Over the past year or so, there has been fairly regular and consistent attendance from outside the district to school board meetings and work sessions for the Greeley Evans School District’s 6th School District, but not far.

Windsor resident Aaron Smith, a member of the nearby Weld RE-4 School District School Board, has attended District 6 meetings since August 2021, when he was one of five Weld RE-4 board candidates. I’m here. He was elected to the Board in his November 2021.

Weld RE-4 is a school district of approximately 8,100 students located in Windsor, Severance and West Greeley. Greeley Evans has approximately 23,000 students in Greeley and Evans.

Smith, 36, is an IT professional. he has a family In Colorado, school board seats are elected unpaid, so why did Smith decide to attend the District 6 meeting?

“It comes down to two things,” he said before the District 6 conference late last month. “Knowledge is power. The more experience and observation, the more knowledge you have. That’s a big part of it.”

Smith said he also attends meetings to give encouragement to other board members. Smith said he was in a room where District 6 board members were asking or in need of encouragement. He’s not just there to support members who may be more philosophically aligned, such as his friend new sixth member Taylor Sullivan.

Sullivan was elected to District 6’s Board of Directors in November 2021. She has attended at least one of her Weld RE-4 board meetings in the past few weeks.

“I’m here to encourage those who need it,” Smith said. “A lot of people here know me. I’m here to encourage those who want encouragement.”

The Weld RE-4 Board holds regular meetings on the third Monday of each month. Welding RE-4 work sessions are held on the first Monday of each month, with subsequent sessions held on Mondays at Severance High School.

Greeley Evans District 6 normally holds work sessions and board meetings on the second and fourth Mondays of each month in the District Administration Building. District 6’s next work session and meeting is Monday.

Smith said the interest in the District 6 Board has nothing to do with it being bigger than the Windsor Severance system. The “learning opportunity” of seeing and hearing what’s happening at Greeley is an opportunity Smith cannot ignore.

“What’s said, what’s not said,” added Smith. “I read eyeballs.”

Smith said he can guide his actions at meetings by looking at other board members. He said that looking at different boards makes him think about his overall attitude when in front of an audience with Weld RE-4, for example. Is he speaking too slow or too fast? What kind of body language is he projecting?

Even if you aren’t a member of the neighborhood school board, Smith added, you’re interested in District 6.

“We are more than just a city,” he wrote in the message. “We are one county, one state, one country. I am a researcher, a learner, and I like to research things. If possible, that’s my intention. I’ll help anyone who really wants help.”