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

2025 Commissioner's Teacher Cabinet Photo

Photo taken February 2025

Teacher cabinet members are listed alphabetically by last name:

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
Janet Damon -- (2025 Colorado Teacher of the Year) – History teacher at DELTA High School, Denver Public Schools
Jimmy Day (2023 Colorado Teacher of the Year) – 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.
Nicole Gregersen - Kindergarten teacher, Mancos School District RE-6
Martha Gutierrez - Secondary Science & History teacher, Vilas School District RE-5

Beth Hamlin – Innovative practices at Academy of Las Animas Online, Las Animas School District
Jessica Kokoszka - ELD teacher at the Newcomer Center at Thornton High School, Adams 12 School District
Kerry Lauth - Third grade teacher, Ignacio School District 11-JT
Jessica May -- (2024 Colorado Teacher of the Year), Consumer Science teacher at Turner Middle School, Thompson 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
Aicha Ross – Foreign language at Severance High School, Weld RE-4 School District
Kurt Scriffiny - Social Studies teacher at Montrose High School, Montrose County School District
Brian Seppala – Science, grades 10-12, at Middle Park High School, East Grand School District
Ashley Smith - Summit Middle School, Summit School District
Sabra Sowell-Lovejoy - History teacher at Campo Undivided High School, Campo School RE-6
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