Voter guide: Cherry Creek school board candidates answer 6 questions about their priorities

A photograph of a green locker with a combination lock.
Voters in the Cherry Creek School District will elect two school board members on Nov. 4. (Stacey Rupolo for Chalkbeat)

Four candidates are seeking two open seats on the Cherry Creek School District board this year.

Candidates Terry Bates and Amanda Thayer are running for the District D seat representing the area that includes Buffalo Trail Elementary School, Cherokee Trail High School, and Legacy Stadium. The district is currently represented by Kelly Bates, who can’t run for reelection due to term limits. Candidate Terry Bates is married to Kelly Bates.

In District E, candidates Mike Hamrick and Tatyana Sturm are running to represent the area that encompasses Rolling Hills Elementary, Grandview High School, and the Cherry Creek Innovation Campus. The district is currently represented by Kristin Allan, who is not running for a second term.

The local teachers union, the Cherry Creek Education Association, has endorsed Bates and Hamrick.

To help voters make their decisions, The Aurora Sentinel sent all of the candidates the same set of questions. Their answers are below.

This voter guide was produced by The Aurora Sentinel in collaboration with Chalkbeat Colorado.

The Latest

Teachers who survived school shootings are banding together to form a crisis intervention team

Johnson teaches fourth grade at Central Elementary in Plainfield. She shared her love of reading, a project she pitched with students to the principal, and the best advice she’s ever received.

The district’s inspector general issued a special report flagging lax travel spending oversight and excessive professional development trips.

Educators said they feel unprepared to face immigration enforcement and want more training.

MSCS has four schools with designated deaf education programs. But parents say there aren’t enough ASL interpreters or trained teachers to help students succeed.

Many have claimed that there’s been a generational pivot away from college, but the data doesn’t back that up.