The Garfield Re-2 School District has two school board seats on the ballot for the Nov. 4 election. The openings are in District A, currently held by Megan Heil, and District E, which is held by Scott Bolitho.
Darlane Evans is running against Heil for the District A seat, and Steven Beaulieu is running unopposed for District E.
Evans is a Rifle High School graduate and longtime teacher in the district who now works for Colorado’s Department of Education as a gifted resource consultant. Heil recently retired from a twenty year career in law enforcement and now co-owns a real estate investment company in Rifle. She was appointed to the school board in August after Britton Fletchall resigned.
In recent interviews with Aspen Public Radio, Evans and Heil discussed their priorities as school board candidates.
Addressing financial challenges
The Garfield Re-2 school district has a tighter budget this year due to declining enrollment and state budget cuts. Heil thinks the district should focus on generating more revenue by pursuing grant opportunities and embracing online education to boost enrollment.
“We have been seeing a huge, huge loss in not only students in seats, but also those that are choosing to educate online,” she said.
Heil applauded the district’s new online schooling option as a way to capture students who would otherwise enroll in a state or national online program.
For Evans, school funding “is not where it should be.” With a tighter budget than in previous years, she said the district should double down on recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers that can help schools meet their goals, like closing the achievement gap between white and Latino students.
Evans recalled working in the district and hearing from teachers who loved their work, but they were struggling amid the region’s high cost of living.
“If they can't live here, if they can't support their families here working in our school district, then they can't stay,” she said.
Both Heil and Evans want to see more collaboration between the district and outside partners to build more affordable housing.
“The district is currently the second largest employer, second only to the hospital district,” said Heil. “Those are great opportunities for partnering with local and like-minded governmental agencies to create housing opportunities that serve more than just the school district.”
Closing the achievement gap
According to Evans, the district has made good progress addressing the needs of Latino students, who make up 55% percent of the student body, but they still lag behind white students in academic achievement.
Evans wants a less one-size-fits-all approach.
“Do our teachers have resources to support our students who are maybe struggling with reading or struggling with math and not ready for this lesson? And then how are we supporting our students who are beyond this lesson?” she said.
According to 2025’s Colorado Measures of Academic Success, 21.7% of Latino students met or exceeded expectations in English Language Arts compared to 45.9% of white students. In Math, 13.8% of Latino students met or exceeded expectations compared to 34.7% of white students.
Heil said the district has put too much emphasis on learning English at the expense of other subjects.
“What happens is that the student might learn English, but now they're still at a third grade math level in the sixth grade.”
Heil is also advocating for more holistic support for students who are first generation English speakers who often struggle with additional pressure and responsibilities, like translating for family members and helping them navigate bureaucracies.
“A kid is not supposed to be leading their family in this area — they're supposed to be led by their families — but parents are not learning English at the same rate that their students are. So students are moving forward, but without support, and not from any fault of their own,” she said.
Book banning
Heil and Evans also addressed the growing restrictions on books in public schools.
Evans said that parents have a right to know which books their kids are reading. But she added, “Just because there's a book in there that isn't something that you would want your child to read doesn't mean that it should be gone.”
Heil, meanwhile, said she respects the First Amendment, but she thinks that some books are inappropriate for children.
“We would not put a pornographic magazine in a school library, but if it's hand-drawn, for some reason we believe that that might be acceptable,” she said.
She emphasized that parents should have more opportunities to weigh in on what their children are reading in Garfield Re-2 schools.
The Garfield Re-2 school board election will be on the November ballot. Aspen Public Radio’s 2025 election guide has more information about registering to vote, polling locations, and what’s on the ballot in Pitkin, Eagle, and Garfield Counties.
