Kevin Vick moved to Colorado in 1993 and shortly discovered the ski slopes. Six years later, he was snowboarding 100 days a yr and within the summers went mountain biking and mountaineering.
He beloved being outside, however he felt like one thing was lacking from his life.
“I didn’t really feel like I used to be having an actual nice function,” he mentioned. “Or I used to be actually making a distinction.”
He turned to instructing and located his function serving to college students as a social research trainer and prep soccer coach. He additionally taught different educators to advocate for themselves and arranged them to higher their work circumstances.
Now, in his twenty fourth yr as an educator, Vick, 55, who has taught at Doherty Excessive Faculty, has taken over as president of the Colorado Training Affiliation, the state’s largest lecturers union. He desires to make use of his platform to verify Coloradans know the way a lot onerous work and dedication educators put into their jobs.
He additionally desires to share his perception that instructing is filled with function and lecturers make a distinction day by day.
“I believe folks want to know simply how rewarding training is and the way admirable the folks which are in it actually are,” he mentioned. “They’re making an attempt to make college students higher, Colorado higher, and, in the end, the world higher.”
Vick not too long ago talked with Chalkbeat Colorado about his new place as president.
Vick is stepping out of the vp function
As the previous vp of CEA, Vick labored carefully with former President Amie Baca-Oehlert.
“You type of serve on the pleasure of the president,” Vick mentioned. “So no matter Amie wanted, I used to be managing.”
He doesn’t plan huge adjustments to the priorities of the union, which has 40,000 members statewide. As a former Colorado Springs Training Affiliation president, Vick says he cares about empowering lecturers to have a voice and discount on the native degree.
Vick additionally cares about how testing and state accountability impression lecturers and college students. He feels accountability has created a one-size-fits-all method. Extra consideration needs to be given to the challenges that occur in school rooms.
“Faculties are threatened by sanctioning from the state to supply outcomes, no matter what the scholars could also be experiencing in that surroundings,” he mentioned. “This creates a variety of disconnect for the trainer, due to their experience, they know the place a scholar needs to be. However they’re not capable of due to the bigger coverage pressures.”
Vick can even should deal with new points in training that his predecessors didn’t, akin to know-how akin to cellphones and synthetic intelligence.
Each are instruments that may assist lecturers, however each should be used responsibly, he mentioned.
As an example, Vick understands the talk round cellphones and that they are often disruptive. However many lecturers have modern methods of utilizing cellphones within the classroom, he mentioned.
Districts ought to contemplate how lecturers educate earlier than making broad insurance policies, he added.
Office circumstances are particularly vital to Vick
Faculty is a office, Vick mentioned.
Vick believes higher work environments begin with pay, and lots of lecturers have a tough time making ends meet on their salaries. Educators can barely afford to cowl their well being care, he mentioned. Colorado and different states have struggled to maintain lecturers within the classroom due to pay, and lots of educators find yourself working a number of jobs as a result of they don’t earn sufficient instructing.
“Educators do get higher yearly of their profession,” he mentioned. “They only get the next talent degree yearly. And so we have to preserve them in so long as attainable.”
Vick will proceed to push for extra state training funding
This week, Vick appeared earlier than lawmakers this week throughout a particular session to assist safe a deal that would keep away from two poll initiatives that many predicted would devastate colleges and authorities providers. The particular session referred to as by Gov. Jared Polis was meant to assist protect training funding whereas additionally hanging a deal on property tax reduction.
Vick defended the property tax deal to fend off the poll initiatives.
And for years, CEA has been a continuing in legislative committees, particularly in relation to calling for elevated college funding. This yr, Colorado lawmakers ended the follow of withholding cash from colleges to pay for different priorities.
Not a lot will change there with Vick. He mentioned he helps a statewide poll initiative to spice up college funding.
“We really feel that the timing is fairly good proper now to make that case to voters that our colleges do deserve higher and our youngsters deserve higher,” he mentioned.
Jason Gonzales is a reporter masking greater training and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado companions with Open Campus on greater training protection. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.
