School Board Recognition Month

January is School Board Recognition Month

In celebration of School Board Recognition Month, celebrated January 2024, this resource kit provides resources to help recognize the contributions to public education made by the members of Colorado boards of education.

As citizens who serve students and represent their communities, school board members face complex and demanding challenges. The month of January is designated as School Board Recognition Month to honor those individuals who go above and beyond for all Colorado schools and their students. They are extraordinary people who voluntarily tackle the enormous job of governing school districts and do so in a manner that illustrates what it means to be an incredible advocate for our students.

School board members come from all walks of life. They are farmers, secretaries, doctors, lawyers, homemakers, teachers, architects, truck drivers, professors, business owners, and real estate agents, just to name a few. While they all come from different backgrounds and live different lives, these individuals come together on their school board with the common goal of helping students grow, learn, and enjoyment of their educational experiences. While they may individually disagree on certain issues, their role as a board is to consistently strive toward that goal day in and day out. 

Board meetings are just a fraction of the amount of time and energy that school board members devote to leading their districts. There are seminars, conferences, and training sessions that members regularly attend in order to keep abreast of the latest trends in educational leadership, classroom teaching methods, and much more. They are deeply involved in community activities and spend many hours in schools and at extracurricular events. 

We hope you’ll take this opportunity to help acknowledge the board members who make the time to share their leadership and voice about the future of Colorado students.

This toolkit provides many resources to help celebrate School Board Recognition Month — your note of thanks will go a long way to acknowledge all school board members do to serve.

Please send any photos and information from your celebrations to [email protected]. We will post photos from celebrations on our Facebook page and Twitter.

“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.”
~ Cynthia Ozick

Resources to help celebrate School Board Recognition Month

• Tips for school administrators
• Tips for staff, students, and parents
• Tips for community groups, service clubs, and businesses
• Sample proclamation: Encourage the mayor’s office to declare January 2024 school board appreciation month in your community.
• Sample news release: Customize on district letterhead and send to local media.
• Sample editorial: In addition to its use as a guest editorial, this article also can form the basis of a column in your community newsletter, a speech, or a letter to the editor.
• Sample newsletter article: Customize and place in school, district, and community newsletters.
• Sample letter to community groups and service clubs: Inform your local community groups and service clubs that it is a perfect time to recognize school board members.
• Sample public service announcements: These radio public service announcements (PSAs) can be faxed or emailed to radio and TV stations. If you have a student-run television studio, create a video with images of the board in action and record the voice over the images.
• Sample messages for social media and school marquees: Use these messages to show your appreciation.
• Inspiring Quotes: Use these quotes regarding education to help show your appreciation towards your school board members.

• Certificate: These can be run through your color printer or photocopied to be presented by the district.
• Social media images: Use #SchoolBoardMonth on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to share how your district is celebrating.

Please send any photos and information from your celebrations to [email protected]. We will post photos from celebrations on our Facebook page and Twitter.