Colorado State Board of Education: 4 seats open, 1 incumbent seeks reelection

Colorado State Board of Education: Candidates agree state falls short in education funding, teacher pay

(Editor’s Note: This is a part of a series of stories where Colorado Politics interviewed the candidates of the State Board of Education regarding public education funding, policies and other issues.)

The candidates running for various seats on the State Board of Education offered mixed views on regulations surrounding students’ rights to have cell phones at school and in classrooms.

Candidates said they have conflicting views as parents because they want to stay in constant contact with their children. Others stressed that it should not be a decision set by the state’s top education authority or even the legislature. Instead, it should be left to each school district to set a policy that works at the local level.

According to a recent PEW Research Study, 72% of U.S. High School teachers say cellphone distraction has become a significant problem in the classroom. However, the study says enforcing it continues to be challenging even in districts with stricter policies.

District 2 Democratic candidate Kathy Gebhardt, who won the primary race and is running unopposed in the general election, said the state board should discuss cell phone use with local districts to find a solution, while noting that social media use has resulted in bullying and distractions in learning.

However, Gebhardt said she understands that parents want direct communication with their children.

Democrat Rhonda Solis, a candidate in District 8, said she is “deeply” conflicted.

“I just don’t know (if a policy) is for me,” she said. “I would struggle not having a connection to my child just because I don’t feel like we’ve done enough around the conversation of guns,” Solis said. “I wish we would do something more with that.”

The cell phone debate was revived recently when a student in Georgia killed two teachers and two students and injured nine others with an AR-15 rifle. At that time, multiple news outlets reported texts that students were sending parents during the shooting.

Still, Solis, who is running for a second term, said she also understands how distracting social media is for students and how that can affect a teacher’s ability to teach without distraction. Ultimately, Solis said, if policies are needed, it should be up to individual school districts to decide.

Republican Yazmin Navarro, a first-time candidate for the District 8 seat, said that, as a paraprofessional working in classrooms, she gets a first-hand view of how cell phones impact classrooms, noting that they present both a safety and security concern.

Navarro said when students are using cell phones during class and told to stop, they usually don’t,

“They have to be warned multiple times,” Navarro said. 

If districts want to keep cell phones in schools, Navarro said she supports stricter policies and teaching “phone etiquette.”

District 3 Republican candidate Sherri Wright supports more discipline across the board for all school districts, including cell phone use policies for students.

Wright, who has taught in the state’s rural school districts, said she understands the social and safety aspects of the cell phone debate and that “education is the priority.”

Wright believes school districts should have complete control over cell phone policy, noting that whatever decisions a district makes regarding the matter, “they must stand by them.”

Democratic challenger and District 3 incumbent Ellen Angeles said her classroom experience has allowed her to see what works and what does not, adding she has witnessed learning environments with and without cellphone policies.

Angeles said a districtwide policy relieves the burden on teachers, who do not have to decide on a class-by-class basis.

Like several State Board of Education candidates, Angeles feels the state or legislature should refrain from mandating a cellphone policy.

District 4 Republican Kristi Burton Brown said it is a tough issue, adding that she particularly understands the need for cell phones for students living in rural school districts and noting that the distance between them and parents can require more communication systems.

However, Brown said she could support either position when it comes to policy making. The candidate said if the state created a smart policy, she would be open to supporting it. Local districts might be best at setting policy that fits their specific needs, she said. 

Democratic candidate Krista Holtzmann, who is running in the District 4 race, said the State Board of Education’s job is to address any issue actively disrupting the learning environment.

“Cell phones do impact learning,” she said. “So, I think we should at least have a voice.”

To best serve students, Holtzmann said she would like to see the state board and school districts conduct more conversations.

“We are best going to serve students by working together,” she said. “I don’t have an exact answer, but basically, it’s that whole conversation, communication, and partnership between all the schools and the state board that serves our kids.”