Christopher Kiraly for Weld RE-4

12/16/2025

I’m incredibly proud to be part of the Orchard Hill Elementary PPO. This group works tirelessly to support our teachers and staff, ensuring they have the resources and encouragement they need to succeed. Their dedication and passion strengthen our entire school community and help make Orchard Hill such a special place.

12/12/2025

Congratulations, Ms. Odom!

I am incredibly proud to celebrate one of our very own teachers being recognized by the Colorado Department of Education. This honor reflects her unwavering dedication, passion for teaching, and the countless ways she inspires and supports her students every day.

Thank you, Ms. Odom, for your hard work, commitment, and the positive impact you make in our school community. Your recognition is well deserved, and we are thrilled to see your excellence celebrated at the state level!

Today for Teacher Tuesday, we are celebrating Michelle Odom, a fourth-grade teacher at Hollister Lake Elementary in Weld RE-4 School District. Michelle has been teaching for 15 years and also serves on the district’s transportation task force.

Michelle says the best part of teaching is the relationships she builds with her students. “I love getting to know each student as an individual — their interests, strengths, and challenges. It brings me great joy to see how much they grow academically and personally throughout the year.”

When she’s not in the classroom, Michelle enjoys watching her two boys play ice hockey, baking and cooking for family and friends, and spending quality time together at home or on new adventures.

12/04/2025

I came across something today that I found deeply upsetting and I feel compelled to share it with our community. Before I begin, I want to acknowledge that people are entitled to their own opinions, whether I agree with them or not. To that end, while I strongly disagree with the statement made by a member of our community, they have every right to express their views.

My concern is not with the comment itself, but with the fact that one of our Board of Education members, Mark Leach, publicly liked the post. Board members also have a right to personal opinions, but they simultaneously carry a fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interest of the public, our educators, and our students. That duty includes making informed, sound judgments on behalf of the district and demonstrating undivided loyalty to the public good.

In addition, Board Policy BCA: Code of Ethics for School Board Members states that board members must:
• “Support the employment of those persons best qualified to serve as school staff,” and
• “Remember always that my first and greatest concern must be the educational welfare of the students attending the public schools.”

Engaging with a post that implies teachers intentionally influence or alter students’ gender identities contradicts that code of ethics. It undermines the professionalism and care our educators provide, marginalizes an entire group of students, and further erodes trust between our teachers and district leadership.

As a community member who cares deeply about the success of our district, I believe it is necessary to call out actions that jeopardize staff integrity, promote misinformation, or harm the working relationship between the Board of Education and those who serve our kids every day. When a board member publicly interacts with statements of this nature, it has real consequences for morale, for community trust, and for the stability of our district.

For these reasons, I condemn the action taken by Board Member Mark Leach in this situation and respectfully request that he publicly address his engagement with the post and issue a formal apology to the educators, students, and community he is sworn to serve.

Our educators, our students, and our community deserve better.

11/20/2025

I’ve given a lot of thought to whether I wanted to share this information. This is not meant to be inflammatory or to diminish the worth or hard work of anyone in the district office. My intent is to start a conversation, promote accountability, and help our community better understand the perceived disparity between district administration and our teachers.

Using CORA (the Colorado Open Records Act), I compiled data on district administrative salaries and raises. While not every increase is strictly a “raise” (some reflect promotions or part-time to full-time transitions) the impact on the budget remains the same. That raises an important question: were all of these changes truly necessary at a time when we’re told there’s no room for teacher raises?

It also appears that district office salaries may be benchmarked against surrounding districts, a process our teachers have requested for years but have been told “there’s no money” to do.

Meanwhile, our highest paid administrator's salary is in the top 14% statewide (out of 177 districts), even though we’re consistently reminded that Weld RE-4 is among the lowest-funded districts in Colorado.

It’s time for our community to start asking the hard questions.

How are we allocating our limited resources?

Are our priorities aligned with the people who work directly with our kids?

As a side note, I’ve removed all personal identifiers from this data. This isn’t about individuals; it’s about transparency and fairness. This does not include all district office employees, it only highlights the top 25.

11/18/2025

Tonight, I spoke at the Weld RE-4 School Board meeting on behalf of our teachers.

I’m deeply disappointed in the board’s vote against our teachers this evening. This decision was a missed opportunity to rebuild trust and show real support for the people who make our schools strong.

The discussion around a collective bargaining agreement has become divisive, but at its core, it’s about something simple. Our teachers want to be heard. They love this district and our students, but many no longer feel that their voices matter in the decisions that impact their classrooms.

Teachers and students are deeply connected. You can’t support one without supporting the other. You can’t be “kid first” without supporting the people who are with our kids every single day. And you can’t truly support teachers when there’s an imbalance of power tilted toward the board and district leadership.

We hear often that “there’s no money” or “we’re one of the lowest-funded districts in the state.” Those challenges are real, but they don’t define us. Our community is creative, resourceful, and full of people who care deeply about our schools.

It’s time to move from conflict to collaboration.
It’s time to rebuild trust through honesty and action.
And it’s time to show our teachers that we value them as much as we say we do.

When we stand with our teachers, we stand with our students and with the future of this district.

11/11/2025

Today, we pause to honor the brave men and women who have served our nation and the families who have supported them through every deployment, every move, and every sacrifice.

To every veteran:
Thank you for your courage, your commitment, and your service.

To every military family:
Thank you for your strength, your resilience, and your countless unseen sacrifices.

Our community is stronger because of people like you.

On behalf of our family, we extend our deepest gratitude.
Your service makes our freedoms possible.
We honor you today and every day.

11/05/2025

To all my supporters,

I cannot even begin to express how grateful I am for each of you. Your encouragement, your time, your conversations, and your belief in this campaign have made a tremendous impact on me. Thank you for showing up, for speaking up, and for investing in something bigger than any one person.

While this is not the outcome I was hoping for, please know this: I’m not going anywhere. Our students, teachers, and community still deserve transparency, accountability, and a board that listens. There is plenty of meaningful work to be done as a community member, and I intend to continue doing it.

I will keep showing up to meetings.
I will keep holding the district accountable for its actions and decisions.
I will continue sharing information so our community stays informed and engaged.

And I will keep learning, growing, and gaining experience, because four years from now, I plan to run again, even stronger and even more prepared.

Thank you for believing that one person can make a difference, and for reminding me that we are never doing this work alone.

With deep gratitude,
Christopher (Chris) Kiraly

11/04/2025

This popped up in my feed and was also too big not to share! This was Nationals so this is a BIG deal!! Congratulations to these kiddos on their hard work!

11/04/2025

This is too big not to share! Proud of my friends on the PPO and PTA and thankful to be involved with such great people at a great school in our district. Thankful to Principal Sheila Bowman and VP Ericha Jaeger for all of their support as well.

🎉 Pelican Families, you CRUSHED it!
Our Reverse Trunk was a huge success, and thanks to our amazing families, we collected 1,172 non-perishable items weighing a total of 1,160 pounds to donate to our local food bank, helping support our beautiful community just in time for the holidays! 💛

A huge thank you to our Reverse Trunk volunteers who worked nonstop collecting and sorting donations from our kiddos before the Halloween parade.. You ROCK! 🙌
✨A special thank you to the Davey Family for taking care of our Reverse Trunk, getting their truck weighed before and after the event so we could see just how much we collected!
🎨And a big shoutout to Katherine Moore for decorating our Reverse Trunk and making it look as amazing as it was! ✨

Our school leadership threw down a fun challenge: if we matched the weight of candy donated, Mrs. Bowman and Mrs. Jaeger would be working half a day on our school rooftop. Well… our Reverse Trunk came in at 1,160 pounds compared to 1,126 pounds of candy (and jukeboxes!).. so it looks like our leaders better grab their climbing shoes! 🏫💪
Way to go, Pelicans! Your generosity, teamwork, and spirit are truly unmatched! 💙💛

11/04/2025

Please drop your ballot in the box BEFORE 7:00PM at the Windsor Rec Center Ballot Box, 250 11th St, Windsor or 3 Timber Ridge Pkwy, Severance! Thank you all for your excitement and support! 🗳🗳🗳🇺🇸

11/03/2025