Adams City High School Teacher Sounds Alarm on Scheduling Chaos as School Board Votes Itself a Pay Raise–err, Stipend

Educator raises concerns about out-of-field assignments, student tracking, and lack of curriculum ahead of fall semester

At a June 16 Adams County School District 14 School Board meeting, a fifth-year social studies teacher stood before the board and laid out a picture of institutional dysfunction that she said has been building for years and raises serious questions about district priorities as the school year approaches.

Karol Martinez, a graduate of Adams City High School, who returned to teach at her alma mater, told board members and Superintendent of School, Dr. Karla Loria, that the end of the school year was "chaotic and unstable" and that things may not improve much when students return in the fall.

Teachers Assigned Courses They Weren't Trained to Teach

Among Martinez's most pointed concerns: teachers across multiple departments are being assigned to courses outside their areas of expertise, including Advanced Placement classes, without adequate notice or training.

"Multiple teachers have been placed in AP classes that they don't have the training for," Martinez told the board. "AP training happens over the summer and folks have not received any communication."

The concern is not just logistical. Advanced Placement courses are governed by College Board standards that include specific training requirements for instructors. Assigning teachers to AP courses without that training could put the district out of compliance with those standards and puts both teachers and students in a difficult position before the first bell rings.

Martinez noted the problem extends beyond AP courses and beyond social studies. Math and English departments, she said, are facing similar situations — teachers told to teach content they either have never taught or haven't taught in years.

"Instead of providing stability and allowing us to reflect on our previous content practice," she said, "we are now faced with anxiety over teaching something that isn't our strength."

Students Locked Into Academic Pathways That Don't Match Their Goals

Martinez also raised concerns about the district's academy model, which sorts students into career-focused cohorts. While the model is intended to give students focused, real-world learning experiences, Martinez described a system so rigid that students who want to change pathways cannot do so, even when those pathways conflict with their career goals.

She described two students who want to pursue careers in medicine and had expressed interest in the Health Science and Human Services Academy, but who have been placed in the Construction and Engineering Academy instead, with no clear path to transfer.

"Although you can argue that there are transferable skills," Martinez said, "the reality is that for a career in medicine a strong foundation, especially for first-generation, low-income students, is imperative. And instead of helping them build that foundation, we have limited their resources in the name of this academy model."

Critics of rigid academy tracking have long argued that such systems can disadvantage low-income and first-generation students by narrowing their options at precisely the age when they are beginning to form career aspirations. Federal guidance on equitable education has raised concerns about tracking systems that disproportionately limit opportunities for students from underserved communities.

A Pattern of Programs Cut in the Name of the Academy Model

Martinez's concerns didn't stop with the current school year. She described a pattern spanning several years in which the academy model has been applied in ways that have eliminated programs and constrained teachers' professional development.

Three years ago, she said, the district's AVID program, a nationally recognized college-readiness initiative specifically designed to support first-generation and low-income students, was eliminated because it did not "fit the academy model."

Two years ago, Martinez was teaching Civics and had built a partnership with the National Center for Civic Education's "We the People" program. She led mock congressional hearings that included city council leaders, district officials, and even a sitting state House representative. She completed 52 hours of outside professional development and was selected by her director to attend the national We the People conference in Washington, D.C.

When she returned from summer break the following year, she was told she would not be teaching Civics anymore, because the academy model required otherwise.

"Instead of helping me grow as an educator and build on my expertise," she said, "I was not supported in this matter because the academy model took precedence."

The Master Schedule: Goals Without Input

The immediate trigger for Martinez's public comment was an all-staff email sent by the school's new principal, distributing the master schedule for next school year — a schedule that, she noted, arrived without any prior teacher input or community engagement.

The email outlined three goals for the scheduling process: student-centered design, structural integrity of the academy model, and policy compliance.

"These are great goals," Martinez told the board. "But community input, and talking to teachers before making decisions, needs to be at the top of this list."

Meanwhile, the Board Voted to Pay Itself

The concerns raised by Martinez and others come as the Adams 14 Board of Education has moved to compensate its own members, joining a small number of Colorado school boards that have adopted stipend policies under a 2021 state law allowing districts to pay board members up to $150 per day.

Furthermore, some critics believe this change in policy may be in violation of the new state law. The 2021 law dictates that school boards must wait until after the next Board of Education elections for compensation plans to take place. The Adams 14 board compensation plan took place immediately.

The district has not broadly publicized the vote or its details, and the decision has received little media attention. But the timing has not gone unnoticed in the community. During public comment at the May 19 Board of Education meeting, longtime resident Glen Murray expressed concerns about board compensation during public comment stating 

“We could be looking at $150,000 in board compensation this year and that’s money that could go a long way to supporting our schools”.

For a district where teachers are reportedly heading into the fall without curriculum, where AP instructors haven't received training notices, where the AVID program was eliminated and a nationally award-winning civics program was dismantled, the question some community members are beginning to ask is a straightforward one:

Is it appropriate for a school board to begin compensating itself when these are the conditions its teachers and students are walking into this fall?

District officials have not publicly responded to the concerns raised at the June 16 meeting. The Adams 14 Board of Education holds regular meetings on the third Tuesday of each month.