My own kids benefited from the kind and highly skilled treatment they received from so many of their teachers in Poudre School District. The district helped me raise my children; Sera and Beau had many privileges they benefited from, and each did their best to make the most of the wonderful opportunities with which they were presented. They are doing well, each in her/his own way, as young adults today. I am running for school board because I believe no child in this district deserves anything less!

I view serving as a member of the Poudre School District Board of Directors as an opportunity to repay the rich support the district has provided my family and me over the years, to become an even more vocal advocate for high quality programs, equitable access to education for all children and families, and to champion the critical role the district plays in our community. I intend tp bring to bear all the background and varied perspectives that come with my diverse experience in education so that we can work together to meet present and future challenges thoughtfully and carefully.

Professionally, I have spent the last 35 years in the field of education, first as a graduate student preparing for a teaching license and Masters of Education in Secondary Teaching English and Social Studies with Bilingual Crosscultural Language & Academic Development (BCLAD) certification , then as a Masters Candidate in Teaching English as a Second Language (all at UCLA). Finally, after teaching high school in Salinas, CA, I was a doctoral student in Teacher Education at the University of Toronto, specializing in new/second language teaching and learning (the latter while teaching adult-level ESL classes).

For 24 of the last 29 of these years, I have been a teacher of teachers, first at San Jose State University in California and then at the University of Northern Colorado, in Greeley, where I taught for 20 years. My former students are now teachers and administrators throughout the state of Colorado, including Poudre, Thompson, and other districts around the state.

I retired from UNC in July, 2020, having returned from intermittent visits to Brazil over a five-year period, first as a Teacher-in-Residence working with Brazilian public school English as a Foreign Language teachers, then as a Fulbright Distinguished Teaching fellow in 2018-19, and finally as a visiting international professor at Universidade Federal dos Vales de Jequitinhonha e Mucuri (UFVJM). Since my retirement from UNC, I have served both as a regular and a full-time substitute teacher and as a Social Emotional Learning Specialist in Poudre and Thompson School Districts.

I have played the following volunteer roles in Poudre School District, in education, and in the larger community:

(a) parent of two PSD graduates who attended the Lab School for Creative Learning, Lincoln Middle School, Poudre High School, and Polaris Expeditionary Learning School over the courses of their student careers;

(b) classroom volunteer;

(c) board member and past president of the Fort Collins Food Co-op;

(d) board member and past president of the Colorado Association for Bilingual Education;

(e) member of the site-based management team at the Lab School for Creative Learning;

(f) representative to the District Advisory Board for the Lab School for Creative Learning;

(g) member of the Foothills Unitarian Church Board of Trustees;

(h) Democratic Party candidate for State Board of Education representative, CO 4th Congressional District (as of 2006);

(i) member of PSD’s Equity and Diversity Advisory Council for most of two decades;

(j) member of the City of Fort Collins’ Air Quality Advisory Board;

(k) chair of the Democratic Education Initiative (affiliated with the Colorado Democratic Party);

(l) co-founder and initial board chair of a statewide non-profit organization now known as Advocates for Public Education Policy (www.a4pep.org). I am currently a member of A4PEP’s Advisory Committee;

(m) Board member, Colorado chapter of the Partners of the Americas; and

(n) Advisory board member, Mother International Institute of Education, an organization dedicated to providing postsecondary educational opportunities to Afghan young women.

I am a supporter of teachers, school system staff, students, and their families throughout the district and state.

Tom Griggs, Ph.D., Associate Professor Emeritus
Foundations of Education & Bilingual/ESL Education

School of Teacher Education,
University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO

Former Visiting International Professor
Universidade Federal dos Vales
do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri (UFVJM)
Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Brazil

I have played the following volunteer roles in Poudre School District, in education, and in the larger community:

(a) parent of two PSD graduates who attended the Lab School for Creative Learning, Lincoln Middle School, Poudre High School, and Polaris Expeditionary Learning School over the courses of their student careers;

(b) classroom volunteer;

(c) board member and past president of the Fort Collins Food Co-op;

(d) board member and past president of the Colorado Association for Bilingual Education;

(e) member of the site-based management team at the Lab School for Creative Learning;

(f) representative to the District Advisory Board for the Lab School for Creative Learning;

(g) member of the Foothills Unitarian Church Board of Trustees;

(h) Democratic Party candidate for State Board of Education representative, CO 4th Congressional District (as of 2006);

(i) member of PSD’s Equity and Diversity Advisory Council for most of two decades;

(j) member of the City of Fort Collins’ Air Quality Advisory Board;

(k) chair of the Democratic Education Initiative (affiliated with the Colorado Democratic Party);

(l) co-founder and initial board chair of a statewide non-profit organization now known as Advocates for Public Education Policy (www.a4pep.org). I am currently a member of A4PEP’s Advisory Committee;

(m) Board member, Colorado chapter of the Partners of the Americas; and

(n) Advisory board member, Mother International Institute of Education, an organization dedicated to providing postsecondary educational opportunities to Afghan young women.

I am a supporter of teachers, school system staff, students, and their families throughout the district and state.

Tom Griggs, Ph.D., Associate Professor Emeritus
Foundations of Education & Bilingual/ESL Education

School of Teacher Education,
University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO

Former Visiting International Professor
Universidade Federal dos Vales
do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri (UFVJM)
Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Brazil