Dr. Rob Anderson, the new Boulder Valley School District superintendent has a plan for his first 100 days on the job. Part of that plan is to hold meetings with every community BVSD supports.

He came to Monarch High School Thursday, November 1, to introduce himself and answer questions from the community.

One thing the superintendent was concerned with was the lack of student input when teachers get evaluated in BVSD.

“In my experience, if you want to see how a teacher is doing, ask the kids, and they paint you a pretty good picture,” he said.

The superintendent has spent his career working at in Florida and at the district level in Georgia.

A difference between those states and Colorado is Colorado’s lack of education funding. The National Education Association ranked Colorado 35th in the nation in funding for education.

Literature at the event supported Amendment 73, a proposed tax increase of 1.3 billion dollars that would have been earmarked for education. Colorado voters rejected the amendment on Election Day.

After the amendment’s failure to pass, the superintendent’s office responded about the factual impact it caused.

“We are disappointed that Amendment 73 failed, knowing that education is significantly underfunded in the State of Colorado,” said Randy Barber, a spokesman for the Superintendent.

“The measure would have generated approximately $48.7M for the Boulder Valley School District, helping us address the $23 million shortfall the district has faced over the past 10 years due to underfunding from the state,” Barber said.

BVSD and Monarch’s new cell phone policies have been a source of frustration for many students. It is something that Dr. Anderson said he wants to address in the upcoming months.

“The key term is relashionships. There’s a conversation there that our board and I will be having in January on what our philosophy is as a district working with technology.”

He also related to families side of the cell phone debate

“As a dad, I like being able to know where my kid is all the time on the 360 apps and knowing they can text me when something’s going on.”

Dr. Anderson currently has one child enrolled at Monarch High School, with another attending Louisville Middle School.

For more on the superintendents 100-day plan and the progress he is making to achieve his goals, visit the BVSD website.