This link seems to provide Dr. Sanchez' professional background:http://www.educationcenternm.com/SanchezResume.pdf
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I worked with Steve Sanchez in another district. He was one of the most gifted and hardworking teachers I had or have encountered.
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I sure hope Dr. Sanchez does not kill the DRA tests. I actually feel like they are going to help me with my instruction next year. I do not wish to be trained on yet one more thing!!! I am so tired of us adopting something, getting good at it and then throwing it out the window for something new. Can't we ever just be allowed to keep something long enough to get good at it?
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I can't take this anymore! I am going to quit!
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LCPS is in sad shape. Teachers are overworked, blamed and asked to do the impossible. Currently, teachers seem to want stability. Let's start the new school year with no changes: same attendance form, same lunch form, same report cards, same IEP forms! Teachers are the flunkies - make parents happy, make principals happy, make the state happy. Do not discipline the dear little children you might harm their self concepts. What is with different demands at the schools? What is with the lesson plans with standards and benchmarks? You know the ones the substitute can not make heads or tales out of them . Most teachers make separate lesson plans for substitutes or come in very sick in order not to make separate lesson plans! Aren't the teachers suppose to follow the approved curriculum? If the approved curriculum is mandated by CO people, shouldn't they read the standards and benchmarks prior to selecting the curriculum? Hmmmm Also I question the future of quality education in the future. Teachers are dropping like flies. They are retiring or counting the days before they retire. Many are living off drugs to survive the attacks made on them daily and pretending nothing is wrong. I haven't seen so many burnt out teachers in ages. Perhaps administration should take a hard look at what they are demanding. Soon there will be no sane teachers left!
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I'm glad to see that someone out there is in agreement that Mr. Zamora needs to go. He is nothing but an arrogant, farce, egotistical and incompetent man. He has run off good QUALIFIED employees. It's a shame that he has "ADMINISTRATION" employees fooled. We can not afford to keep this monster in our district. ZAMORA NEEDS TO GO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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How is it that this blog has gone from a worthwhile way for people to discuss serious topics to the electronic equivalent of the teachers lounge?

About 8 years ago, I completed an internship at one of the elementary schools here as a requirement for my Master's in Counseling degree. Up to that time, I had seriously considered becoming a school counselor--I love kids, believe strongly in public education, the schedule was wonderful, and the idea that I would actually be paid halfway decently and get some retirement benefits were all very, very appealing. Thank God I did the internship.

Over the semester, I got to listen to the inside chatter of all the teachers in the lunch lounge everyday. Almost all of it was just endless complaining: denigrating their students, denigrating their supervisors, gossiping about someone else and how much money they got, b**ching about how they had to submit this form or that report. Kvetch, kvetch, kvetch. I never saw such a bunch of unhappy people who felt and took no control over their own lives in my life. I decided then and there that there was NO WAY I would sacrifice my own health to work in an environment I hated.

What I also noticed was the effective teachers-- the ones who seemed to enjoy their work and kids, got good results in their classrooms, and accepted as mature adults that the work world is flawed and imperfect-- were rarely if ever in the lunch lounge at all. What I saw was those teachers were usually taking their lunch in their class rooms or with their students or maybe one on one with a colleague discussing educational issues. They were not wasting precious time wallowing in and venting negativity, but instead chose to engage in productive and self sustaining activity.

That is what I see, unfortunately, has happened on this website. Constant catty and negative commentary. Constant whining that you don't make enough money, when the truth is teachers are being paid record salaries and raises here in the district. Gossip that has no purpose other than to zing someone you are envious of or disagree with. Petty, nasty small minded s**t.

There is a difference between productive descriptions of problems, and plain ole' garden variety whining, folks. The thing is, if you are feeling hopeless, angry, blaming and helpless all the time, it is a sign of depression and burn out. That is a real thing, a valid issue for the profession you are in and you deserve to address it by seeking out some supportive mentoring or counseling before it kills you. Hanging around other people in an endless "misery loves company" coffee break doesn't help anyone feel any better--you just reinforce how bad you feel, tear down your energy reserves, stunt your creativity. You reinforce the wrong-headed notion that things are hopeless to change. Which, of course, is wrong.

Is it really worth turning into the proverbial unhappy, unhealthy crabby 3rd grade teacher who yells all day at her students for the last 10 years of her career, goes home exhausted every night, and no one likes? Is it possible that some of you need to move on to bigger or greener pastures, challenging yourself with new and refreshing ways to use your God-given talents and experience---instead of staying stuck in a place that is not giving you what you need? At the very least, stop hanging out with people who just reflect and magnify your own misery. The damn retirement check won't be worth anything if you croak six weeks after retirement.