- Attention.
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Extension 3 0 6.
- What is up? What's popping?
We are out here. We are tired.
- We are working way too
- Hard for our own good, but we are here, SDO teachers.
And I'm Mike. My name is Ard De Munoz. I'm Kevin Anderson.
And we're still out here. Kev. We are still out here.
- Out here. We, uh, we outside.
- Outside. We outside. Outside. Outside.
- The brand - Is strong.
- So strong folks, so strong. Uh, welcome back to
- Tudo - Teachers, Anna, mic.
- If you - Are a new listener, where
- You been, where you been.
We've been out here. Everybody knows who we are.
Why are you just now starting to listen? It's like wild.
Like, you know, and, and low key. Kev.
There's people that I connect with mostly
through our social media accounts who are like, oh,
I should check out your podcast.
I'm like, why do you think we have this? Yeah. Why? What?
You've been following me. Following us for how
- Long? And you don't know we are.
- No. - Maybe I should
- Listen.
Maybe I should. Maybe I should listen. Yeah, you should. Um,
- But we understand it's busy and we talk a long time.
Uh, we are remixing the conversation on
race, power, and education.
We are the most dangerous podcast in the schoolhouse.
We are a fugitive space, uh, for teachers of color
and allies who wish to see a better day for our children.
Um, if you're new to the show, though,
we really, there's no hatred.
Welcome. Um, we That's right.
Invite you to follow us on social media.
We're at two dope teachers on pretty much every platform.
We do have a TikTok.
You're not gonna find anything there
because we don't know how to do that yet,
but not yet. But soon. It's, it's
- Coming. It's
- Coming, coming.
It's gonna change. Shout out.
Shout out my guy Chris Deere, who has agreed
to teach us about how
to get 135,000 followers on TikTok. Uh,
- There's a lot of t That teacher talk is popping right
- Now.
Teacher talk. Look at you knowing stuff.
Teacher talk is popping. I'm out here.
I'm like the last outpost on X, um, .
Like, like, it, it literally feels like
- I just picture like a Star Wars. Like, no
- Dude.
- Desolate planet. It so feels like that.
And you're just like, I'm out here
manning a post for goodness. Because
- All it is is bounty hunters and bots, .
That's all that's out there is like racists and bots.
And then there's a few of us who are there.
We're part of like, the resistance,
but it, it so feels like, it feels like Mad Max, bro.
It feels so like, you're like, what's going on?
Feels so post-apocalyptic on X. So we need, yeah.
We need to, we need to do things in other places.
Um, Instagram's growing.
We got a good following on Instagram. That's cool.
Very good. Um, hope you had a chance, folks to check out,
um, the most recent Chicano log with, um, author
and publisher, Leticia Oras, who talks about, um,
the importance of oure telling stories.
But, uh, Kev, we got, we got a great episode
for people right now.
Yes. Right here, right now.
- Very good one. Very good. How
- Good is it?
Very good. How good is it? Tell the people how good
- It is.
I, I would say, um, it is, watch this
four fire emojis.
- Yes. Okay. Four fire emojis.
- Four, maybe five if you need, Kevin.
- I can't, I can't articulate to you how proud I am of you
for having these like 20, 23, 20 24 like references.
I'm really enjoying this.
- This is doing good. This - New year, new Kev.
Um, love it. Love it.
And you probably can't help it,
like raising two high schoolers, like, that's it.
It's just, that's it. Yeah. Yeah. I've always,
- Hold on, hold on.
Let me give you a big shout out to one of my,
my child Sophia Adams presented her passage today.
- Man, I so wanted to be there today.
And then they're like, no, sorry. Your budget's on fire.
We need you in this reading. Yeah.
- Shout out to all the juniors in our school.
Shout out to our passages teachers.
They big day in my community. It's beautiful.
And I couldn't be prouder as a father watching my daughter
- Do it. It just
- Do the damn thing - Consistently.
My favorite day was watching kids present their learning
and present their research
and just doing a is so like, amazing master.
- Yeah. - Ah, I miss y'all.
Um, we do have a great guest today.
Um, we have got, um,
Colorado Education Association President Amy Bacca, Oler.
Uh, we've been connected to Amy for a very long time.
I've been connected to Amy for a long enough time
that it would expose our ages .
Um, and I'm not shy,
but I don't, I don't talk about other people's age, right?
There you go. There you go.
Um, but, um, for those of you in Colorado,
this is hugely appropriate
because we'll be talking about the, um, state
of education in the state of Colorado.
If you're not in Colorado, it's still really interesting
because I really encourage you to see
what parallels you see in your own states, right, giv. Yep.
- Yep, yep. I mean, I think that's the, the beauty
of connecting, uh, first of all
with educators in my state, right?
Yep. Beyond my district. Yep.
Educators outside of my building.
But whatever you see, you, you start to realize, oh man,
we in the same situation everywhere.
Everybody's dealing with the same stuff. We're all
- In the same gang.
- And that's when you get perspective on kind of
what we need to do, um, to, to resist,
like the things that people are trying to do to, to us
and our work that we love and we're committed to. Totally
- Agree. So, and I think,
- I think that's a great - One.
One thing that you said,
and so we'll, we'll get to the interview in just a moment,
but one thing that you said in our conversation was really
powerful is really the importance of starting
to break down traditional distinctions
between roles in education.
So on this interview, you have the,
the elected representative
of teacher voices across the state of Colorado,
40,000 members across the state of Colorado.
You have a voice of leadership in public education,
and you have a voice of a middle management cubicle,
inhabiter, um, in central office
who looks at these systems every day.
And the fact that we don't spend more time talking across
these differences, um, it might might be part
of why we're struggling so much in a lot of areas.
Yep. What can people look forward
to in this conversation, Kev?
- I mean, I think you can look forward
to getting really some of the, the, the changes
that we're facing, why we're in the situation in Colorado,
uh, that we are in, uh, some of the wins, some of the things
that have been going well, uh,
but also a great explanation of our,
our favorite term created
by the Colorado legislature, the BS factor.
Right. And, uh,
- Such a great story behind that one, too.
- That's such a great one. Yep.
And, and I think just overall inspiration for the work
and where we have to go, um, and, and, and we'll get,
and the best thing, I think is what Amy points out is
that it's, it's based on the voice
of educators in Colorado and absolutely.
That that is who needs to be dictating this conversation.
Yep. And I'm glad That's right.
We have this report and,
and we're gonna get to the people are gonna get
to hear from Amy about it.
- Definitely. And it's an ongoing conversation, folks.
So, uh, you can enter the conversation.
You can enter the chat anytime.
Uh, so Kev, let's, uh, let's get to this interview.
Let's get people listening to it. Folks, hit us up.
Let us know your thoughts. Share this, uh, widely.
And, uh, we're looking at solidarity, y'all.
- Peace.
- Alright. People, we are here with, um,
a very special guest that we told you about in the intro.
And I just kept, I gotta,
I gotta give this individual their flowers.
Um, because this is a person that has been in my life,
oh man, for a long enough time
that we would expose our true ages, um, here in front of all
- The people. There you go. There
- You go.
Um, so my mother, Kev, as, as you may be aware, yes.
Um, is a retired teacher. Uh, yes. She taught,
- Shout out to her for service,
- Shout out to the service that she bought time off of
so she wouldn't have to actually do a
whole retirement thing.
Hey, I'm not knocking the hustle.
I'm not knocking the hustle. Mom.
My mom the other day, she's kinda like, oh yeah,
I'm probably the reason.
Somebody you can't retire as early as you want to. .
- Thanks, mom. - That is great.
Uh, but mom's living her best life right now. That's it.
So anyway, my mother, uh, spent the last, I would say
17 years of her teaching career, um,
at Adams City High School in Adams 14.
And, um, she biked to work every day.
Uh, she's a bit of a lunatic.
Um, but she loved teaching at that school.
And while teaching at that school,
she had this wonderful colleague who is now your
president of the Colorado Education Association.
Amy Bacca Oler, welcome to Two Dope Teachers, and then Mike.
I was gonna say, and a mic, , , and a mic.
It's a long day. How are you?
- Hi. Hi. I'm awesome. Thank you for having me.
Uh, I just smile when I think of your mom.
She was one of those, I started teaching, speaking of age.
And you know what I'll say about that?
I always say when people are like,
I don't wanna share my age,
or I can't believe how old I'm getting, I always say,
you know, the alternative to not getting old.
That's right. So be happy that we're sitting, sitting
- That's, that's
- Getting all together and have all these memories.
- But That's right. That's right.
And I don't wanna expose other people's ages.
Like I'm comfortable with my own,
but I'm also a, I'm a cishet dude.
So it's like easier like to, for society to be like, oh,
wow, what a cool old guy over there.
Um, yeah. Yeah.
- I was 22 years old and I just turned 22,
and I'm teaching at,
got my first teaching job at Adams City High School.
- Man, - I had no clue what I was doing,
but I had amazing mentors like your mom,
who showed me what it meant to just love kids.
I was 22 years old, I had no clue
what I was doing was not prepared at all for
the experiences I would face, you know, the situations
that would walk into my classroom.
Um, but I had amazing mentors like your mom who just,
you know, took me under her wing
and really, you know, there's so much you, you can,
you know, learn from an ed prep program or things like that,
but you really learn how
to be a teacher from other great teachers.
Um, a hundred percent. Your mom is one
of those teachers for me.
So, big shout out to your mom. Who,
- Yeah.
Big shout out, mama. Love you. There you go. Shout out.
Also, like app appropriately
as we're recording this, it is actually, um,
mentor appreciation month.
Oh, there we go. So the month of January is
the time to celebrate mentors.
So I'll shout mine out. Everybody knows who my mentor is.
Uh, Doris Dempsey.
The reason I made it through my first two years of teaching
and would not have done it without you.
Shout out Doris. Kev,
- Shout out.
You know who my mentor was,
- David.
I know, but the people might not remember the,
- The imminent.
David Tabo.
- .
I was hanging out with, uh, I was, I was hanging out
with his son Carmine, um,
at a birthday celebration on Friday.
What a good dude. Um,
anyway, this is not why we're here today.
- Whole family, whole family - . Yeah.
So, um, like I think a, as it's January, 2024,
um, I, there, this is kind of the point
where people start sort of figuring out patterns
and trends as far as what's going on in education.
CEAA has this 32 page report, which will link in the,
in the show notes here, that is a state of education,
um, in Colorado as we are doing this.
And kinda looking ahead.
So Amy, in five words
or less, what is a state of education in Colorado?
Just kidding. Um, , can you, I I'm now, wait,
now I actually kind of wanna know these five words.
, you look ready.
- You were like, what was she gonna say? Yes.
Um, well, you know, the first thing I would say about this,
the important thing about the state of education report is
that it's from the voices of educators.
And that was probably gonna be part of my answer, um,
you know, in those five words, is that this is the story
of public school educators in Colorado.
And what's so important about that, the reason, you know,
we started doing this, uh, state of education report
several years ago, really to respond to the fact that
too many people were trying to tell the story
of educators without being educators.
Um, and we really wanted to ensure, um, you know,
the governor gets to tell the state of the state,
the president of the United States gets
to share the state of the Union.
Um, and too often our educators don't have a voice in
saying what's happening in our profession.
Um, and as well as our students.
You know, I mean, we think our educator voices are often
silenced, you know, our student voices are even
further silenced.
So, that's right. That I think is the, you know, what's
so important about this report is
that it is about lifting up the voices of educators.
- Yeah, that's great. Um, go ahead, giv. Uh,
- I just think that's so important in that point.
You know, everybody does talk about the state of education.
They don't wanna hear the voices of educators
and what's going on, the people on the ground.
But I always think like the, to your point about students,
we're always like the customer's, right.
Everywhere except for students,
right? Yeah, yeah,
- Yeah.
Absolutely. And I, and I think we got,
there's definitely work that needs to be done there.
So, um, so this is a report
that is based on the experiences
and perspectives of, um, teachers.
So if folks, if you look at the report, it's got a table
of contents so you can know kind of what it has.
And there's, um, the first section kind of details
the crisis that is in education in Colorado right now.
And then there's a celebration of wins.
There's change in challenges,
and then there's also, um,
something about particularly policy solutions.
So Amy, just kind of take us through a couple
of pieces in here.
Um, so educational crisis, what is it that,
that, that came out of this report that said
we are facing a crisis in education in Colorado?
- Well, and I think some of it is looking at, um,
patterns over, you know, the last several years.
And some of it is seeing, you know,
that we haven't moved the needle on, you know,
several big issues that our educators have been, you know,
waving a flag saying, listen to us.
These are the things that are happening.
Um, you know, we still have a massive educator shortage, um,
where we didn't have one school district this year,
this 20 23, 20 24 school year that started fully staffed,
not one school district Wow.
Across Colorado, you know, started fully staffed, whether
that meant, you know, certified staff, uh, support staff,
um, you know, admin level staff.
Um, that's huge
because that has an impact on everything.
And, you know, I think making those connections is
what really, and that's what I think
the report really pulls together,
is connecting all the dots, you know,
when we have this shortage, which leads to
increased workload, which leads to, you know, morale,
which leads to, um, you know, the mental health needs.
All of it is, you know, so interconnected. Yep.
Um, and I will say too, that, you know, we struggled with
that word crisis because, um, you know,
there are some, there,
there are on a daily basis amazing things
that happen in public education.
And, um, we don't want that to, you know,
not be told or lifted up.
Um, but we are, we are at an inflection point, you know,
in public education in Colorado, in our country.
Um, and we did really feel like that need to be lifted up,
um, and not to be dramatic to be real.
And that's, you know, really what the report, um,
digs into is, you know, what does that look like, um,
when we say crisis and education?
- Yeah. One of the pieces that, um, is named immediately
is, um, the funding situation in college situation.
Um, such a ridiculous under understatement of
what it is reality.
Um, yeah. So, so chronically underfunded.
And, um, I remember that.
So I remember when, when I was in the classroom last,
I remember, um, the students learning the data point
that the class of 2022 had never had a single day
of fully funded education.
How far have have we been able to carry that forward?
And by the way, my daughter heard that stat
and she's like, wait, there's education funding .
That's okay.
- Well, that's the thing. I think so many
of our students don't realize what they're missing out on,
but we know, you know, that, I mean, some of the things
that are just highlighted in the report, you know, now
that we have more than a generation
of students who've never experienced a fully funded,
you know, education, they don't realize, like, look at,
you know, the opportunities, the experiences
that a student in Wyoming may have, right.
Just because of the differences in funding.
You know, they don't realize that they could
and should have access to more mental health supports.
They don't realize that their class sizes,
you know, should be smaller.
They should have more individual attention.
I mean, right down to things like, they don't realize
that they don't get, you know,
some hands-on learning experiences
because we simply don't have the funding.
You know, like I was talking to a teacher the other day
who said her students haven't gone on a field trip in years,
not because, you know, there's some that don't do that
because of the testing academics
that we won't even go down that route.
- Not yet. Not yet. The
- Was because they don't have busing,
they don't have buses that
- Can Yep. Yep.
- I mean, these are kids missing out on experiences
because Coloradans can't see it
to fund our students adequately.
- Yeah. My, my spouse manages a program, um,
that caters to students out outside of the school district,
and they are able to pay for buses
and they're able to pay for subs.
But then it kind of,
so when you talked about everything being understaffed, then
what happens is we'll pay for a sub.
Great. We don't have subs.
Like we just don't have enough people there.
And one thing that I've noticed
in my central office space is that everything just is taking
so much longer because there's so much turnover just in hr.
And that doesn't even look at the other vacancies
that are kind of all over the, the,
the central office space.
And so the person that's processing your I nine, the person
that is helping you get onboarded
and get set up with all your systems access,
we aren't keeping those people.
And so we have teachers who want to come
and work in our district waiting and waiting
and waiting and then going elsewhere.
And so I think that that's a piece
that I'm seeing in, in, in my space.
Kev, kind of where, what are you seeing in your space as far
as what President Amy has has shared with us?
- I mean, when you mentioned busing, right?
That that becomes a struggle for us.
We, we have a small bus, Amy, that, uh,
our librarian
and our restorative justice, uh, coordinator
takes shifts driving to get students, right. So
- To and from school, it's to and from school.
Right. It's not just on, and
- We one-offs, we have two and from, yeah.
Yeah. It's not one off, this is like a route.
This is like our route, we call it, it's the Phoenix,
the Phoenix Express route.
Right. But, um, and, and we can't get buses and then,
and we're caught in this kind of thing
because we have families that are like, we can't come
to your school because we can't get a
bus to get us to your school.
And our, our our, our numbers are dropping.
So it's that like, that that busing
that simple problem leads
to this whole other, uh, big problem.
And then, and then the substitute thing.
And I think this year it's been better for us. I don't know.
There's been more jobs being picked up.
Uh, but, but for a minute there it was nobody, yeah.
It was nobody, you know,
because people weren't coming into it.
Um, and I don't know if that relates to that, that jam up
that you're talking about g
but it was just, it's, it's just so much.
And then it's budget season, right.
And, and the esser funds are up and, and,
and there's, uh, declining enrollment.
And, and I feel like everybody who I talk to every building,
uh, the different leaders in my, uh, my program,
they're all saying it's the same thing, you know,
that we we're gonna be doing way, have
to do way more meet the needs that we have right now
with way less
- Well, and it's gonna be
- Really, it's been for so many years.
Yeah. And I think at some point people just, you know, like
that's one thing we're seeing
and hearing is people just, you know, they're at a point,
like, I can't, I can't, they, it's not that I don't want to,
you know, it's like at what point does it, you know, meet,
do you meet your breaking point?
And, um, I think we're seeing so many
educators there right now, and Yep. Um, yeah.
- Yeah. Like speaking of breaking point, Kev, I don't, I,
I don't want to rain on your parade a little bit.
Like it, like picking up subs a little bit easier.
I've also noticed on my side, uh, folks
who have left teaching and,
and just decided they're gonna sub for a while,
- .
Yep. No, I know. No,
- No. So it's one of those things
- A lot.
Hey, can I tell you something? Yeah.
In my building, I see a lot of the former teachers
that you work with who just pop into sub Yep.
Yep. Every once in a while.
- Yeah. So, I mean, that is that
- I had a friend do that, and she was like, you know what,
I don't have to do the lesson planning, the grading,
and I don't have to go
to the afterschool meeting. . That's
- Right.
That walk right off the, that's floor. That's
- Right, man. You
- Know, and it's, I mean, and that's the thing.
I had a, you know, reporter ask me like, well,
what are the things, you know,
because when we, you know, one
of the questions we ask in our,
and a lot of the data in this report comes from our all
member survey, right.
You know, where we ask members these questions
and you know, one of them is, you know, why
would you leave the profession?
What makes you feel valued and respected?
And, you know, always at the top of that valued
and respected list is like autonomy.
You know, things like, I'm a professional, let me,
you know, do my job.
And, you know, the reasons to leave the profession is,
is just the increasing workload.
And, you know, this reporter asked me like, well, you know,
if, if, you know, if we can't figure this funding thing out,
and because we can, you know, talk
for days about all the funding issues,
but like, what could districts be doing, you know, right now
to support teachers, to keep people in the classroom,
you know, to attract them.
And, you know, to me, I'm like, well,
those are some easy things.
Like let them give them the freedom to teach, you know,
like trust them to do their job,
- Trust that they know what they're doing.
- Yeah. Trust that they know what they're doing
and cut out all this excess stuff.
Like if, you know, if it can be said in an email,
you don't need a 45 minute afterschool meeting.
Little things, little things, little things. Little things.
- Like, no, nobody wants those meetings,
including building leaders , like,
- Oh, I'm, I'm on the other side of having to figure,
figure out what, what
- Are we doing? Did you know Kevin
- This week?
- This week Kevin went over to the dark side.
I don't know if you knew that. I,
- They have, - Although,
but if it's any constellation, he has a union.
I don't have a union. So we're gonna start a union.
- Do I do have a union? I do. And I, and I joined.
Oh, no, you do, Ken. No, me, I joined. I'm like, wait, what?
I joined immediately as soon as I,
I left my other bargaining unit, hard bargaining unit.
My old bargaining unit. The one that's in my heart. Yeah.
I I joined the other one. I said, yep. Okay.
Definitely. I know how this works. Definitely
- Same.
We're we're gonna, we're gonna
organize protex at some point.
'cause there's, there's a lot of us
that need to get organized.
But, you know, I th I think this is, this is, um,
just such a critical piece
because I think teacher pay is
obviously the bottom rung of the ladder.
Like, you can't, you can't actually get
to the other small changes
until teacher pay is humane and reasonable.
Right. Um, but I think, I think about these things,
and there's literature out here.
This is the thing that kills me.
I'm taking a class that is called Perspectives
and District Leadership.
And what we're seeing is that there have been studies done
that when building leaders
democratize the professional learning process
and say, here are our really general things
that we know we need to address in this school.
Yeah. But we're actually gonna empower you
to do the professional learning
and growth that you want to do.
We're even gonna give you a chance to lead it.
And then that teacher autonomy piece, Amy, I don't know if,
I don't know if you knew this, but, um, from August, 2022
until, um, August of 2023, I did, um,
I was part of the, uh, this Voices
for Honest Education Fellowship.
And what we did was find ways
to counteract the anti-public education,
anti CRT educational gag orders
that are happening nationally.
And those, those things that are being done in other states.
And we also see some of it being talked about
in, in our states.
My district sent out a communication
that was very worrying to me.
Um, where again, it touches on those things of autonomy.
We make it seem like this is some massive
mystery of the universe.
Why do pe why do teachers leave?
My sense is they leave teaching for a lot of the reasons
that they leave other jobs. Yeah.
- Yeah. It's straightforward. Yeah.
I mean, it's so, it's so many things combined, you know,
and I think the pay thing, um, you know, there're,
over the years there's been a lot of things said about that.
Like, you know, teachers don't do it for the pay. Well, yep.
You do it. You should be able to be able to, you know,
afford to feed your family,
live in the community that you serve.
I mean, there's so many things where, you know, we hear more
and more often, you know, how many people are working two
to three jobs just to make ends meet.
Yeah. Um, you know, one thing that was startling out
of this year's report, um, was that over 50% said
that they struggled to afford housing in the last year.
Um, you know, and it's all of these things, like I said,
they kind of all connect.
And like you were saying earlier, Kev, about like,
it's just kind of like, it all adds together.
And, you know, when people, um, you know, I don't care
how much you love what you do, you again, you have
to be able to pay the bills.
You know, you wanna have a roof over your head.
I mean, I think, um, one of the things, uh, over my career
as a union leader that was, you know, most startling
for me was one year at the bargaining table, we shared
with the district the number
of teachers whose own children qualified
for free and reduced lunch.
Woo. That's a reality that our educators are living.
I mean, and so, you know, there's other things in the
report, like Colorado,
we have the largest pay gap in the country.
I mean, you know, we've, we have a decade plus
of, you know, underfunding of our school.
I mean, it's just, um, when you look at that, you can see
why people are making the choices that they are.
And, um, you know, that's why we're like saying,
this is crisis level.
We have to do something about this.
Our students and our educators deserve better.
- Yeah, absolutely.
Um, I think too, like I think when you,
when you talked about struggling to pay for housing,
like even, even
after 20 plus years as a teacher,
that it was still very much hand of mouth for, for us.
Yep. Yep. And it's not like I'm getting, uh, you know, I'm,
I'm probably making about the same,
we're not gonna go into my, my comp compensation situation,
but I think, like, I think what you're talking about is big.
I think the, the thing that Kevin's probably tired
of hearing me say after eight years of a podcast,
which is when you live under capitalism, money is helpful.
Um, , you know, you,
you gotta get through it somehow.
And I, I'm not tired of the notion.
I'm tired that you, you have to keep saying that.
Well, yeah. That's, that's tiring. Right? That's tiring.
And, and the, the thing of it is that, um, you know,
there's this, you know, the, the, the great book,
the Teacher Wars really outlines the history of
that rhetoric around no teachers do it
for the outcome, not for the income.
It's like, if you don't gimme
income, there ain't gonna be no outcomes.
Okay. Right. . So it's, that's how it's gonna work.
So one of the things that the report differentiates between,
there are separate sections on this.
One is the crisis that we're dealing with, which has a lot
to do with the BS factor.
Right. And the sort of, um,
and for those of you who don't know, uh, Amy,
will you please explain what the BS factor is
and why it's so apt that
that's the acronym? That's the acronym,
- Yeah.
Yes. I'll say that was one of the, um,
best gifts I think the legislature gave us with they,
they themselves named this factor in
the school finance. They're like,
- For real, y'all are gonna, for real call this, this a b,
you're really gonna go with budget stabilization.
That's what we're going with. Okay.
- Is this a joke? Yes. It was - Just wanna be clear, we
- Named the negative factor
and they thought, oh, we don't like that
because it just always makes us sound bad.
- Came up with something worse, .
- So we're gonna, instead of calling it the negative factor,
we're gonna call it the budget stabilization factor.
And we were like, awesome.
The BS factor, because what it's really doing
is you are doing your one job that you're mandated to do
by the state constitution, which is to balance the budget.
You are balancing the state budget on the backs
of students in public education by stabilizing the budget.
So it is the dollar amount annually
by which they underfund our schools in order to
balance the budget.
- Yep. It's, and it's absolute bs.
So some of it is, um, just navigating change.
I think that's the piece that, that we're kinda looking at.
So there is this matter of harm
that was done, I think, 2010.
Is that when the BS factor was, or when, when did that first
- Around that?
Yes. Yeah. Okay. Because it was, um, yeah, we,
because it was like an entire Generation 22.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we were in a great recession, you know,
we'd had 2008.
Um, yeah, yeah.
- Yeah. So then it talks about just kind
of navigating change
and some of the things in the report,
let me get to it right now.
Um, around navigating change.
There's issues around school safety, there's issues
around collective bargaining that kind of come up
as ways of navigating change.
So, um, what is it when, when you heard from teachers,
what are the changes that we're all gonna need to be able
to navigate in the state of Colorado in order
for public education to not just survive but thrive?
Maybe that's a better way of framing
- That.
Yeah. You know, I mean, I think that there, it,
it, again, it's hard.
The interesting thing is,
and again, back to the point of like, you know,
it's important to hear from the people who are actually,
you know, on the ground licking students in the
eye every single day.
Because so many people have this perception that, you know,
school is what it was, 40, 50.
Yep. Maybe even 60 years ago, you know,
when the last time they walked out of the, you know,
the high school doors on their graduation.
And it, it we're in just such a different context right now.
And, you know, one of the things we like to say
and point out is that, you know,
the pandemic didn't create a lot of these challenges
and circumstances that we're dealing with right now,
but it certainly exacerbated them.
Yeah. Um, and then, you know, you compound all that
with our funding problems
and it's, you know, it, it is a difficult
reality that we're navigating.
But one of the biggest things that I think we're hearing,
um, all across the state is just the, the challenge
of addressing students' needs and student behavior.
Um, and, you know, which so many,
and this is something that, you know, we really want to
carefully talk about
because it's, you know, we don't want people
to hear like students are bad
and, you know, they're, our students
- Have be that slippery slope to blaming families.
And then you start deficit these, these communities.
- Yeah. And what we want to point out is that no, like we,
the system has failed our students, our families,
our communities, um,
and we have, we need to do something about that.
You know, when students are behaving in a way, you know,
that is not, you know, what some people would say it's
because they're expressing a need.
You know? And, um, and so that, you know,
how we're addressing, you know, student behaviors,
this school safety conversation is another one.
I mean, this is one of the things that, you know, I think
a lot of people don't recognize is one of the things
that happened during the Great recession,
all the budget cuts, you know, the implementation
of the budget, stabilization factor, all of these things is
many things went away.
Not just snapping, you know, like, you know,
counselors mental health supports,
but we used to also have a lot of alternative settings
and placements for students Yes.
Where students could get, you know, their, their needs met
and you had the right staff to support student need.
And so, you know, all of those are just big challenges
and change that we're facing and, you know, navigating.
And so, like now the classroom teacher is expected
to be the everything to every student.
And that is, that puts a lot on their shoulders, you know?
I mean Yep. So there's that aspect, you know,
we're also really dealing with this culture war, um,
you know Yep, yep.
Reality that, that is landing in our classrooms.
And I think that was something that was really
telling from the report.
Um, you know, 85% said that this, you know,
political divisiveness, this book banning, you know,
the culture wars is impacting their morale
and how they feel about teaching.
And also the number of teachers, you know, back
to the autonomy thing that said
that they e they either self-censored,
or felt pressure to censor
or remove books, curriculum,
you know, materials. Mm-Hmm mm-Hmm.
- Wanna, yeah.
Wanna put a pin on in that for just a second
and go back just a little bit to the, the call.
And I think it's such a great call to really look at,
you know, the behaviors
that we're seeing in schools from students
and trying to put those in a very, um, sensitive
and well-informed kind of context.
Um, Kev, you are in this role where you're probably,
you're, you probably have a broader understanding
of kind of what's happening there.
Do you wanna comment on that real quick as far as kind of
what, what you're seeing,
what you're hearing from other folks?
Are we having the correct conversations about
this as a system?
- You know, I, I think it, it's about, it's about supports
and it's about the function of behaviors, right?
That the, like, and like Amy said,
these behaviors serve a purpose.
They're alerting us to something that's going on
with these kids, right?
And there is a lot going on.
There are a lot of needs, um,
so many challenges on a day-to-day basis that emerge, um,
for kids at all levels, all levels, you know, and,
and it's, it's, it's really challenging at times
to, to have the, to, because I,
and I can say this as a leader in a building, you know,
because some teachers are like,
you guys aren't doing enough about this.
You aren't, you, you know, we, we like,
and it's like, well, what do you want to happen?
Right? But the kids, I want the behavior to change, right.
And kids are exhibiting the same behaviors over and over
and, um, I think at times it's easy to say, well,
they just don't listen right.
To write the kids off
and say there's something wrong with them.
Right. Um, versus saying,
we're gonna invest in doing the work, we're gonna have
more restorative coordinators.
And I think people think restorative practices are the be
all end all, right.
Right. And it's like, if you have a restorative conversation
that should have fixed the kid, right?
That's how we fix the kid.
And, and I think it's not even acknowledging like this idea
of really what restorative practices are,
it's about restoring a relationship
with people in the community.
You know, it's, it's, uh,
fundamental indigenous concepts, right?
That nobody is ever beyond saving in our community.
That's right. Right. And,
and I think there's a lot of room, uh,
for growth on all parts, students, families,
educators, admin, to understand really what this means,
because it is a shift, I think, in how we think
as a society, like
what are the dominant values of the society?
It's saying, let's try to do something different.
- And to that point, I gotta,
I don't think I've told you about this, Kev.
So I got invited to this like, thing, this
rando organization, and apologize if you're listening,
but you made this really uncomfortable.
This Randall organization invited me
and a bunch of people connected to education.
So there's all kinds of folks there.
I think there was like a union person there from
some association.
There was a bunch of charter leaders,
there were like these other people.
So it was just a, it was this mix of folks.
And bro, I got shouted down
for this radically inexcusable comment.
I said, my perspective on things for my 23 years
as a classroom teacher for my year of services
as Colorado teacher of the year,
and for a year of working in central office and,
and hearing things from all over the district.
My take is that a hundred percent
of teachers are doing the best that they can.
They are, the question is, do we have resources?
Do we have supports? Do we have professional development?
Do we have, do, are we giving
teachers an opportunity to grow into these things?
Because if they're, if we're not, we,
they are doing the best that they can.
And their best may not be what the kids need in that moment.
Woo. I got shouted down. It was amazing. It was incredible.
But I think like what you're talking about, it's not
- Somebody who's in a classroom though.
Because if it wasn't, I would just tune that up,
- Bro.
No, it was, it was people from all across roles.
Yeah. Like, that was, we didn't agree on much,
but that was one thing that everybody in the room agreed
about, not me, was
that my comment was completely outta bounds
and just completely wrong.
So it says a lot about this. Yeah.
This idea and how we are.
And again, the impulse to blame teachers is always there.
And I see it every day in my job.
- Well, and what's really, you know, what I have also seen,
um, just in my role and, you know, being in so many schools
and across the state
and hearing from so many educators is
we wanna blame the teachers, yet we're not.
And again, this goes back to that autonomy comment,
providing them the space to do
what they know they need to do, need to do.
And a big part of that is we have not slowed down
to address students
or adults, you know, needs, experiences.
And, you know, we, like right
after the pan, it was like hardcore academics.
We gotta catch, catch 'em up to what?
- Oh, one Colorado district I know of was like, it's time.
- Yeah. Well, - What were they calling it?
Herardo, uh, in our district. It was recovery.
What were they saying? What was the Well, there
- Was accelerated tra Accelerated.
Accelerated, yeah. Accelerated learning
- Acceler something
- Like, kids are behind, let's go faster. Yes,
- Yes.
And here's what kids are behind in like, how to be human.
Like we haven't slowed down.
- That's right. We're, - We didn't give space for that when
- We're, oh, I'll tell you,
my daughter in her is a first year college student.
And the things that she is witnessing
and hearing from fellow first year college students,
she's like, dad, what is going on?
Like, what she, she's borrowed a lot of my lingo.
She's like, they just don't have any home training.
And I'm like, okay. Yes.
And they went through the same same pandemic you did.
They just don't have a dad who won't shut up
and connect with his kids.
So that's like what it is.
But yeah, I think, I think that's a piece
that is so important.
Like, how do we, and from my perspective, working
with aspiring
and new teachers, it's wild to me
that we still have aspiring teachers.
I'm like, that y'all are the goat.
Y'all are so courageous and brave
and indefatigable, so I need to make sure that you,
that I'm a reason that you wanna stay.
Right. But when we're doing this work with them,
it's kinda like we didn't set out to be hands-on
with every new teacher in the district,
but that's what the work has called for.
That's what they need my team and I to do.
And so someone's like, I've got a first year
teacher who's really struggling.
Can you all come down? And we're like, no,
but we will .
You know, and so we'll come down and do that.
The other thing, and I don't wanna make this an
afterthought, Amy started to talk about these, uh,
culture wars, which I've referred to
as these manufactured culture wars and through,
and we all know what this is about.
This is about votes. You get votes through fear-mongering
and divisive rhetoric.
But just some of the data, for those of you
who have missed it, 56% of teachers who responded to,
um, this, this, uh, survey said
that politically divisive issues have significantly
or somewhat affected their jobs.
85% that political, uh, divisive issues have significantly,
or, oh, sorry, wait, no, it's just skipped on me.
Somewhat affected their feelings
or morale around in the education field.
And that's when you shared, there's a great perspective from
a librarian that you, um, referenced,
and at 32% felt the need
to change their curriculum based on the current
educational climate.
So that's that self-censoring piece.
Um, this is a piece
that certain people on in our state board
don't want to talk about.
Right. And we wanna talk about it in this way,
but talk about that piece,
because that's a piece that it seems like even
in district leadership
and policy spaces, people wanna talk about when it comes to,
um, teacher attrition.
- Yeah. You know, and I think people aren't sure how
to handle this, you know, how to address it.
It's like one of those like taboo topics,
like if we don't talk about it, it doesn't exist, you know?
And it's, it so exists.
And the, the thing that I thought was
interesting about this is, you know, I think people tend
to think like, well, that's only happening in one part
of our state or that district where, you know, there,
this was across the, across the board, across the state
that 85% was of ev you know, everybody.
And so it's telling us like,
everyone's being affected by this.
Like it's, no one's immune to it.
You may not have, you know, somebody showing up
to your school board with a list of, you know, 20 books,
but it's happening in one form or another, you know?
Yeah. And so, Mm-Hmm. .
And I think that, you know, it, it's interesting to see how
different districts are reacting to it, you know,
different individual educators,
how our students are reacting to it,
which I will say in this situ, you know, the,
the students like they are in, so, you know, so much
of our, they are the hope.
And you know, I, oh yeah.
I, any students are out there listening, like,
lift up your voice, like, you know, come,
because what's hard is, you know, I was sharing
with somebody like a reporter, you know, we're getting a lot
of questions about this, especially
during the school board election cycle.
Right. Um, you know, sharing
that was wild Oh, was so wild.
Like, you know, asking questions like, well, do you know,
do you guys indoctrinate students?
And are you, you know, and it's like,
we don't tell students, you know, what to think.
We teach them how to think.
And it, it's up to students to, you know, like Right.
- I couldn't even get 'em to like, sit in there,
assign seats for an entire semester.
Exactly. Like, let alone that
- If we had that level of power, like, trust me.
You know, I mean, and there's so many layers to it.
I, as a parent myself, I'm thinking, why do you get,
why does someone else get to say what my kid can't read?
You know, I want, and there's,
and I just think all of that, you know, by nature, I think
with, there's so much going on in our education world
that it's just making people tired.
You know, they don't wanna,
it's another thing, fight about this. Yeah.
- Just another thing, another - Thing.
But they also feel passionately about it.
They want kids to have access to, you know,
a wide range of the
- Great books and - To it's diverse
- Stories.
Yeah. And that was something, I have a friend
who teaches in, uh, in Douglas County,
and we don't always associate Douglas County
as being a place where kids want this type
of diverse curriculum and that kind of thing.
But he said that even in my classes
of upper middle class white kids,
they also wanna know about people
who are different from them.
So I, I think to your point, that generation is,
is such a light,
and the, the student voice work that's happening both
on a local level in the state of Colorado
and then nationally, is really powerful.
And to your point, like, none of us is safe from this.
Like, even, like, it makes me think of being in
like classrooms.
If one kid gets like, cursed out by the teacher
or treated badly, the rest of the kids are watching
and the rest of the kids are like, damn, okay.
That's what happens if I step outta line. Right.
I think there's the same dynamic there,
but I, you know, a couple of things that I've learned,
because there is this, there is this notion
that this is a red state thing.
This is a GOP state thing,
and yet we are seeing stories from all over the place.
Um, our mutual, our friend, uh, Manuel Rustin
who teaches in Pasadena,
was talking about what's going on in Orange County
and what's going on in Temecula County in those places
where they are removing books, um, from the library.
I know of a teacher in Massachusetts who got fired
because she allowed one of her students to play a song byte
at the end of class while everybody was packing up kids.
Says, what we've been learning about makes me think
of this song, miss could I play it?
And that teacher lost her job.
So this is not a blue state, red state thing.
We are seeing the actions all over the
place, and yeah, it's heavy.
It's heavy for me and not even in the classroom anymore.
- Yeah. Yeah.
It's heavy in so many, you know, thinking of like,
as an educator, as a parent, about
what it means for our democracy.
I mean, there's just like, it weighs a lot.
And I think, you know, it,
that came out in our survey when 85% saying that it
impacts their morale towards teaching.
- Absolutely. Absolutely.
Um, so we, we are running a little bit long,
so we wanna be sure we get you outta here, um, you know,
in a humane way.
Um, I think one of the things that I would love for us
to talk about, you know, every, there's,
there are certain teachers I talk to a lot, and, um,
whenever the question of policy comes up,
the teachers I know are kind of like,
I don't want anything to do with that.
No, I don't understand the policy stuff.
I'm just not interested in it.
Just let me work with my kids.
Can you talk a little bit about the urgency of, um,
of the policy landscape that we're dealing with in,
in Colorado and, and how,
and what the implications are for educators
and what are some of the things that, that CEA
and other allies are working on, um,
in the legislative session
to improve conditions for teachers?
- Yeah. Well, to your first point, I hear
that all the time as well.
You know, and I get it.
I, because it's, it's not my favorite part of the, you know,
this work, but it is so important.
Um, you know, I like, I know people like to say, like,
I don't, like I don't get into politics.
I'm not political. Well, as a public school educator,
every single aspect of your job is political.
Like, it just, that's how it is. Mm-Hmm.
, there's somebody, you know, making some,
you know, school board making a decision about, you know,
what you're teaching, what you're, you know,
or some legislator making a decision about, you know,
how you're gonna do X, y, Z.
So, um, you know, like it or not, our jobs are political.
And I think that, um, it is up to us.
I mean, that is something that, you know,
coming back full circle to the beginning
of our conversation, I learned early in, in my career
as an educator, um, is that, you know,
and I truly believe this, like, that
as a public school educator, we have a, a moral obligation
to advocate for our students, for our profession.
Um, you know, it's that, that old saying, like, if not you,
who, and so, um,
and I think right now the urgency of the direction of
where our profession will head, you know, in so many ways,
um, whether it's, you know, policy about recruitment
and retention of educators policy, about
how do we diversify the, you know, educator pipeline, uh,
policy about housing, you know, I mean, it's, it's issue.
All of these issues. Um, you know,
I just was asked just recently, you know,
like people I think are getting, they're starting
to understand the issues.
Like they get that there's a shortage, they get
that housing, you know, and educator pay matter.
Um, but it's the solutions to those.
Do we want to define those solutions
or do we want others to define them for us?
And you know, like teacher housing,
educator housing is a big example of that.
Like, oh man, you know, people have lots of thoughts on it,
but have they asked an educator, you know, somebody asked me
that the other day, well, this district,
they're building teacher housing
and isn't that, you know, a great thing?
And I'm like, have you asked the educators there?
Because what they said to me is,
I don't wanna live in a dorm room.
Like, good thought, like, thank you for,
but I wanna be, I wanna be an adult afford a home.
Yes. Like, I would like to live like an adult . Yeah.
And so, you know, that's, I,
that's the importance of policy.
Of course. The, you know,
actually buying down the budget stabilization
factor, which will be huge.
We've gotta get rid of the bs. Yeah, that's right.
But it's only gonna take us to 1989 funding levels.
And so we have a long way to go on the funding fix. Yeah.
Um, and I think, you know, I'll just probably end with,
you know, one thing we didn't get
to talk about is in the report
we do talk about the union difference.
And I think we're seeing that across the country. Yeah.
We're seeing it here in Colorado.
Um, you know, the districts
where they have a collective bargaining agreement
where they're able to, you know, negotiate salary.
The, the difference, uh, in starting pay, you know,
that we've been able to negotiate, um,
there is a union difference.
And I think, you know, the point of
that section in the report is that we are stronger together.
Right. And when we, you know,
you are out there fighting the good fight every day.
Kevin's out there fighting the good fight
every day I'm out there.
But when we join together, like join, shit gets done.
We make things happen. Percent. And, um,
- Hun Yeah. And so,
- Yeah.
- Yeah. I think into one of the other, you know,
and we had just talked about, um,
these manufactured culture wars, educational gag orders,
book bans, these things that have been happening.
If you don't think policy matters, look
and actually see the data of
what parents want their kids to be learning.
So these parents' rights groups are claiming
to represent parents' rights,
but what it is, is it's a very small group of people
who are extremely loud and noisy.
What's up, Kiv? Um, the internet is ready
for us to be done with this episode.
Um, the, uh, but, you know,
and what we're seeing is we know that, you know, according
to embrace race, 80% of parents
that they surveyed want their kids to be racially informed
and to have like a working knowledge of the history
of racial inequality in this country.
Um, and we have, you know, 89% of parents don't think
that schools should be spots for political opportunism.
Now of course, that can be interpreted like whose
opportunism and that kind of thing,
but I think that what we know from a policy perspective is
that we have a real situation of the tail wagging the dog.
And so these legislators are going to go in the direction
that they think most of the noise is coming from.
And that may not,
and historically has not included, um, teachers.
So you might be bored with policy,
man, but you gotta get out there.
Like that's the real thing. And,
you know, there are people who do it.
And also, I'd be remiss not to shout out Dr. Lolita Tabin.
I took a policy analysis
and education system class from her two years ago.
Hardest class I ever took.
And I'm so thankful that I did it.
So Kev, what are your thoughts?
You were having internet issues, but you're here.
- I mean, just, I I am in full agreement.
You know, in, in this idea of us staying in solidarity
as educators, I think is critical.
Um, because,
'cause I think ultimately, you know, the conspiracy side
of me knows there are people who, who wanna see, uh, all
of this torn apart.
- Well, that's not a conspiracy man.
They're being real vocal about that. Yeah, yeah.
- And, and they, they don't want a public education system,
you know, they, they, they see it as a problem.
And the only time they, it seems like they've ever seen it
as a problem is when it's trying to say, we can do something
for, you know, uh, the marginalized people
of this country, which I, you know,
- Listen, we were not, we did not sign up for black
and brown children to succeed.
That's right. That is not what we wanted.
- That's even though we can claim that,
that's like the goal, the goal is equity and Yeah.
And we, and everybody's gotta grow,
but it's like, well, what do you really mean?
And what do you That's right. What do you really
constitute as knowledge?
And whose knowledge, whose stories, whose perspectives?
Um, but I think educators have to be free to, to dream,
to, to dare to be big and,
and do the big things that they're, they're thinking about
because they know what they're, you know,
we know what our kids need.
We, we know, you know, class, I know I walk
around my building.
I'm fortunate enough this year, that's one
of the great things about moving
to a leadership position is I, I
I only knew the awesome stuff
that happened in my classroom right now.
I get to see the awesome stuff and,
- And you son - Mine and yours.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. You know, thank you.
The people allowed me in, but it was mostly
the social studies teacher.
Shout out to social studies. I mean, shout out, shout out.
We were pretty dope. But, uh,
but you know, like I get to see it
and I see people, to Amy's point earlier, trying
working hard educators, doing really the best
of their ability, the best that they can, trying to learn,
going to, going to a additional classes,
sitting in each other's classes,
having deep conversations about how to improve at
what they're doing, even when they're frustrated, tired,
you know, overworked, underpaid, all of the things. Um, and
- Under-resourced - And showing
that other piece of it, still showing up for kids.
- And I, and I think that's the other piece of it is,
you know, are we properly resourcing the things
that educators tell us are needed in schools?
Like, and all teachers want to be able
to do everything within their
power to support their students.
The question is at what cost?
At, at what point are we going to say, no, Kevin,
you don't have to burn yourself to Ash.
That's in order to support your kids.
That's what we're gonna say is, you know, tell us
what you think they need and we're gonna,
we're gonna find a way to make it happen.
You don't have to do everything. Um, so Amy,
you have been such an amazing guest.
This is powerful. Can't wait
to get this out in front of people.
Uh, Kev, do we wanna, um,
do we wanna ask Madam President about her musical taste?
- I mean, are you up for it? - That's my question too.
- Yes, - I know. I'm like, trying to think. Yes.
I'm like, what would be I'm so bad at, I mean, I'm like, oh,
- Well hold on.
- Have time to listen to music,
but I can tell you, so maybe I'll say this, like,
what are the concerts I have lined
up for this summer? So let's,
- There we - Go.
So, okay. Yeah, I love that.
- That's a great, so typically we do this top five rappers,
uh, you know, sort of segment top five performing artists,
um, folks, the president is working so hard
for you in the state of Colorado and beyond
because presidents talk to each other also across states.
That's right. That's right. Um, actually Amy,
I feel like I've seen you outside of the state
of Colorado more than I've seen you in
Colorado the last couple of years.
I know. And so we're all, so, you know, you're always there.
So Amy is working so hard to support you
that she doesn't even have time to like, get on Spotify
and like, follow artists and say, these are my top five.
So instead of that, you're gonna go to some shows.
So tell us
what some shows the lineup you'll be hitting up this summer.
And uh, and if you wanna give us a little bit of context on,
on why those are the shows that you're gonna go
to, like, that'd be okay too.
- Yes. And I, I mean, if my kids came in here right now,
they would be laughing at me
and like, mom, how do you not know the music they listen to?
I have no, yeah. I'm like, who's that? What?
I'm still like stuck in the nineties. So
- .
Yeah. It's a good place to be stuck. It's a good
- Place to be.
- We got three Xs on the call.
This is a safe space. Yes. Great
- Place - To be.
- Back to the age thing. Like I would, there we go.
Miss off my top five and I'd be, you know,
- That's right.
Exposed as the kids say.
- So going, Zach, Brian with my kids. Right.
- There we go. They - Wanna go that we're going
to Rockygrass, which is my friend's.
Like, so we'll see Lots of that.
- Like bluegrass music. Bluegrass.
- Yeah. - Oh my gosh, I love it.
- Right up there in Lions. It's awesome
- Lions.
Yep. I've heard it's good time.
- Kevin - Knows all
- This Good time.
You listen to some bluegrass. That's fun.
Um, we're going to a couple shows up in
that new amphitheater and Dylan, um,
- Okay. That'll
- Be fun.
Trampled by Turtles. And these are all like bands.
My husband, like, I just go along for the . Alright.
- I, I, your husband
- Sounds pretty cool. I just love music.
- , - It's so funny.
My, so my, I'm thinking about my spouse.
If she was asked like, she'd be like, so what's
that one song by that one guy from, I think we heard it in
that one movie .
Like, that's how it would be.
- You know, the song, you know the song, you
- Know, you know.
So what's, here's the big question I have.
Um, which is the biggest number, the number of Phish shows
that Kevin will see in this calendar year?
Or the number of shows that Amy will see, um, this summer?
- Oh, don't put me on blast.
I'm already, I'm already in trouble.
They, they keep, they keep announcing
stuff, keep buying tickets.
So it's not keep buying tickets. It's not good.
And I, I'm actually having the chance to get 'em.
'cause usually you can't get 'em.
Usually, you know, I,
I'm actually winning on getting the tickets, so.
- Wow. - Nice. Wow.
Well hope we keep winning on getting the tickets.
- Yep. And - Yeah, and when we,
when we abolish this BS factor, um,
more teachers will be able to go to shows.
- That's it. That's the goal What I'm saying,
- Go - To shows.
- Gotta do it. Gotta it. Well, - Maybe not the Taylor
Swift, because that's a little too high on the,
- A little too high.
Yes, yes. We're not quite, we won't get to Taylor Swift or,
or Beyonce, like in this calendar year,
but we, we are working towards it. Amy Buckle.
- We could go, we could go to it.
Uh, Janet Jackson, 1989. See
- That's what we could do, can we in 1989?
1989, if we could take our money from now back to 1989, then
that, that might work.
Amy Bler, thank you so much for taking
time outta your busy schedule to come on.
Two dope teachers and a mic.
Um, folks, you can follow this entire report.
Just look up the CEA website and get on here.
We have also linked to the report
to this episode really encourage you to read it.
It, it says it's 32 pages, but there's lots of pictures
and graphs and everything is really succinct
and you can really get a good picture of
what your role is in this.
Um, so Amy, let's, let's, uh, check back in
and, uh, see if we can have you on again
and maybe the next time we talk we're gonna be headed in the
right direction and, um, and good things will be happening.
- Well I think, you know, somebody asked me the,
if this report was like, you know, hopeless, is it,
paint a picture, you know, and I said, no.
Like, it's actually hopeful if you just
listen to the educators.
We have, there are things we can change you, we
- Have the answers - We can fix.
- Yep. - We can fix it, we can do it.
So yes, I will come back
and we'll be talking about all the hope
and all the things that we changed together.
So yeah, thank you all for having me,
- You guys, we'll laugh and we'll be
like, remember that BS factor?
Oh my gosh, that was so crazy. Glad that's over.
Um, so I, I'm gonna ramble for just a second
and then we're all gonna say state oak together.
So for, uh, Colorado Education Association,
president Amy Vacca, Oler
and former mentee of Sarah McGregor, um, for, um,
assistant principal of the year, Kevin Adams.
I am Munoz. So your 2021 Colorado Teacher of the Year,
your manager of learning and development, um,
and uh, really your main storyteller.
Stay focused, stay encouraged, stay positive,
stay in solidarity, but in every other way.
Make sure that you always stay.
- Go
- Attention.
Attention please, attention please. Dedicated educators.
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