Stories from a horrific era in history Special ed gets long-awaited funding boost

BY ERICA MELTZER CHALKBEAT

Tammy Johnson oversees special education services in ve rural school districts in southwest Colorado as the executive director of the Uncompahgre Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

And she also puts in time as a preschool special education teacher — doing assessments, writing student education plans, supervising classroom aides — because there’s no one else to do the job.

Administrators in the districts she serves “know that I’m not available in my o ce to put out res now that I have to leave my o ce to work in Norwood with preschool kids,” she said.

Holocaust survivor speaks to Denver students, community

BY BRUCE GOLDBERG SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

Paul Galan has vivid memories. He remembers the numerous beatings he took in school because Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler were determined to wipe out Jews. He remembers Jewish stores being looted. He remembers Jewish families being kicked out of their homes, often put on trains bound to concentration camps.

Galan, 87, who came to the United States in 1951, was born in Czechoslovakia. He is a Holocaust survivor.

“I have vivid memories of the whole experience: e separation, the family, some really horrible experiences,” Galan said. “I just had to deal with it. I dealt with it as an adult, not as a child, and put it all into perspective.”

Today, Galan travels extensively to give pro bono presentations about antisemitism and what his family went through before somehow trickling back to their home, one by one, as World War II wound down.

Galan has been giving talks since 2006, when he retired from a career of making documentary lms. He’s traveled across the U.S. — even as far as Alaska — to deliver his message.

“I’ve traveled with students to Poland and Israel six times,” Galan said.

One such talk took place on April 19 at Denver’s RedLine Contemporary Art Center. Galan spoke in front of about 170 people, a mix of students and community members.

Galan’s talk was part of the 42nd annual Governor’s Holocaust e additional funding comes from the 2023-24 state budget and a related special education funding bill and enables Colorado to meet funding commitments it made in 2006 but never honored.

A long overdue boost to Colorado special education funding is buying Johnson some relief soon. By pooling their share of new state funding, the UnBOCES and the ve school districts plan to hire an experienced preschool special education teacher at $56,000 a year.

“And oh my gosh, we might be able to pay our folks a little salary increase, enough for them to stay,” Johnson said.

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