Commissioner's Teacher Cabinet

About the Commissioner's Teacher Cabinet

The Commissioner's Teacher Cabinet is an opportunity for Colorado teachers to share their hands-on classroom knowledge. This advisory group is made up of 23 practicing teachers from around the state representing small, medium, large, rural, suburban and urban school systems.

Role of Teacher Cabinet Members:

Serve as a sounding board for the implementation of state education policy.
Brainstorm solutions for some of the challenges facing today's educators, such as raising achievement among all students, supporting low-performing schools and increasing the number of individuals joining the teaching profession.

News and Announcments

Commissioner Anthes added 12 new members to the Teacher Cabinet at the start of 2023. Read the full news release from Feb. 27.

2024 Commissioner's Teacher Cabinet Members

Photo taken February 2024.

Teacher cabinet members listed alphabetically by last name:

Emily Adams - English language arts and social studies teacher, Adventure Elementary, Mapleton Public Schools
Tina Barber-Matthew – Social studies teacher, Clear Creek High School, Clear Creek School District
Alfredo Beltran-Aguirre – Mathematics and Career and Technical Education at Colorado Early Colleges Aurora, Charter School Institute
Kaileigh Bonner – Second-grade English language arts and English second language at Burlington Elementary School, Burlington School District RE-6J
Marla Caviness-French – Gifted and talented at Jeffco Public Schools Education Center, Jefferson County Public Schools
Emma Copeland – Special education teacher, Strasburg Elementary School, Strasburg School District
Jimmy Day (2023 Colorado Teacher of the Tear) – Band director at East Middle School, Aurora Public Schools.
Donald Dilliplane – English and social studies, Grades 10-12, Montbello High School, Denver Public Schools
Caleb Flores (2024 Milken Educator Awardee) - ELA and CLD Teacher, Greeley West High School, Greeley-Evans School District 6
Pamela Ford – English language arts at Overland High School, Cherry Creek School District.
Crystalyn Garcia – English language arts at Villa Bella Expeditionary Elementary School, Pueblo District 70.
Beth Hamlin – Innovative practices at Academy of Las Animas Online, Las Animas School District
Tegan Lewis – Lead K-2 teacher and exceptional services administrator, Battle Rock Charter School, Re-1 Montezuma Cortez

Andrea Malouff – K-2 reading interventionist, Alamosa Elementary School, Alamosa School District
Jessica May (2024 Colorado Teacher of the Year) - Middle School, Turner Middle School, Thompson School District
Jennifer McLoud – English language arts teacher, Highland Middle School, Weld Re-9 School District
Kari Michal – Fourth grade at Merino Elementary School, Buffalo RE-4J School District
Lois Poulson-Fowler – Third grade reading, mathematics and special education at Wildflower Elementary School, Harrison School District 2
Autumn Rivera (2022 Colorado Teacher of the Year) – Science teacher, Glenwood Springs Middle School, Roaring Fork School District
Aicha Ross – Foreign language at Severance High School, Weld RE-4 School District
Brian Seppala – Science, grades 10-12, at Middle Park High School, East Grand School District
Baochau Thomas – Mathematics teacher, Horizon Community Middle School, Cherry Creek School District 5
Melissa Thorne – PreK special education at Tozer Primary School, Weld RE-4

The Colorado Teacher of the Year and the Milken Educator Awardee have an automatic positions on the cabinet.

View past members of the Commissioner's Teacher Cabinet