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This is the first contested race for the board of directors at the hospital in six years. Aspen Valley Hospital (AVH) canceled two previous ones because no one applied, except the incumbents. For this election, there are seven candidates running for two open seats.The candidates all answered a series of questions posed by Aspen Public Radio. Here are their responses.Ballots must be returned to AVH's administration office by 7 p.m. on May 3. They can be mailed or dropped off in person.

Board of Education Chats: Susan Zimet

Candidate Statement:

The issues below embody my campaign principles ...

1) Teacher raises: I have been consistent in my message that if teachers are not better supported, student achievement will not improve. Our teachers should not be earning $20 to 30K less than they would in Boulder or Aurora, or getting an average raise of only 1.5 percent over seven years when elsewhere — where the cost of living is lower — they’ve had 20 percent salary increases. While we still are number one in cost of living, we have dropped from number one to the 5th spot in teacher salaries. We will continue to have a teacher turnover higher than that of the state if the salary structure is not fixed immediately and adequately.

 

2) Community involvement: We need far better communication between students, parents, teachers, the community and administration. I’ve prioritized strengthening the school accountability committees as a first step in this direction. I’ve proposed making school board meetings less exclusionary and more welcoming to community participation.

 

3) Extracurricular learning: Extracurricular learning has long been an integral part of our “whole child” approach. Arts, music, sports, debate, robotics, outdoor education — all contribute to the grit, resilience, determination and confidence that we value so highly in our students. There is no dichotomy between student achievement and extracurriculars — they are all part of the educational program.

 

4) Standardized testing: Incredibly, this administration is now claiming that our scores are going up. This is a teachable moment. We’ve got to be able to look at data honestly. There is a clear trend that our test scores, relative to those of other districts, are in fact declining. Our district has dropped over the past seven years from 90th percentile in math, science, reading and writing average scores, down to the 76th percentile this year. In particular, Aspen Elementary School showed so little academic growth and achievement that the state is requiring an improvement plan this year. It’s hard to reconcile the “everything is great” narrative with the fact that the state is requiring an improvement plan.

 

I’d like to see us start to use our test data more intelligently. These tests provide us with important feedback about how we are doing. But that doesn’t mean we should be “teaching to the test.” And, in fact, if we are doing a good job teaching the material in an engaging manner, then the test scores will naturally follow. When test results are used to identify which areas need improvement, when they are not used punitively, and when best teaching practices are employed, I’d encourage widespread participation.

 
5) Facilities upgrade: We can’t continue to have the board’s time be dominated by non-education issues. So I propose we create a board subcommittee for real estate and building facilities issues. It should be comprised of community experts in those fields, as well as at least one board member. That subcommittee could devote its time to real estate development and facilities planning. This should be done immediately because the data clearly indicates that effective school boards spend more time on student achievement than on real estate and operational issues.

6) Tax initiatives: While our district's rate of spending per student has increased much more than that of other districts, our scores declined, teacher pay remained flat, good teachers left, and we became top-heavy. We are not properly managing the taxes our generous community has already funded. Until we reallocate funds back towards the classroom and demonstrate that we can spend tax-dollars responsibly, I could not justify the request for additional tax initiatives.

 

 

 

To read and listen to more candidate profiles, click here.