Letter: Community supportive of schools

Thanks to the community for supporting our schools

An open letter to the community:

On behalf of the Aspen School District and Board of Education, we are writing to express our sincere gratitude for the continued support of our school community. Over the past few months, we have seen vivid examples of your generosity toward public education and our students.

In November, you decisively passed ballot issue 3A, the mill levy override, which is the first step in our plan to provide stable, long-term local funding that will permit the district to maintain our small class sizes, innovative programs and highly qualified teaching staff.

In December, the fundraising for the Aspen Valley Land Trust’s acquisition of the Marble Base Camp property was rapid and overwhelming. This acquisition allows us to continue our signature outdoor education programs and once more was made possible by the generous gifts of our community, including many recent and not-so-recent Aspen outdoor education alums.

In January, thanks to your unstinting generosity, the Aspen Education Foundation annual Flamingo fundraiser was highly successful. AEF supports many of our programs including our high school college counseling, aeronautics and robotics programs, just to name a few.

You have shown that you are passionate and concerned about how we do things as a board and as a district, and we hear you. The bottom line is, you care. Throughout their time in our district, our kids feel that caring and concern. They are buoyed by confidence and affirmation as they move into the world beyond our community. They can succeed and achieve knowing that their community is behind them.

Thank you again for your outpouring of support and your help in the near future as we continue to work towards securing local funding for our schools. We are humbly challenged and inspired by you as we strive to be the best stewards, both financially and philosophically, of all that our community values in our district and in education.

Aspen School District Board of Education

Susan Marolt

Sandra Peirce

Sheila Kennedy Wills

Bob Glah

Margeaux Johansson