2 Birds. 1 Stone.

Woodland Park's local charter school showcased their creativity last week with the execution of a plan that solved two problems with one solution: they hired an unemployed hitch-hiker to teach their high school AP Economics Course. 

It was a cloudy spring afternoon in the mountains when Dr. Schwynne Schekron (it's just a PhD. She's not a real doctor) encountered Anthony "Tony" McStrolls with his thumb out along northbound Highway 67. 

As Dr. Schekron was driving along Highway 67, she found herself ruminating on the local charter school's need to fill the high school AP Economics teacher position. Interviews for the position up to that point had only come from union-affiliated professionals who reported being aligned with the Colorado Education Association's anti-capitalism platform. 

As her rumination began to turn to frustration with the inability to fill the position, Dr. Schekron noticed something up on the road ahead. It was a gentleman with his thumb outwardly extended in an apparent plea for a ride. 

"Hello, Sir," Dr. Schekron said as she rolled down her passenger window, "can I give you a lift somewhere?" 

"Oh, hey man!," the hitch hiker exclaimed. "I'm Tony, but everyone just calls me 'Stoney.' I'm headed up to Boulder, Colorado. You know, the City of Tolerance and Bliss."

"Well, I can give you a ride as far up Highway 67 as Deckers. You should be able to hitch another ride from there," Dr. Schekron explained as she opened the passenger door gesturing for Stoney to get in. 

As they drove, Dr. Schekron bemoaned the woes of trying to hire a high school AP Economics teacher. Stoney, who self-describes as being goal oriented, found he really wanted to help this person who had been so kind as to give him a ride.

"Well, do you think I could do it?," Stoney asked. "I don't have any documented work experience, but I've been pretty entrepreneurial in the illicit weed trade. It's taught me a lot about the economics of the black market. Might that qualify me? If so, Boulder can wait."

After collecting her thoughts for a moment, Dr. Schekron responded by stating "you know, charter schools in Colorado can hire persons not licensed through the Colorado Department of Education's monopoly on educator credentialing.  We just put a waiver in place. It's that easy. Boom. Done. Hired." 

After sharing a quick handshake making Stoney's hiring official, Dr. Schekron turned her car around, and they headed back to town. 

In what seems to be a thumbing of her nose to the Colorado Revised Statutes, Section 22-63-201, which "waives the school from the state requirement that all teachers hold a valid teacher’s license with CDE so that the school has the ability to hire qualified, unlicensed individuals," Dr. Schekron hired Stoney despite the fact that he holds no qualifications whatsoever. 

Of course, Woodland Snark hears rumor that this is common hiring practice at the local charter school. That is to say, while state statute allows for charter schools in Colorado to easily hire individuals with certain expertise, and for those individuals to offer instruction in the area of their expertise without being licensed through the CDE, the local charter school here seems to simply hire unqualified persons with reckless abandon.  We hear rumor that most of them never completed high school, themselves. It's quite extraordinary, really.  

Stay tuned with us here at Woodland Snark as we plan to check-in with Stoney after the first quarter of next school year.