill also requires the Colorado Department of Education to issue an initial teacher license to an educator licensed by a compact state within 30 days of receiving a complete application. Both provisions are especially beneficial to rural mountain districts, which face significant challenges to hiring like geography, cost of living and limited housing availability amid ongoing educator shortages.

“Our schools are struggling to fill teaching positions. The reasons our workforce challenges are many include low pay, heavy workloads and competition from neighboring states,” Johnson said during the hearing. “While there is no silver bullet to solve these problems, this bill is a small step to helping fill that void by expediting licensure for experienced out-of-state teachers.”

Although the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact was enacted three years ago, states are still working to finalize the rules, meaning school districts have yet to feel the benefits.

Senate Bill 126 will go into effect in August 2026.

The Dillon Valley Elementary Green Team organized an Earth Day celebration on Friday, April 17. Made up of 15 third to fifth graders who meet once a week before school, the Green Team tackles topics including school recycling, composting, reducing carbon footprint and helping to reduce waste at school events by using cafeteria trays and aluminum cups. The Earth Day celebration Friday included a student parade and costume contest.

Green Team members were the judges for the costume contest, with prizes going to the top-two winners at each grade level, pre-K to fifth grade. Team members carefully chose the prizes: jars of pickles, lava lamps and squishy toys. Costume contest rules required costumes to be made from trash or recycling items, and costumes included a compost truck, a pizza delivery truck, Mother Earth, robots, butterflies and fairies, superheroes, French fries, a giraffe, boba tea, a team of mice eating cheese and a formal gown. Costumes were made from plastic bags, dog food bags cut into strips and woven together, cardboard, plastic cups, drink pouches and snack bags. The parade was intended to build awareness of the possibilities of items already in local landfills and recycling bins and to highlight the importance of taking care of our planet.

Summit County Public Health, in partnership with Summit County Overdose Prevention and Education and Song for Charlie, will host a Fentanyl Awareness Day event on Tuesday, April 28, at Colorado Mountain College in Breckenridge, starting at 5:30 p.m. The event is free to attend and includes a film screening, panel discussion, harm reduction resources and free appetizers, according to a news release. It will also be a drug take-back event. It is also bilingual, with resources and conversations in English and Spanish.

“Harm reduction starts with honest and accessible conversations,” said Jake Miller, nurse manager for Summit County Public Health. “Events like Fentanyl Awareness Day create a space where those conversations can happen in a meaningful way, providing accurate information, reducing stigma, and connecting individuals and families to life saving resources.”

“When communities come together to earn and support one another, we strengthen our collective ability to prevent overdose and save lives,” he said.

The event will include a free screening of the short film “La Estrella” in Spanish with English subtitles. The film tells the story of a Mexican-American family confronted with the devastating impact of fentanyl. Created in partnership with bereaved families, “La Estrella” is both a tender portrait of family and a cultural wake-up call about the fentanyl crisis, according to the news release.

There will also be a panel discussion featuring Gina Malagold, executive producer of “La Estrella” and director of multicultural affairs at Song for Charlie.

Colorado Mountain College will host commencement ceremonies May 1 for the graduates of its Breckenridge and Dillon campuses, according to a news release.

Graduates from the school’s two Summit County campuses will participate in two ceremonies, depending on their program. Those graduating from the nursing program will have a nurse pinning and commencement event at 10 a.m. at the Breckenridge campus’ Finkel Auditorium. The general commencement will be at 4 p.m. at the Keystone Conference Center.

The general commencement will have Joe Garcia, a former lieutenant governor of Colorado, as its keynote speaker. Garcia also formerly served as the chancellor of the state’s community college system.

Amid conversations of teacher shortages and educators leaving the profession, a new survey sheds some positive light on improved working environments for teachers in Colorado. However, persistent concerns over high workloads and the integration of artificial intelligence in education signal there’s more work to be done.

The Colorado Department of Education published the results of its 2026 Teaching and Learning Conditions survey on Tuesday, April 14. The survey, conducted every two years, collected responses from more than 42,000 teachers and school-based staff.

“Looking across all results, we see steady improvement in several key areas, including time, professional climate, staff evaluation and student supports,” said Lisa Steffen, director of continuous improvement with the Colorado Department of Education, during a Tuesday briefing of the results. “At the same time, the experience of our new staff stands out to us as an area that needs attention.”

More teachers are happy with their jobs

This year’s survey results showed improvements in several areas compared to prior years. A new question not included in prior surveys revealed that 89% of participants are satisfied with the profession they chose, a hopeful response after several years of educators exiting the field.

More educators also said their schools are good places to work — up 1 percentage point from 2024 to 84%. Exactly 90% said their schools are good environments for student learning, 80% reported their class sizes are reasonable and 82% said instructional resources are adequate, all up by 2 percentage points from 2024.

“One of the questions that I found most gratifying in the survey was the (67%) of educators who said they were just as committed today to their profession as they were when they began,” said education commissioner Susana Córdova during the briefing. “I have no regret whatsoever about having chosen education as my career and my life’s work, and I’m so incredibly grateful to the thousands and thousands and thousands of educators across Colorado who show up every day to support and serve their communities by helping educate the young people of Colorado.”

The survey also found that collaboration between colleagues and positive professional relationships are major players in retaining educators in the state. A majority of survey participants listed connections with colleagues (89%), school leadership (76%) and a shared school mission (74%) as the top reasons they stay in their roles, with compensation playing a smaller role (52%).

“This tells us that a strong school culture and leadership are key to keeping great educators in the profession,” Steffen said.

Teachers still struggling with high workload, low pay 

Despite improvements in some areas, a large portion of respondents persisted in their dissatisfaction with longstanding challenges in areas like workload and having adequate time to fulfill responsibilities. 

Just over half of school-based staff said they are able to meet the expectations of their job within the contracted hours. Less than half, 44%, say they are being adequately compensated.

One of the survey areas to see consistent declines over the last six years is the experience of new staff at Colorado schools. Fewer new teachers are meeting with mentors during the school week (64%), and a shrinking number are reporting receiving personal support from staff with things like stress and social connections (61%), down 7 percentage points from 2024.

“Our teacher shortage continues to be a challenge, and to help turn that around, we know that we need more licensed educators, we need more substitutes and we need to keep the people that we have who are in our classrooms,” Córdova said. 

Uncertainty emerges over artificial intelligence in schools

A more recent, emerging need for teachers deals with the integration of artificial intelligence in the classroom. While 66% of educators indicated they have used AI tools for instructional planning, such as creating lesson plans, only 32% said they felt prepared for the changes that come with the integration of AI in their fields. 

When it comes to students using artificial intelligence, just over a third of survey participants, or 34%, said they currently have clear strategies for evaluating student work that include AI-generated content, while 42% said they provide guidance to their students on how to appropriately use AI tools in their assignments.

“Many school leaders report a lack of clear guidance. This is an emerging area (in) which we know we’ll need to provide more support and clarity,” Steffen said.

Summit School District is asking members of the community to participate in a survey regarding its 10-year master plan development to determine the fate of county school facilities. 

The survey, which takes approximately 10 minutes to complete, aims to gather input from students, families, staff and other county residents as the district plans for the future of its schools. 

The survey can be found in English at Bit.ly/4cl3WWg or in Spanish at Bit.ly/3QrtV77.

“This is an opportunity for our community to share their perspectives as we think about the future of our schools,” said Superintendent Tony Byrd in a news release from the district. “We want to hear from as many voices as possible to help inform this planning process.” 

The Summit School District Board of Education meets Thursday, April 16, from 4:30-9 p.m. for a regular session at 152 School Road in Frisco. From 5-7 p.m., the board will hold a “community voice” session to engage invited residents in small-group discussions and brainstorming. And as normal, at 8:15 p.m., there will be a public hearing where members of the community can address the board with any ideas or concerns. 

“We are committed to providing clear information and opportunities for engagement throughout this process,” Byrd said. “Input from the community will help guide the next steps.” 

Last month, the district entered its “community feedback” phase of crafting a new facilities master plan. Planning commenced in September and in October, a 40-person advisory committee formed and began deliberating proposals for school consolidations and programming expansions. 

The district has vowed to continue sharing information and providing engagement opportunities to the public as the master plan process moves forward. 

Master plan documents identify three key issues facing the district:

1. Acing facilities and deferred maintenance
2. Declining enrollment trends
3. Rising operational costs

District staff may make a final recommendation on school consolidation, maintenance and programming to the board as early as April 30. Then at a meeting May 7, the board will likely deliberate and vote on a decision regarding consolidation options. The district will take survey results into consideration before landing on an ultimate recommendation to the board. 

For more information on the master plan, residents can learn more at SummitK12.org/facilities/master-plan.

The new survey will accept responses through 12 p.m. on April 29. 

Amid urgent sustainability challenges, Colorado Mountain College proves that student research could offer a hopeful pathway to the future.

Colorado Mountain College’s free annual Sustainability & Ecosystem Science Conference, which highlights work by students in its sustainability and ecosystem science programs, will be held virtually from 9 a.m. to noon on Friday, April 24. The student projects have direct impacts on the health, resilience and future of Colorado’s mountain communities, according to a news release.

The virtual conference will also feature a keynote address on “Restoration and Resilience in Climate Solutions” by Len Necefer, an environmental storyteller, filmmaker and engineer.  Necefer is also the founder of NativesOutdoors, an Indigenous-led media company.

Part of Necefer’s presentation will focus on his experiences in the Colorado River basin and the sediment crisis in the lower San Juan River — and what happens when a reservoir disappears and a river begins to reclaim itself.

The conference will also be followed by several live community events at local Colorado Mountain College campuses that afternoon. At the Breckenridge campus, a special Earth Day Fair will take place two days before the conference on April 22.
The event is free with registration. Schedule and full details available at ColoradoMtn.edu/sustainability-conference/. For more information on the conference, contact Valerie LeMaster at 970-947-8432 or vjlemaster@coloradomtn.edu.

Local Jewish organization Synagogue of the Summit has awarded $2,000 scholarships to two Summit High School students who plan to attend Colorado Mountain College. 

Synagogue of the Summit gave the scholarships to David Campos-Jacobo and Heolmeyri Riestra Vega. The scholarships are intended for students interested in either higher education or vocational training. It’s the first year the organization has awarded such scholarships. 

“We want to encourage students who demonstrate resilience, character and a commitment to their education,” said Bruce Schroffel, president of Synagogue of the Summit, in a news release. “We have found just those students in our first recipients.”

The scholarships were awarded through The Summit Foundation, which last month gave out nearly $600,000 in scholarships to area high school students.

The Colorado Department of Education has named Breckenridge Elementary School a John Irwin School of Excellence — a prestigious academic award that recognizes excellence in education around the state. 

The John Irwin Award recognizes schools that demonstrate exceptional academic achievement, reflecting performance in math, English, language arts and science. 

Breckenridge Elementary received an “exceeds expectations” rating on the Academic Achievement indicator of the Colorado School Performance Framework. 

The Breckenridge Elementary PTSA wrote in a news release that the accomplishment “reflects the dedication, consistency and high-quality instruction provided by the school’s educators and staff.” 

The official awards ceremony will be held April 28.