BVSD hosts new educator orientation
Aug. 7—Abigail Kleppinger is starting her first teaching job this fall at Louisville's Coal Creek Elementary after earning her teaching degree at Colorado Mesa University.
She's taking a new position at the school as an interventionist for third and fifth graders who need support in literacy and math, working with students in their classrooms and pulling them out for small groups.
"I'm looking forward to an introduction to teaching," she said. "I'm just learning and taking it all in."
Kleppinger was one of about 130 new Boulder Valley educators — from classroom teachers to counselors to special education service providers — attending a new teacher orientation session Monday.
"Our people are our strength," Boulder Valley Superintendent Rob Anderson told them. "It can be tough to be in public education. We want to give you the very best conditions we can create."
The district tried a new format for this year's orientation. Instead of five days of in-person professional development, most new educators have one day in-person plus online tutorials and resources to explore at their own pace. Then they'll have additional professional development through the school year.
"When we provided a lot of professional learning in the first five days, it was absolutely overwhelming," said Katie Mills, Boulder Valley's director of professional learning. "I really believe that this more timely professional learning, as it's occurring over the course of the calendar year, will be more thoughtful."
"This will be the first time in person, since 2020, teachers could meet in these big groups," she said. "I'm really excited to have the opportunity to being them together. The No. 1 request from educators is to have time with their colleagues in person to make connections."
For Monday's new educator orientation, teachers started in their schools for a building orientation. Next was lunch with speakers from the district and the Boulder Valley Education Association, followed by a "carnival"-style fair of district departments. They also could take leftover supplies and kits from past summer school sessions.
Social worker Davanta Greer, who is moving to Superior's Eldorado PK-8 from a school in Jefferson County, picked up two small skateboards during the giveaway that he plans to use with students who need a "brain break."
Greer said one reason he chose Boulder Valley was it's commitment to hiring a diverse staff.
"I really appreciated Boulder Valley's mission to get people of color in the classroom," he said.
Of the 130 new educators, about 50 are brand new to teaching or their support roles. A couple also are teaching under an alternative license, which allows them to study for their teaching license while on the job. The first-year teachers will go through a two-year induction program that includes 25 hours of mentoring in the first year.
One of those first-year teachers is Melanie Estrada, who student taught at Boulder's Columbine Elementary School last year and will teach second grade there this year.
"Columbine just felt like home," she said. "I want to be someone to support the students because I felt supported by my bilingual teachers in school."
Derek Sessions will lead small groups of students struggling with math — a grant funded position — at Boulder's Casey Middle School while he works toward his teaching license. Last school year, he led an academic study hall at Broomfield Heights Middle School.
He said he went into teaching because he wasn't a good student in high school until he had a physics teacher who was teaching "for the love of it."
"It was a fork in the road for me," he said. "Knowing how good a good teacher can be, I wanted to teach."
The rest of the new educators are coming in with previous teaching experience.
Kim Seper, who previously taught in Illinois, was hired as a special education teacher in Louisville Middle School's Intensive Learning Center. She said her orientation experience has been "really amazing."
"It just feel so supportive, which is really cool to come into," she said.
