Posted on: February 10th, 2017

Dear Local Firefighters and Community members of the Gold Hill School, 

Thank you so much for all you do for our amazing community! As you know, the Gold Hill School has been an integral part of the community and character of the Town of Gold Hill since 1873.  At 143 years old, it is the longest continuously operating public school in the state of Colorado.  Gold Hill School reflects the character of this rural, mountain town and the students learn the importance of community and teamwork in addition to academics. The mountain environment of this historic mining settlement offers an experiential classroom for science, history, and environmental awareness. The multi-age, collaborative curriculum supports each child so that they can meet their potential and thrive academically. Gold Hill School is unique and exceptional in these and so many other ways.  But with a total of 20-25 students each year, Gold Hill is one of the smallest schools in the Boulder Valley School District (“BVSD”) and struggles to compete for funding with schools with hundreds of students. The school is a two room school house with K12 in one room and 345 in another.  Therefore, there are only two teachers at the school on any given day.   

Gold Hill School employs a third professional educator to act as school manager, support the classroom teachers, and fill in if a substitute is needed.  This need is particularly acute due to the remote, alpine location of the school, which can mean that getting a substitute teacher is extremely difficult and often not possible.  Based on this, to properly provide for the support, education and safety needs of the students, the Gold Hill School needs three qualified professionals in the building when children are at school.  BVSD does not provide full funding for the third position, and therefore we need to raise $7,000 to fund the third professional position for this school year.

This is where YOU, our fire protection volunteers and community members come in. Help keep our school staffed, safe and prepared for emergencies by sharing this crowding funding campaign with your friends and neighbors!  Please visit our link to donate and/or forward to help spread the word! 

Starting Monday February 13, the Gold Hill School PTO is embarking on a crowd funding campaign to raise $7,000 to ensure that the school’s staffing needs can be met. We are using the Chuffed.Org platform and our link is:

https://www.chuffed.org/project/goldhillschool

In Australia, “Chuffed” is slang for feeling really good about yourself.  The students of Gold Hill School are offering you the opportunity to ‘get chuffed’ by supporting them, the school and their community.  Please link to our site, make your tax deductible contribution, and then pass it on to someone who might be interested in supporting their education and our cause.

Natalie Littlefield aka Mishie