Beyond the Blackboard staff and visitors at the grand opening of the bookroom.
Hackberry Hill Elementary’s principal Donald Klene and kindergarten teacher Kara Erwin reviewing materials at the newly opened bookroom.
By Tracie Apel, Communications Specialist, Jeffco Public Schools
When you’re a teacher or administrator on a tight budget and you need new resources for your school or classroom, where do you turn? Esther Valdez, principal at Jeffco’s Rose Stein Elementary has come up with an interesting answer.
Sisters Jean Boylan and Jacqueline Killian, own and operate two Beyond the Blackboard stores; one in Arvada and one in Aurora. Opened over 10 years ago, it offers educational supplies to teachers and parents in order to foster creativity and fun, both in and out of the classroom.The teacher’s area of the shop has always been a go-to spot for educational toys, games, management products and decorations.
Both Boylan and Killian are passionate about education. Boylan is active in local school communities and has worked with highly impacted schools both in Jefferson and Denver counties. One of her particular interests centers around community engagement and marketing efforts.
Realizing that some district resources were dated and not aligned to state standards, Valdez saw an opportunity for a partnership with Boylan. She approached her asking for assistance in revamping her historic bookroom. Content specialists in Jeffco worked alongside Valdez and Boylan to review existing resources to see what materials were still relevant.
Speaking of Boylan’s involvement, Valdez said, “She rolled up her shirt sleeves and was in the trenches with us from the very beginning. Jean looks at things not from a business perspective, but from an educator lens. She became an invested partner, which is so unique.”
After identifying huge gaps in materials, they creatively organized a “bookroom” where science and social studies books are grouped together in tubs to align with current state standards. School leaders from Colorado, Wyoming and Eastern Kansas were invited to preview the new space and they were, according to Boylan, “blown away.”
At their opening at the end of January, they introduced the concept of organizing the books by science and social studies strands to enhance the art of teaching reading across all subjects. Over 50 different publishers are represented in their collections. Schools often purchase large collections from the same publisher so this new combination of categorization and variety offers teacher the best of both worlds – so much of the work in curating collections is done for them.
“The level of engagement shoots up because of the different looks and presentations. Many of the materials are hands-on for the students as well,” states Valdez.
Additionally, their trademarked “Book Room Manager” plan aids parent or community volunteers in the school with a way to manage a school’s collection. Often, organizing and re-shelving books becomes haphazard – Beyond the Blackboard’s system helps to keep books tidy and where they belong.
According to Valdez, “The system is very visual, very organized and color-coded. It’s user friendly and very easy to identify what goes where.” This is especially helpful in the classroom where teachers are helping students at different learning levels. “Whether a student needs more or less challenging material, a teacher can find it quickly and allow the student to go deeper into the material or review past lessons to catch up.”
While teachers and administrators can shop directly from the book room, there is also an opportunity to create “wish lists” and an online ordering option which helps save time and assists schools in spending their resource budgets wisely.
“We want to be strategic with our budget spending,”said Valdez. “We will be able to prioritize with this system and make sure we are buying materials in an intentional way.”
The bookroom has only been open for a month, yet Boylan states, “It has been a fun and somewhat crazy ride! Teachers so far are loving it and those who have visited are making large purchases.”