‘We Are One Community’: Gates Releases Case Study on Charter-District Compact in the Roaring Fork Valley

Relationships between district and charter school leaders are often fraught and framed as a competition for scarce resources. But when educators view themselves as colleagues who share a common interest in serving students and families equitably, lines of communication and cooperation can emerge.

The story of how district and charter school leaders in Colorado’s mountainous Roaring Fork Valley developed a compact to strengthen their relationships is chronicled in a new case study from Alan Gottlieb for Gates Family Foundation.

Read the Case Study

At a May 13 online event, Roaring Fork district and charter school leaders joined Gottlieb to share the story of the compact’s origin and how their process, agreements, outcomes and lessons learned can serve as guideposts for educators in other communities, both rural and urban. Gates Family Foundation Senior Program Officer for Education Ana Soler, who facilitated the compact discussions, also shared takeaways on how grounding complicated conversations such as these in common values can bring educators together in the interest of better service to children and families.

Photo courtesy of Roaring Fork School District