Monarch paraeducator Glen Einrem received 2023 Blake Peterson Lifetime Achievement Award

Time in the restaurant industry taught Glen patience, communication crucial to his job

By Shay Castle

Education was not Glen Einrem’s first career. It was actually his third. 

Prior to joining Boulder Valley School District, Einrem worked as a structural engineer. Before that, he spent 18 years in the restaurant industry, doing everything from washing dishes to managing a regional team. 

That time working in restaurants is the most valuable when it comes to his work as one of Monarch High School’s special education paraprofessionals, Einrem said.

“A lot of that translates into what we do at school: face to face interactions dealing with upset people, learning how to talk to them, learning to let things roll off your shoulder,” he said. “You see everything and you’re dealing with everything.”

Dealing with dozens of frustrated customers, Einrem learned that, “they’re not attacking you for being you; they were being angry at the situation. Once you realize that, it kind of frees you to just be there, not take it personally, not have too many ups and downs and be a steady ship going through.”

That grace under pressure has earned Einrem a reputation as a calm, caring presence in the classroom.

He “makes a difference by being kind,” student Isaac C. wrote in support of Einrem’s nomination for this year’s Blake Peterson Lifetime Achievement Award.

“He stops us from being disruptive without seeming mean,” wrote Zoe D.

His students also love the way he connects with them on their level. As Viktor G. put it: “Glen is amazing because he just talks ‘Student.’”

“He breaks down things in a way that I can understand” them, wrote Cole B. 

“Glen carried me through this class,” added Libby B.

Einrem credits his “wide variety of interests” with being able to talk to students “on their level.” 

“I do a lot of gaming with my son; I can talk games to them,” he said. “If they want to talk history and engineering and science, I’m a big buff on all of those. I think my speciality is actually conversation and talking and making kids feel comfortable with themselves.”

That vast knowledge base has also earned him a reputation among his peers. 

“We jokingly refer to Glen at work as ‘Glengle’ — our version of Google,” wrote colleague Ally Hall, in her nomination letter.

For Einrem, his favorite part about the job goes beyond connection and communication and knowledge sharing. It’s helping a child understand that there is a wider world out there.

“So much of high school is in the moment. And everything is OMG,” he said. “But if you can get to them and say, ‘Look, people have gone through this hundreds of times, and you can get through it, and things do get better.”

“That’s the most rewarding thing for me: seeing they can go on and do things and be successful.”

BEFORE YOU GO …

Impact on Education is a nonprofit organization, and we depend on our community to help us put our mission into action. We need your help to to provide opportunity and resources to 29,000 students and 4,000 educators in the Boulder Valley School District.

How Impact on Education bridges the public education funding gap

Colorado, like many other states in the United States, struggles to provide adequate funding for our public schools. While state funding is a crucial component of ensuring that students receive a quality education, it is often not enough to meet the needs of every student. 

Colorado spends $3,087 less than the national average per pupil. 

School districts can turn to their community for additional funding, and voters in Boulder Valley have been generous with approving bonds for capital needs. However, there are state mandated limits on how much Districts can raise using local property taxes. This is where school foundations come in.

Impact on Education, an independent non-profit, provides additional funding to the Boulder Valley School District, supplementing the state and local school funding they receive. Our work helps the District provide every student an excellent and equitable education.

How public education funding works in Colorado

Colorado is unique in that it has a complex school funding formula – the Public School Finance Act of 1994 – that takes into account many different factors, such as student enrollment, the cost of living in different areas of the state, and the number of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. 

Our public schools are primarily funded by a combination of local (property) taxes and state revenues. Until the late 1980’s Colorado’s per pupil funding was above the national average, when new laws led education funding to fall.

How do school foundations help?

School foundations are non-profit organizations dedicated to raising funds to support public education. In Boulder Valley, we have 56 public schools and 4,000 educators serving nearly 30,000 students. The disparity is real. The opportunity is, too.

In 2022, Impact on Education invested over $3,500,000 to support the Boulder Valley School District.

Our work engages students and empowers educators to make sure every student has access to the resources they need, when they need them. Because even when life isn’t fair, access to an excellent and equitable education should be. Our support helps improve student outcomes by:

• Expanding or launching new programs and services, including the expansion of high school wellness centers, summer learning for incoming kindergarten students, and career readiness workshops for highschoolers
• Ensuring all students have access to school supplies and learning tools
• Resourcing educators and schools to expand opportunities for students
• Investing in and supporting new BVSD programs and initiatives
• Advocating for equitable public education
• Providing timely and effective resources to meet emerging needs and address community crises

Some good news

The Boulder Valley School District is expecting an additional $18.2 million in next year’s budget, including about $12 million in state per-pupil funding and about $3.8 million from the $120 million allocated statewide to reduce the budget stabilization factor. The budget stabilization factor allows the state to use promised K-12 education funding in other areas of the budget. An additional $2.8 million in state revenue is pending legislative actions.

At-a-Glance: Public education funding in Colorado

Learn more about how school funding works in this slideshow from Great Education Colorado.

• In 1982 the Gallagher Amendment passed which limited local revenues by cutting the residential assessment rate (the percent of the value of a home that is taxed) by two-thirds. School districts were able to stabilize local revenues by floating mill rates (the rate charged for property taxes) up from 1982-1992.
• In 1992 the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) passed, requiring voter approval to adjust mill rates, limiting the state’s ability to bolster school funding with state dollars.
• In 2000, Amendment 23 was passed in an attempt to reverse the K12 funding cuts. 

“Amendment 23 became a ceiling and not the protective floor it was originally intended to be. Its measure of inflation is the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which does not reflect the kinds of things that school districts must pay for, like health care, heating, cooling and fuel costs. Starting in 2009, the legislature reinterpreted Amendment 23 and established the Negative Factor—allowing deep cuts to schools. As a result of that reinterpretation, schools are currently being funded at a level of $572 million below what the proper interpretation of Amendment 23 requires.

– Great Education Colorado, Funding FAQs

• In 2020, Amendment B passed which prevents any further reductions in the residential assessment rate, eliminating the effect of the Gallagher Amendment.

BEFORE YOU GO …

Impact on Education is a nonprofit organization, and we depend on our community to help us put our mission into action. We need your help to to provide opportunity and resources to 29,000 students and 4,000 educators in the Boulder Valley School District.

Community conversation brings youth mental health to the forefront

Young people today are experiencing a mental health crisis unlike anything we’ve seen before. Nearly one in five youth in Colorado reported poor mental health in 2021 — double the rate seen in 2017. Social media, the pandemic, and climate change were just some of the external pressures students and parents cited during A Community Conversation: Supporting the Mental Health of Our Youth, a panel discussion that gathered more than 300 people at Manhattan Middle School on April 12, 2023. 

Panelists included clinicians, community health professionals, educators, and people with lived experiences. All agreed that the conversation starter was an important step toward equipping the community with information that can bridge the generational divides and produce healthy dialog that will lead to solutions.

Impact on Education hosted the event in collaboration with UnitedHealthcare, Centura Health, Comcast, The Colorado Health Foundation, and Boulder Valley School District. 

“Impact on Education is committed to providing an elevated level of mental health support for all BVSD students. Beyond what we can provide during the school day, engaging families and the community is a crucial part of supporting student mental health and well-being.”

– Allison Billings, Executive Director at Impact on Education

Watch with English captions

Why we need to talk about mental health

According to the CDC, it is estimated that one in five children ages 3-17 experience a mental disorder each year, the most common of which are ADHD, anxiety, behavioral problems, and depression. The CDC reports that in 2021, 42 percent of high school students reported feeling so sad or hopeless regularly, for at least a two-week period, that they stopped doing their normal daily activities. Furthermore, a CDC study states that compared with pre-pandemic levels, teenagers are more likely to experience persistent feelings of distress or malaise that interfere in their lives. They are more likely to think about suicide and more likely to attempt it.

How the community can support our youth

The event presented the idea that, together, the community can elevate the mental health and well-being of our youth. Panelists discussed the current risks facing our youth; techniques for communicating with children about their mental health needs; and school, community, and health care resources available to parents. Information about local and state trends, as well as the risks, influencing factors, and available supports were shared with the audience, primarily parents of students in BVSD. 

“Fostering resilient children requires engagement with their families, friends, mentors, and the community. At UnitedHealthcare, we felt privileged to be an organizing sponsor of this important event with our partners at Impact on Education and the Boulder Valley School District.”

– Marc Neely, CEO of UnitedHealthcare Colorado & Wyoming

Discussions also included clinical expertise on trends; resources available to parents; and how to start and sustain mental health conversations with kids. 

To access resources distributed at the event click here. For those who were unable to attend the event, Comcast is producing a television special which will be available for viewing online soon.

BEFORE YOU GO …

Together we can elevate the mental health of our youth. Impact on Education is committed to the mental health of BVSD students. Your gift helps provide Wellness Centers and Mental Health Advocates in schools, and resources and training to support the well-being of staff, students and their families.

How educator grants made a difference this year

Grants for classroom educators and schools are small yet powerful tools that can help fund creative and innovative ideas for educational projects, activities, and materials. Our Academic Opportunity Fund is a valuable resource for teachers and schools with limited budgets, but who are determined to provide the best learning opportunities for their students. 

In the 2022-23 school year we offered three rounds of grant funding that awarded $230,000 across 166 individual grants. 

The program received over 220 grant applications from 45 schools across the Boulder Valley School District.

Opportunities for creativity and innovation

When educators are given the chance to apply for Academic Opportunity Fund grants, they are encouraged to think outside of the box and come up with new and exciting ways to engage their students. Grants this year provided funding for:

• a science research seminar
• 3D printers for engineering classes
• a district-wide reading challenge
• a loom for construction class at Boulder TEC
• STEAM fashion show

Helping bridge the funding gap

With limited school budgets, Academic Opportunity Fund grants bridge the funding gap for both educators and schools by providing additional resources that enhance the learning experience for students. This funding can help make classes more relevant and engaging and lead to improved student outcomes.

In addition to common requests such as books, tutors, and software, grants also provided funding for:

• student and class transportation
• flexible seating and calming corners
• specialized equipment like cameras
• adaptive equipment for unified PE classes
• instrument repair across the district

Improving student outcomes

The Academic Opportunity Fund supports everything from classroom enrichment and virtual tutoring to field trips and books – anything that helps provide valuable educational experiences to BVSD students.

Our grants will reopen in the fall for the 2023-24 school year to support educators and students in BVSD.

Why we need to talk about youth mental health

Supporting mental health for our students and youth is a crucial part of our education system. Mental health has a significant impact on a student’s academic performance, social interactions, and overall well-being, and unfortunately mental health challenges have skyrocketed among children and teenagers. 

It is estimated that one in five children ages 3-17 experience a mental disorder in a given year, the most common of which are ADHD, anxiety problems, behavior problems, and depression. And in 2021, 42 percent of high school students reported feeling so sad or hopeless regularly for at least a two-week period that they stopped doing their normal daily activities.

COVID-19 disruptions impact youth mental health

When schools closed in March 2020, no one knew how remote instruction and limited access to student support services would impact students. The disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to have significant, long-term impacts on a variety of youth outcomes. Early research indicates decreased rates of focus, attention and sleep, and increased clinginess, fear, and irritability among youth.

The pandemic and school closures also disrupted school-related supports and services that are fundamental to children’s development and well-being. A recent study surveyed 1,504 U.S. parents to determine the impact of the pandemic on the social-emotional well-being and educational needs of their school-aged children during the 2021–2022 academic year. Results indicated that:

• 26.1% of children had challenges with hyperactivity/inattention
• 32.6% had peer relationship problems
• 40% had deficits in prosocial behaviors

Compared with pre-pandemic levels, teenagers are more likely to experience persistent feelings of distress or malaise that interfere in their lives. They are more likely to think about suicide and more likely to attempt it.

The Guardian

The majority of parents (83.5%) reported a school-related need, with 57% reporting mental health challenges and 77% reporting learning supports and enrichment needs. Parents reported their child’s highest priority needs to be for tutoring, socialization, increased instructional time, managing stress, and physical activity.

Not only is suicide the third-leading cause of death for youth ages 15–19, but one in four adolescents age 12 to 17 have had a substance use disorder or a major depressive episode in the past year.

While the pandemic disrupted normal routines and social interaction, our community has also experienced a mass shooting and a destructive wildfire in recent years, making it even more critical for schools and parents to prioritize mental health support for our youth.

How we are supporting the mental health of BVSD students

One of the most promising mental health interventions is school-based services. Within BVSD, students have access to counselors, Mental Health Advocates, and other engagement specialists for social-emotional and behavioral support, student achievement and crisis intervention, individual and group counseling, and referrals to external resources. To expand BVSD’s ability to support students and their families, Impact on Education has:

• Funded four new Mental Health Advocate (MHA) positions in BVSD. We’ve also committed to funding these MHAs through the 2023-24 school year.
• Supported the creation of BVSD’s first high school Wellness Center at Monarch High School. We’re also working to expand the program so our five largest high schools have Wellness Centers staffed by full-time counselors.

Another important element of support is educating students and their families about mental health and reducing stigma. Parents and caregivers play a crucial role in supporting their children’s mental health.

Many students may feel ashamed or embarrassed to seek help for their mental health concerns, and many parents don’t know how to communicate with their children about mental health. By providing mental health training and educational resources for students, families and BVSD staff, we hope to help reduce this stigma and encourage students to seek the support they need.

“Schools, families and teens themselves have an important role to play to address this crisis and they are eager to find tools that can make a difference.”

Mental Health First Aid

Next month we are hosting a free mental health panel discussion for parents. In partnership with BVSD, Centura Health, Comcast, and UnitedHealthcare, Impact on Education will gather clinicians, BVSD educators and administrators, community health professionals and people with lived experiences, for “A Community Conversation: Supporting the Mental Health of our Youth.” Panelists will discuss the current mental health risks facing youth, techniques for communicating with children about their mental health needs, resources available to parents, and more.

Join us on Wednesday, April 12 >>

Building a better future

Impact on Education is working to raise both the awareness and funds needed to address youth mental health as we would any other physical illness. Mental health issues are increasingly prevalent among children and teenagers, and we can all help create a community that prioritizes the mental health of our youth.

By helping students feel safe and supported at school and offering support to those most likely to positively influence someone at risk, we’re bringing mental health out of the shadows.

Browse BVSD’s mental health resources
https://www.bvsd.org/parents-students/health-and-wellness/mental-health

BEFORE YOU GO …

Impact on Education is a nonprofit organization, and we depend on our community to help us put our mission into action. We need your help to to provide opportunity and resources to 29,000 students and 4,000 educators in the Boulder Valley School District.

Funding mental health and student well-being

Immediately after the Marshall Fire, mental health professionals from surrounding school districts came to BVSD to work with impacted students and families. During this time, it became apparent that providing students with ongoing mental health support during the school day was the most effective way for Impact on Education to support their recovery.

Since January 2022 we’ve worked closely with BVSD staff to continue providing this additional level of support, which includes:

• providing funding for four additional BVSD Mental Health Advocates (MHAs)
• supporting the creation of BVSD’s first high school Wellness Center.

BVSD’s first wellness center

At Monarch High School, where 1 in 10 students was impacted by the Marshall Fire, a Wellness Center was created to support students in August 2022. Staffed by a full-time counselor, the Wellness Center provides students a safe place to recharge and speak with a trained professional during the school day. 

Wellness Center Impact
August – December 2022

• 4,000 total student visits
• 585 individual students visited (38% of students)
• 62% female, 27% male, 11% non-binary students
• 17% seniors, 22% juniors, 30% sophomores,
• 31% freshman students
• 30% special education students

How Mental Health Advocates are supporting students and families

Mental Health Advocates (MHAs) focus exclusively on mental and behavioral health, supplementing what BVSD school counselors can provide. Within BVSD, MHAs:

• provide support for social- emotional and behavioral development, student achievement and crisis intervention
• provide both group and individual counseling support and work directly with students, parents, and staff members
• help families access external resources, including making appropriate referrals to community partners

The intensity of mental health concerns and the time required to provide support and intervention varies dramatically from case to case. The additional MHAs ensure the schools impacted by the Marshall Fire have the intensive layer of mental health support needed, and expand the district’s capacity to respond to mental health needs.

Mental Health Advocate Impact

August – December 2022

• 1,238 individual student contacts
• 541 consults
• 272 family consults for supports
• 76 students received crisis support

Our funding priorities

Impact on Education is committed to providing an elevated level of mental health support for all students, especially those affected by the Marshall Fire. Meeting these three goals would allow us to serve 11,698 students at 12 schools across BVSD:

1. Scaling the Wellness Center program by replicating the model to offer it at 5 BVSD high schools
2. Retaining four MHAs supporting through the 2023-24 school year
3. Providing mental health training and educational resources for students, families, and staff

Join us to ensure students have mental health supports available during the school day.

BEFORE YOU GO …

Impact on Education is a nonprofit organization, and we depend on our community to help us put our mission into action. We need your help to to provide opportunity and resources to 29,000 students and 4,000 educators in the Boulder Valley School District.

December 2023 Update:
EFAA release their second annual Community Well-Being Dashboard that captures the most recent data available for Boulder County on issues like poverty, income, employment, wages, food security, housing stability and family homelessness. Take a look:

• Community Wellbeing Dashboard 2023 – English
• Community Wellbeing Dashboard 2023 – en español

How much does it cost to live in Boulder County?

Impact on Education exists to provide support and resources to the students overcoming the greatest obstacles. We work to raise both awareness and funds to eliminate the economic and learning barriers facing our students.

Right now, everyone in our community is experiencing increased costs for food, fuel and other basic necessities. Rising prices mean families across our community are struggling to make ends meet. Every school in the Boulder Valley School District includes families facing financial challenges, and the more people who recognize this, the more we can help those in need.

The cost of living in Boulder County

The federal poverty line for a family of four is $30,000 annually. While the threshold to qualify for BVSD’s free and reduced price meals program is considerably higher at $51,338, it’s still less than half of the estimated cost of living in Boulder County. The Self Sufficiency Standard, a measure that calculates how much income a family must earn to meet basic needs, is $107,462 for a family of four in Boulder County.

One way we’re able to identify students and families in need is through the Boulder Valley School District’s free and reduced price meal program.

Free and reduced price meals

Within BVSD, students receive free meals regardless of their income if:

• their household is enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• they qualify as homeless, runaway, foster, and/or migrant children
• they live with a parent in a car or hotel 

Students may also qualify for free or reduced price meals based on their household income. For the 2022-23 school year, 25% of the BVSD community – 7,180 students – qualify for free or reduced price meals:

• 21% of students qualify for free lunch
• 4.4% of students qualify for reduced lunch

What this means for BVSD students and families

We are committed to ensuring that every student has access to the same opportunities regardless of uncontrollable factors like their economic status. Enrollment in BVSD’s free and reduced price meal program, and families impacted by the Marshall Fire, are two ways we’re able to identify students who need additional support.

But how many BVSD families don’t qualify for free and reduced lunch or other benefits and still struggle to make ends meet?

BVSD administrators, educators and staff often come to Impact on Education when they’re unable to meet student needs. We continue to explore how we can effectively and discreetly identify and offer resources to all BVSD students and families that are struggling financially in Boulder County. Our strong partnership with BVSD ensures we can provide direct resources that enable our schools and educators to support students.

BEFORE YOU GO …

Impact on Education is a nonprofit organization, and we depend on our community to help us put our mission into action. We need your help to to provide opportunity and resources to nearly 30,000 students and 4,000 educators in the Boulder Valley School District.

Why our Marshall Fire support continues

In early 2022, we began supporting the immediate and long-term recovery of the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) students and educators affected by the Marshall Fire. Our work has provided:

• Mental health services, including funding to enable BVSD to hire four additional Mental Health Advocates to support the most impacted students and schools
• Direct support for students and families, including transportation stipends and funding for school lunch fees, after school care and tutoring.
• Direct support for educators and schools, including $500 checks for each of the 98 displaced staff members
• Replacement academic materials, including $40,000 to replace academic and sports supplies, including graphing calculators, athletic gear, spirit wear, library books, and more

To see a full summary, please visit our Crisis Response page.

Prioritizing mental health

Immediately after the fire, mental health professionals from surrounding school districts came to BVSD to work with impacted students and families. During this time, we saw that providing students with mental health support during the school day was the most effective way to support their recovery. 

We worked closely with BVSD staff to continue providing an additional level of support. Impact on Education quickly enabled BVSD to hire four additional Mental Health Advocates (MHAs).

The new MHAs were hired in the spring of 2022 to support BVSD’s most impacted schools. They provided over 130 consultations and direct support to 93 families and 359 individuals and directed families to additional resources from Impact on Education, BVSD, and community partners, including:

• RTD bus passes and reimbursements for transportation expenses
• Referrals to and application support for the Free and Reduced Price Meal program
• Referrals to McKinney-Vento Specialists, BVSD staff members who help students and families who are facing housing crisis
• Access to medical supplies
• Referrals to school counselors for assistance to students with learning disabilities and in need of Individual Educational Plans
• Referrals to other community mental and behavioral health professionals

Our partners with the Center for Disaster Philanthropy shared that six months after a disaster is often when the financial and emotional realities begin to sink in. Knowing these important moments would happen over the summer break, we allocated funding to ensure two MHAs could work over the summer to support 330 students.

Providing support during the 2022-23 school year

Mental Health

The MHAs continue to provide services at our most fire-affected schools. They provide students with consultations, family support, individual counseling, and support groups. MHAs also support the district Trauma Response teams and facilitate Resilience in Schools and Educators (RISE) sessions for educators and staff.

Financial and academic support

Early in the school year, we learned that families were continuing to experience or experiencing new financial challenges. We worked with BVSD to provide a way for families to request additional support, and are providing funding to cover the costs of school meals, transportation expenses to and from school, free virtual tutoring, and after school care.

Our work is not done

We know the needs of our community will continue and change through the 2023-24 school year. We are currently working on multiple ways to continue expanding the mental health services and resources available to both students and their families.

BEFORE YOU GO …

Impact on Education is a nonprofit organization, and we depend on our community to help us put our mission into action. We need your help to to provide opportunity and resources to 29,000 students and 4,000 educators in the Boulder Valley School District.

3 ways we’re making a difference in 2023

Last year held many challenges for our community and our organization, but our commitment to creating opportunity for success, from preschool through graduation, supported BVSD students furthest from resources. If you haven’t already flipped through our 2022 Impact Report, we encourage you to see what we accomplished last year.

While we’re continuing to support recovery from the Marshall Fire, gearing up to recognize educators at the 2023 Impact Awards, planning our summer school supply distribution Crayons to Calculators, and preparing another round of our Academic Opportunity Fund, there are three important areas we’re excited to invest in this year.

We hope you join us this year in supporting nearly 30,000 students in the Boulder Valley School District. Our work addresses systemic barriers and prioritizes those furthest from resources in order to equalize opportunity and bolster academic success.

Thank you for being part of our community and making investments to help us drive lasting change for students, educators, and our public schools.

BEFORE YOU GO …

Impact on Education is a nonprofit organization, and we depend on our community to help us put our mission into action. We need your help to to provide opportunity and resources to 29,000 students and 4,000 educators in the Boulder Valley School District.

Our most impactful stories of 2022

As 2022 comes to a close we’re looking back on our most-read stories of the year. From our crisis response efforts after the Marshall Fire to introducing new board members and scholarship awardees, we’re sharing what inspired our community most this year.

We also encourage you to take a peek at our 2022 Impact Report to see what we’re most proud of. Read the report here.

2022 Year in Review

1. Responding to the Marshall Fire

January 5, 2022

The magnitude of the Marshall Fire tragedy was unimaginable, but so was our community’s willingness to help. In less than a week after the fire we raised over $200,000 from over 400 supporters through our Critical Needs Fund. Those dollars were immediately deployed to fund the distribution of backpacks, headphones and school supplies to nearly 600 students at 22 affected schools in BVSD.

Read the Story

2. How our Critical Needs Fund will support the BVSD community

January 12, 2022

The outpouring of support from the community was uplifting to see, and we’re incredibly grateful to the 800 donors that helped us raise $500,000 in just two weeks. The funds directly supported the immediate needs, long-term recovery, and mental health of BVSD students and staff.

Read the Story

3. Meet our 2022 Impact Award Honorees

May 13, 2022

Meet 58 impactful educators nominated by their school community for demonstrating exceptional collaboration, innovation, and dedication to our students.

Read the Story

4. Five ways we are supporting recovery for the BVSD community

January 31, 2022

Thanks to a generous outpouring of support, we raised over $700,000 to support BVSD students and staff in the month after the fire. The funds provided gift cards for students, checks for educators, transportation stipends, replacement instruments and athletic equipment, and more.

Read the Story

5. Announcing our 2022 college scholarship awardees

May 26, 2022

We’re excited to share that we’ve awarded up to $40,000 in scholarships to seven graduating high school seniors in BVSD. From an aspiring doctor to an innovative mechanic, meet this year’s scholarship awardees.

Read the Story

6. IOE funding expands mental health support for BVSD students and staff

May 6, 2022

We raised over $800,000 to support the ongoing mental health needs of students and staff throughout the Boulder Valley School District. This funding allowed BVSD to hire four additional Mental Health Advocates to be deployed year-round in BVSD’s schools most impacted by the Marshall Fire, and to provide mental health professional development to School Age Care (SAC) staff.

Read the Story

7. Increasing mental health support for students most affected by the Marshall Fire

February 25, 2022

Impact on Education actively sought funding to facilitate the hire of four additional Mental Health Advocates to be deployed in the BVSD schools most impacted by the Marshall Fire. Within BVSD, Mental Health Advocates provide prevention and intervention services for students, supporting their social-emotional and behavioral development, student achievement, and crisis intervention.

Read the Story

8. Impact on Education welcomes four new board members

September 8, 2022

Our Board of Directors plays an important role in our work to empower students, engage the community and help the Boulder Valley School District evolve. To support our work and further our mission, we brought four new community members – Jennifer Sterling, Jann Oldham, Cathleen Kendall, and Tanya Santee – onto our Board in September.

Read the Story

9. Four ways we’re driving change in BVSD classrooms

August 3, 2022

Over the years, we’ve catalyzed change in the Boulder Valley School District by piloting initiatives and accelerating innovation in classrooms and schools. This year we saw four recent investments drive lasting change for students.

Read the Story

10. How BVSD Community Liaisons support families in need

February 18, 2022

We often refer to the team of community liaisons at BVSD as our front line workers. We placed over $50,000 of assistance into the hands of community liaisons, those who work most closely with BVSD students and families in financial need, in the form of youth bus passes, mindfulness books, and gift cards.

Read the Story

BEFORE YOU GO …

Impact on Education is a nonprofit organization, and we depend on our community to help us put our mission into action. We need your help to to provide opportunity and resources to 29,000 students and 4,000 educators in the Boulder Valley School District.

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