para educator

food service associate

care manager

custodian

kitchen leader

Boulder Valley School District

I work in one of the major high schools within BVSD and love my job. I work with incredible people in a supportive environment. If I need support from administrators, all I have to do is ask.

My coworkers are amazing, especially within my department. We problem-solve together, provide helpful advice, and offer a safe place to land when needed. Teaching during and post-COVID is much more tolerable because of the people.

The district has a carefully structured strategic plan which, in my opinion, will increase academic performance and social-emotional well-being of our students. It is hard work but the district collects input from a variety of sources, including their teachers and families. I really love the direction the district is moving for college and career preparedness.

Teachers in BVSD are paid well in comparison to other districts in Colorado. That said, it is still not comparable to other industries with the same level of education and skills.

CONS
The district lost touch with what it is like to be a teacher in today's environment. Like many other districts across the US, they caved to the pressure that COVID is no longer an issue in schools - but it is. Sickness is not the issue. Rather, the social-emotional and executive functioning skills of our students was greatly affected and will take schools years to reverse the regression. Continuing to stack initiatives on top of teaching and student support is not helpful, especially at this stage of rebuilding after COVID.

Like most school districts in Colorado, benefits are expensive. Health insurance for employee + family is over $1000 per month out of pocket with deductibles and co-insurance.

IT Support is abysmal. IT is centralized at the district level and it takes forever (sometimes 1+ years) to do anything outside of replace a keyboard, etc. Support for software is non-existent and the district's stance is to move only to Chromebook access for all student applications, sometimes requiring an emulator for more advanced software. The emulators do not work well even though in testing (isolation) they appear to work ok. This creates barriers for teachers and needless frustration about getting simply things done.

You have to have your own tricks as a substitute teacher. Don't ever let the students believe for one second that you don't know what you're doing. Arrive early to get oriented. Make sure you know the lesson plans front to back. Talk to the other teachers, if possible, to find out if there are any systems in place for discipline. 

I learned to keep a watchful eye and not allow students to get away with things that I know are against the rules - like texting or listening to music.

But at the same time I've learned to be relaxed. Sometimes, as a substitute, you really don't have much control or say over what the students can and cannot do. You are there to monitor, not discipline. So sometimes you just have to go with the flow and just try to keep the noise-level of the classroom down to a minimum. 

The hardest thing about substituting is knowing you don't have much control. Many teachers don't let substitutes present new material or even review, so it's often just busy-work and the students know it. They assume the substitute doesn't know anything. The worst part is not knowing their names or who they are. If it's your first and last day in that classroom, you don't get the opportunity to really learn names, so if a kid is acting up, you can't call them out by name and put them on the spot. They know they are relatively anonymous, and there is power in that. It's frustrating.

The best part of substituting is getting to see all the different campuses and the different systems in place at the different schools. Every school has it's own atmosphere, student body, level of teacher enthusiasm, resources, etc. It's definitely fun getting to be a part of so many different learning environments.

This was a good job when I was a parent, but I was underemployed and underpaid for many years (despite loving summers off with my children). However, unfortunately, this district likes to typecast people and keep them in certain roles even if they are qualified for others. There is favoritism and the "Good Ol'Boy" System is alive and well, sadly, and when you aren't one of the popular people, you not only get passed over for promotions, but also get iced out and left out. For being a school district, it is a terrible travesty as this is what we are trying to teach our children to aspire to and many adults are some of the biggest bullies, unfortunately. Some people are amazing and work really hard and are still kind and many others are not and do not put in any effort to the kind of example they are setting for our children. I invested many years into this district and wish that things could have gone so much better, but sadly, they did not. In fact, I have at least 2 good friends who experienced similar disappointments with this district and left either at retirement age (coincidentally) or before and were treated very poorly as well. It is a true shame, since the district lost at least 3 outstanding hardworking, intelligent and devoted employees that left with a very poor taste in their mouths.

This is the truly the best place to be for a job! We are treated with respect here and our input is highly valued. This is my family. Almost from day one you get "welcome aboard, glad to have you, welcome to BVSD" from the other drivers, aides and dispatch etc. You truly come in as one of their own here. It's amazing the way we all look out for each other and help one another no matter what. The whole department is together in one accord all about the safety, care and respect for our kids. I would say that more than 90% of us  truly enjoy what we do. The children are awesome and teach us so much as a society. I am grateful to be a part of my students' and their families' lives and to work closely with such amazing and talented people. We have drivers here who used to be engineers, teachers, musicians, scientist etc. We also have one of the greatest and comprehensive benefit and pay in our industry. We receive 20 hour a week minimum routes, and at 20 hours a week you are fully eligible for 100% company paid health insurance for single employee (employee+family has a monthly cost), paid sick leave, PERA, EAP, HSA or FSA accounts.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Great pay and good benefits, helping kids by making a better quality of school environment. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Middle and upper management use "triangulation" as a means for running BVSD maintenance departments. Definitely a who you know, not what you know or what one can be taught. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
In a word, TOXIC. In a phrase, "BVSD Maintenance is a TOXIC environment at best. Triangulation, hear say and gossiping is a way of management. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Passive aggression for fellow co workers for doing above and beyond work type ethics. BVSD maintenance departments thrive on wasting tax dollars by taking the longest, slowest and unfortunately the most expensive ways in getting the job done.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Making a real difference in students' lives within a supportive educational community is often the best part.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Often, managing high workloads, diverse student needs, and navigating administrative requirements can be the most stressful part.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Generally, in a school district like Boulder Valley, the work environment is very collaborative, especially among teachers and staff who often work closely on curriculum and student support.
The culture usually emphasizes a shared mission to educate students, so there's a strong sense of purpose. However, it can also be fast paced and demanding with a focus on meeting educational standards and addressing individual student needs.

Working for the after school program, was horrendous. The management are clueless but won’t accept any feedback or help. They do not conduct staff team training so basically staff members will not be following policy’s, they will breach protocol and sometimes are extremely inappropriate. Management are never aware of this though because they do not do any site visits efficiently and truly just don’t care. The safety of the children are a low priority to the management and will not enforce any safety procedure. Im honestly SHOCKED they haven’t lost a child yet. All of these issues in my perspective originate from the lazy and careless management. They evidently don’t know how to manage staff or an entire after school program. They also won’t take any feedback from staff suggestions and it’s evident management and this entire SAC program at all sites are incorrigible and UNSAFE. 

BVSD is a wonderful place to work. I worked for them for 7 years and enjoyed those 7 years at a wonderful school Monarch PK-8. The principal and the 2 assistant principals are by far amazing to work under. I loved working with my 3 amazing office buddies who were truly there for me when I needed them the most. The love this school has for its community was shown during the Marshall Fire at the end of 2021. We had many families who were directly affected and our community rose above and helped one another out. I can 100% say that the only hard part of the job was the end of the school year when the students would leave for the summer. The school would go quiet and as much as I loved when the students were gone, I couldn't wait for them to come back in August. The most enjoyable part was the amazing staff/faculty I worked with. Not to mention some pretty amazing families. 

In Boulder Valley Schools there is room for advancement, comradery, wonderful staff and full support from administration and district office. The staff is open to suggestions for more efficient ways of completing a task.  

First thing in the morning is to pick up phone calls and enter attendance issues.  I then answer incoming calls after all messages are taken.  I help with the front desk reception area when needed and answer the phone and direct call to correct person, help students and staff  with questions and concerns.

The hardest part of the positions I held at Boulder 
Valley Schools is getting out of work on time.

My rating above is for Boulder Valley Schools.  My posting was at Nederland Elementary, which I would rate much higher than the district as a whole.  The culture at the school is supportive and inclusive, parents and staff collaborate on the best educational programs for our students.  The principal works to include the district's agendas into the school environment and advocates for our specific needs in the mountains, so far from the education center.  
I learned shared decision making and collaboration in the years I worked at Nederland.  Teachers support each other and the student body as a whole.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Para educator 252 salaries reported	$24.51 per hour
Food service associate 43 salaries reported	$21.44 per hour
Care manager 34 salaries reported	$25.29 per hour
Custodian 40 salaries reported	$22.92 per hour
Kitchen leader 22 salaries reported	$25.98 per hour

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