Best school district to work for? (Denver, Boulder: 2014, salary, taxes)

[Slang7]

Hi! I'm a school psychologist and am planning on moving to Denver in the summer. I'd love some advice about which school districts are best for employees?
Also, if there any district employees who've been hired through a contract agency (e.g., Solliant, Procare, etc) I'd love to hear about your experiences too.
Thanks in advance!!

[Fstopblues79]

Where are you moving from? I'm moving from NY and I'm a school guidance counselor so I have similar questions

[Slang7]

Moving from CA.
Hope we get some responses :-)

[SkyDog77]

davidv should chime in on this. He generally seems to have a low opinion of Douglas County and Jeffco because of new conservative school board take overs that are making for unfavorable work conditions for a lot of teachers in the district. Boulder County and Cherry Creek districts always rate high for both faculty and students. Littleton Public Schools also seems to rate highly.

Denver Public Schools is getting better. From a selfish standpoint I hope they are able to attract and retain talented people.

[davidv]

I do have a low opinion of DCSD's school board, but in this case, you might be lucky. According to their "market pay" philosophy, school psychologists are in the highest pay band. This means highest starting, highest average, and highest top pay.

Not sure about Littleton, they have had some credibility problems as a school psychologist determined that the student who later shot up Arapahoe HS was a low level threat.

Cherry Creek is a very good place to work as is Boulder Valley. Jeffco is hit and miss, and we are waiting to see what the board does.

Denver was a train wreck when I worked for them 20 years ago and seemed to be about the same when I worked for them last year-- very bureaucratic.

On the other note, I do not know of anyone getting a job through a contract agency.

[Colorado 303]

I always hear great things about Cherry Creek and Boulder Valley. My mom currently works at school district 27J and has for the past 8ish years (Brighton). From what i hear, i would not recommend 27J. The district is having a lot of trouble financially because the ballot to raise local taxes by a small amount has failed every time for as long as i can remember. Currently, they're strongly considering switching their schools to go year round to save money and help with the overcrowding.

[Slang7]

Thank you for your responses. That's awful about the student at Arapahoe HS. But, as in any profession there are those who aren't good at their jobs and unfortunately risk assessment is often not covered adequately in graduate training programs for these times we live in. :-/

[Mystery123]

Jefferson, students go on protests so no need to teach.

[JohnnyDenver]

I was always biased towards favoring Jeffco since I've lived in that district for so many years and in the 80's I was part of the "Jeffco All-Stars Anti-DUI" team, but I've grown somewhat despondent with the current school board and how they handle critical issues.