Brad Geiger was born in Cortez, Colorado. He earned a high school diploma from Hot Springs High School. Geiger earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado in 1985 and a law degree from the University of Colorado School of Law in 1988. His career experience includes working as an attorney at law, specializing in child protection law.[1]
General election for Douglas County School District Board of Directors District C
Brad Geiger defeated incumbent Jason Page and David DiCarlo in the general election for Douglas County School District Board of Directors District C on November 7, 2023.
Brad Geiger completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Geiger's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
I am focused on local issues not national agendas. As a 9 year volunteer for the District I have advised the Board of Education on important matters like teacher and staff compensation school capital needs, changing demographics, school boundaries. My I will address specific concerns to be sure that we have a well funded district that creates a safe, welcoming and respectful environment for all students with the goal of providing an education that serves their needs in the future.
Jimmy Carter who continued to make the world better even after he lost election. The dozens of legislators who worked against national objection to pass the Civil Rights Acts in 1965. Atticus Finch who fictionally stood for what lawyers should do and Justice Thurgood Marshall who did the same in the real world.
Transparency, honesty and openness to listening to a broad range of opinions. A willingness to learn from others with diverse view points and to change your opinions when appropriate. Some level of humility is needed for all of these. I don't claim to have all answers but I think solutions are possible if people work together.
A wide range of both personal and professional experience, especially as to the welfare of children. A proven ability to work with those I disagree with to reach satisfactory conclusions. I have deep knowledge of how our particular school district operates and the needs of the district.
I have fortunately lived a life mostly free of struggles to meet my needs and I benefit from family and societal support. My biggest growth area has been to move beyond what I was sure was "right" to grasping the deep complexity of our world. I still need to understand better the view points of those who have a very different experience in our society.
First you have to listen to the diverse communities within the district. You cannot become insensitive to the needs even of those you disagree with. After listening to those in the community I would seek to access expert information for data based decision making. Even after policies are formulated, feedback from the community must be considered.
First you have to make it clear you are open to listening. Then I would seek to have regular meeting with interested groups including parents, students, district committees, parent teacher organizations as well as more specific groups like parents of children with disabilities and learning needs.
Good teaching is disciplined and flexible, able to provide to each child what they need while keeping an eye on the goal of providing good citizens to the community. Evaluating teachers includes testing on basic skills but those are blunt instruments that do not capture all good teacher nor does it fully identify those who need to do better. We need a human based approach that includes frequent observation and collaboration with the teachers and building administration, with data based oversight from District administrators. Finally a comprehensive training program must be funded to assist teachers in improvement in all areas.
Our district has increased Career and Technical education in the last 10 years and that should continue to expand. We should also partner with local employers and trade unions to increase access to those fields.
We need more space for alternative programs for students who do not thrive in typical school environments.
Under the Colorado school funding process local tax payers have to approve increases to fully fund our schools. Local school boards must be transparent in their budgets and always have facts to support their request for taxpayer dollars. School boards must look for ways to influence lawmakers at other levels to ensure that schools are fully funded.
We must first have procedures in place to identify students who a may be at risk for acting in a dangerous manner. This requires collaboration between counselors, teachers and school safety personnel. Students must be encouraged to report concerns and feel confident those concerns will be addressed. Each school needs to be consistently evaluated for physical safety and fund allocated to improve those that are not up to current needs.
Each school must have dedicated mental health personnel available for everyone in the building. Teachers and staff need to feel that if they identify a student with needs that an evaluation will occur promptly and that the parents will be involved in further decision. Teachers and staff need to be trained in warning signs in students.
Teachers and staff also have to be trained in self care and given access to professional assistance if they want it. Crisis teams must be available for extreme events.
Our current procedures for bullying do not enunciate clear processes for reporting or how to escalate a complaint. Further the policy fails to distinguish between personal interactions and more systemic attacks. Those have to improve.
The current board leadership enacted a " parents rights" policy that targets gay and trans children in ways that are both dangerous to students and contrary to state and federal law. That must be changed.
Every student needs to feel that the school they attend is safe and welcoming. They must believe that their educational needs will be listened to and met with diverse class offerings. When conflicts arise there has to be a fair, transparent and effective process to address those issues.
The pandemic was unprecedented and I feel that our leaders navigated the uncertainty of the pandemic as well as they could, especially as the danger to children was not clear.
How we would address a future pandemic would involve what we are able to understand about the risks of a disease. We now know that there is a learning loss from closing schools and that loss would have to be balanced against the danger of remaining open. All procedures for limiting spread of disease would also have to be considered on a risk analysis.
Competitive pay is the first step. After that educators and staff have to believe that the administration and leadership respect their opinions and expertise by including them in policy discussions.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Note: Geiger submitted the above survey responses to Ballotpedia on September 28, 2023.
I am a 4th generation Coloradoan and a 20 year resident of this district. I have volunteered for the District for nine years advising the Board of Education on funding needs for educators and our district buildings. My work for the district shows my dedication to the students and the community. In my work as an attorney I have extensive experience with children's issues and I serve on the Colorado Juvenile Parole Board working with some of the most challenged children in the state. That experience makes me uniquely qualified to work on the Board of Education to provide a safe secure and welcoming environment for all of our students. I am focused on local issues not national agendas.
There is and will be a national shortage of educators based on low pay and perceived lack of respect for the profession. This issue has to be addressed at all levels of government to ensure that the next generation gets a quality education that leads to quality members of our community.
Integrity and openness are vital. In addition an elected official must be able to review feedback and address when legitimate concerns are raised by the public.
Experience in this district and deep information about the needs of the district, it's educators students and parents. I am straightforward as to my positions and I believe strongly that the leaders of the District need to be transparent in their policy making.
I would like to see a well respected and well funded district where all stakeholders voters consistently value our educators. I would like to help craft District policies and procedures that ensure the well being and safety of all our children.
To ensure that the policies of the School district are carefully crafted to provide the greatest opportunities for every student to succeed pursuant their goals and consistent with their needs and abilities.
We must continually address what the community needs from graduates and what education we can provide to meet those needs. Career and technical education is an important path for many and as the workplace evolves so should our education goals. For those who are headed to college we must adapt our curriculum to be sure it meets the goals of universities while maintaining a base level of knowledge and critical thinking.
Enable meaningful feedback opportunities with individual teachers as well as building supervisors. Have a robust reporting system to address concerns and to allow further discussions with administrators if appropriate. Have a transparent decision making process for district policies that responds to broad community concerns while avoiding excess attention to the most strident voices.
It starts with competitive compensation. That leads to a culture where employees feel respected and their opinions are valued. Each employees expertise should be considered in formulating policies and then provide an open communication process to allow them to cooperate with parents and students to develop each students goals.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Note: Geiger submitted the above survey responses to Ballotpedia on September 13, 2023.
Other survey responses
Ballotpedia identified the following surveys, interviews, and questionnaires Geiger completed for other organizations. If you are aware of a link that should be added, email us.
Ballotpedia features 617,489 encyclopedic articles written and curated by our professional staff of editors, writers, and researchers. Click here to contact our editorial staff or report an error. For media inquiries, contact us here. Please donate here to support our continued expansion.
