Tom Griggs, Education Policy Advocate
Together, we can build a stronger tomorrow
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About Tom Griggs
At my twilighting age(!), I don’t feel more than an occasional physical twinge to slow down the work of the last half of my life. I have always been an educator, whether thus designated officially, or simply as a matter of habit and what moves me in my life. That fascination has proven to be teaching, learning, and how all of us do these things, as well as how differently we each do them, one from the other of us.
As a young rabble-rouser in my teens and 20s, as a professional actor (and clown school dropout!), as a leader in the sales and marketing of natural foods in the 1980s, having then earned a license and a formal education in these areas of interest, I finally have come to own this mantel and the responsibilities it brings with it. Having finally given up on my dreams of being a certified clown, I finally recognize that I have actually always been an educator!
My goal now is a pretty simple but at the same time wonderfully complicated one: repaying the wonderful gift I have been given in this life, both inside and outside schools and classrooms by advocating for public schools that protect and preserve what is best about public education, while pushing hard for more equitable opportunities for all our kids, our grandkids, and the future of our country and world.
It is my intention to bring to bear all the background and varied perspectives that come with my diverse education experiences for meeting present and future challenges in our schools. This is my work as an education policy advocate!
I invite you to follow me as I pursue this path . . .
35 years in the field of education
A Teacher of Teachers
For most of the last four decades, I have been a teacher of teachers, first at San Jose State University in California and then at the University of Northern Colorado, in Greeley, CO. My former students are now mostly mid-career teachers and administrators throughout the state of Colorado, including Poudre, Thompson, and other districts around the state. I often experience the great pleasure of making contact with one of them, as I substitute teach in my local schools.
It is refreshing, renewing, and profoundly rewarding to make such contacts, as well as to observe my students working with their students.
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Public School Advocate
I am a thoughtful advocate for teachers, school system staff, students, and their families. My former students are now teachers and administrators all around Poudre, Thompson, and other districts throughout the state of Colorado.
The school board and administration underestimated the quality and intensity of potential initiative backlash. Such dramatic changes made without sufficient input and advice from those most affected by them undermines morale for those who will be “closed and consolidated upon,” as well as confidence in district leadership.
My own kids benefited from the kind and highly skilled treatment they received from so many of their teachers and schools’ staffs in Poudre School District. The district helped me raise my children; Sera and Beau had many opportunities they benefited from, and each did their best to make the most of the wonderful opportunities with which they were presented. They are doing well, each in her/his own way, as young adults today. I am running for school board because I believe no child in this district deserves anything less!
I made several trips to Brazil over a five-year period, first as a Teacher-in-Residence working with Brazilian public school English as a Foreign Language teachers, then as a Fulbright Distinguished Teaching fellow in 2018-19, and finally as a visiting international professor at Universidade Federal dos Vales de Jequitinhonha e Mucuri (UFVJM).