The main function of the Park County School District #1 Board is to properly manage our public schools in accordance with local, state and federal laws. They set budgets and district policies, while representing our community. 

While our school board affects our day-to-day life as students, many may not know about the school board, what happens at meetings, or how it can help them as students. 

“I think it’s really important for students to care about the school board and school board meetings,” Jacobsen said. “The decisions that are being made at school board meetings and the things being discussed all impact us directly… we do get a voice in what they’re saying and what they’re deciding, but nobody’s really using that power the way they should.”

School Board members are called Trustees, and they are voted into office every four years. Every two years, there are spots open so that there is never an inexperienced board. This is called a staggered board or rotating terms. 

During October 2025, student council members Audrey Johnson, a senior, and Ashlee Jacobsen, a junior,  were offered the opportunity to serve as Student School Board Representatives. This is an attempt to give the student body more representation. 

“The school board is there to make decisions for the students,” Jacobsen said. “But they’re not students themselves, so they need to hear from students to be able to know what is right and what decision is best. They need to hear from us to know how best to represent us, but if they’re not hearing from us, our voices aren’t going to be heard. So the best thing to do is to reach out to them, make your voices heard, build that connection with the school board, because they can’t do their job properly if they’re not given resources, just like we can’t as students, do our work properly if we’re given resources… I’ve sat through many board meetings now. It’s mainly just the adults that get to do a lot of the talking, but students do have the opportunity. Just nobody’s taking it.”

Johnson and Jacobsen function as a voice for the students. During workshop meetings, the student representatives can bring up issues or accomplishments to the school board, and they have scheduled reports about the high school. 

“On a business meeting day, it is typically a more formal environment, with less or no input from the student representatives,” Johnson said. “We are usually just taking notes on what is going on so that we can report back on any impactful decisions to the high school. On a workshop day, we usually get to provide input and feedback. We have now scheduled a few reports on the high school so that the board members can hear about the past accomplishments and upcoming student events.”

During the workshop meetings, the school board members are not on podiums. They sit around a table, and it is much less formal than a business meeting. People can still observe workshop meetings, but there are generally fewer attendees. This is where the student representatives can thrive. 

“So in the workshop, Audrey and I, we split up the topics that we wanted to talk about … And one of the things that we wanted to bring up [recently] with that was that we have 50 kids in indoor track and three coaches, one of which is only a numbers-based coach.”

Johnson and Jacobsen felt like there was substantial growth within the program, but not as much support as they wished. 

“Having three coaches and 50 athletes is not beneficial for a program whatsoever, and we’ve seen that throughout this season,” Jacobsen said. “It’s a lot of work for our coaches to be able to handle that many athletes and to help us all succeed at the same time. We’re not all getting the attention we deserve, and it’s not any fault of our coaches, and that’s what we brought up, is that we are seeing such growth in the program, but we’re not being supported.”

In that process, the student representatives first communicate through administration at the high school, then move to the superintendent and the board. 

“Typically, we don’t bring issues to the board unless it is through our report,” Johnson said. “We can comment on some of the issues they are talking about, but usually, we don’t bring up issues that the board would have policy on. To do that, we need to go through the chain of command, which would involve starting with the administration at the school, where there is the issue, then moving to Mr. Curtis [Superintendent], then the board.”

Johnson noted that the board takes student input seriously. 

“We have commented on inaccuracies in the reflection of the high school,” Johnson said. “Like dismissal times, and other discrepancies, and all of them have been written down, discussed, and some of the corrections have been implemented.”

One of the current issues is the recalibration of the state budget. The state is attempting to increase teacher pay via a new funding model, which restricts funds to specific uses rather than block grants. This could result in dismissals and cutting of programs or their funding. 

“They just did the recalibration, which will affect a lot of funds for schools and budgets,” Jacobsen said. “That can really impact our education system. It can potentially be cutting teacher salaries, cutting teachers, cutting classes, things like that, from my understanding. So it’s something you need to stay informed on and use our voice to speak out.”

With unanswered questions about how the recalibration will play out, students and board members are trying to understand what the changes will mean in practice.

“[The new budget] is going to have some implications for our teachers and the district in general,” Johnson said. “But the board and the business office have done a really good job at managing what money we have in reserve so that it will impact the district and the students the least.”

But the main issue for Johnson and Jacobsen is student involvement. So far, it has been difficult to represent the school because they have not received input. They are open to being contacted and urge students to bring up concerns to them, whether that be in-person or via email. 

If you wish to contact one of the student representatives, contact information will be listed below. 

Audrey Johnson’s Email: [email protected] 

Ashlee Jacobsen’s Email: [email protected] 

Students can find more information and meeting agendas on the School Board Webpage.