There is no representation on the Aurora school board from northwest Aurora. No current board member (or school board candidate) graduated from Aurora Central High School — one of the neediest high schools in the state. I live within walking distance of my alma mater, and still have family that lives in northwest Aurora. Reflective of the community, I am the proud son of an immigrant and appreciate the cultural diversity of Aurora. While all of the school board members are at-large candidates, I do believe it is important to have a board that is reflective of the community.
I graduated from Aurora Central High School in 1989 and was the first person in my family to attend college and earn a degree. I earned both a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a Master of Arts degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Colorado Denver. I completed my student teaching at Denver West High School and taught at Escuela Tlatelolco back in the 90s. I was the executive director of a college preparatory nonprofit at Denver North High School where I continued to teach one class each semester for four years. I was a substitute teacher in APS in many long assignments at several high-need schools. I believe that these classroom experiences have given me an on-the-ground perspective that not all school board members (or candidates) have.
In 2000, I joined the newly launched Daniels Fund, one of the largest private foundations in the region. As one of the founding members of the Daniels scholarship team, I helped design and refine the scholarship selection process. Since inception, our scholarship program has helped thousands of students break cycles of poverty by earning college degrees and moving on to successful careers. Currently, I manage a multimillion-dollar grantmaking budget for aging and disabilities organizations in the Denver-metro area and for cradle-to-career educational efforts in the entire state of New Mexico. In addition, I recently led an outreach effort to understand the assets and highest needs in Aurora. This included several meetings with government, nonprofit, business, education and community leaders.
The breadth and depth of these experiences have given me multiple professional perspectives, from the classroom to budget management to community building, that I will bring with me if I am elected as a member of the Board of Education of Aurora Public Schools.
Biographical information provided by the candidate in the A+ Colorado Candidate Survey.
Candidate’s website: MiguelLovato.com