Share Your Gifts and Talents
To see what positions are currently open and to apply online click here.
We are looking for individuals interested in being an important part of our organization. Commitment to academic rigor, innovative instruction, standards of excellence and professional development are critical components of helping us continue to be an effective high-performing school. We hope that our joint focus on the educational mission and organizational culture will provide you with a developmental and personally rewarding professional environment.
We believe all employees are contributing members of the school culture. We are here for the purpose of providing the very best in educational opportunities in an environment of learning. We acknowledge that it takes a complex organization of administrators, coordinators, educators, teaching assistants, parents, community organizations, maintenance and janitorial personnel, food services, and other support services, as well as the board of directors working together to meet this goal. Further, we believe that every child and member of the school community is expected to achieve their full potential and has a destiny to improve our world.
“The school’s capacity to achieve its mission relies on the collective sum of the attributes, life experience, knowledge, creativity, determination, and passion that each one of us invests in our work every day.” Ron Jajdelski, CEO
We Believe
We believe in the craft of education; providing a rigorous and creative curriculum in an atmosphere of academic excellence which promotes a life-long love of learning; so when people choose to place their children in our hands, we are committed as practitioners to ensure they are in the very best of hands.
We believe in providing college preparatory education; our students and staff are not limited by race, socio-economic background, ethnicity or prior educational performance. Previous challenges are doorways to creativity and innovation; what may appear to have been liabilities are now opportunities to discover possibilities.
We believe the cultivation of individual gifts and talents changes things; the collaboration of those gifts and talents can change everything. We encourage interest at all levels of the school community and promote involvement in the larger community in which we live.
We believe CLA/VPA is a hands-on environment for character development, civic leadership, appreciation of the arts and cultural diversity, equipping the pioneers, explorers, discoverers, and leaders of the twenty-first century.
Professional Development
Professional development is an integral component of our teacher training and development program which supports creating teacher leaders at all grade levels. Developing leaders and master teachers is a focus for all administrators and remains central for programming and staffing as we continue to close the achievement gap for our students.
All staff actively participates in professional development (PD) which is directly aligned with the school’s vision to advance academic rigor in all content areas. Staff begins each year with an orientation designed to embed English Language Acquisition (ELA) strategies, Quantum Learning philosophy and Teach Like a Champion (TLaC) techniques throughout all instructional delivery. Professional development spirals throughout the school year utilizing a Professional Learning Community (PLC) structure throughout weekly staff meetings and bi-monthly team meetings. Principals lead PLC’s with grade level teams strategically to support ESL, Quantum and TLaC to enforce academic rigor. Intermediate and expert teachers also lead PD developing power point presentations, conducting peer observations and facilitating discussions intentionally designed to spur reflection on best practice which translates into classroom instruction.
Additionally, Induction is a two-year process and intentionally created to solidify a strong foundation for all new teachers. All inductees are required to attend PD, reflect throughout the year on instruction practice aligned with the organization’s expectations and actively participate in school-wide PD. Induction Programming supports all new staff as they orient into the schools and learn fidelity to curriculum as well as the academic rigor of instruction pedagogy we require. School norms include: Bobbie Deporter’s Quantum Learning strategies for brain-based learning, Robert Marzano’s classroom management with purposeful intent to raise student achievement, Madeline Hunter’ direct instruction, and Wiggins’ and McTigue’s Understanding by Design curriculum development using backwards design infiltrate the induction process and support the academic rigor maintained at CLA/VPA.
“Every child deserves a champion – an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.” Rita Pierson
Salary & Benefits
The school is responsible for Workers’ Compensation, employment benefits, fringe benefits and all other employment requirements of State and federal laws and regulations for its teachers and employees. Individual medical, dental, vision, life and short-term disability benefits are offered. All employees are members of the Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado, School Employees Division (“PERA”) to which the school is required to contribute 21.40% of salaries paid and employees are required to contribute 11% (effective July 1, 2022). State law establishes such rates. The school employs teachers pursuant to at-will, annually renewable agreements. Employees are not represented by any unions.