The Garfield Re-2 school board voted unanimously Aug. 13 to dismiss Rifle High School teacher Kimberly Van Der Veer, concluding a months-long dispute that had drawn testimony from students, parents and teachers.

Personnel decisions such as hires and resignations are typically handled in bulk through the board’s consent agenda. For example, at Wednesday’s meeting the board approved “a letter of recommendation from Emily Kielmeyer to hire Lizette Sanchez for the position of early childhood assistant teacher at Elk Creek Elementary effective Aug. 11, 2025.”

Van Der Veer’s case, however, appeared separately as a public governance item — a rarity for teacher dismissals.

Garfield Re-2 Director of Communications Theresa Hamilton said personnel matters are not typically addressed in that manner.

Concerns about Van Der Veer’s license surfaced earlier this year. At the board’s Feb. 12 meeting, students and teachers spoke during public comment after Van Der Veer was reportedly told to leave her classroom Jan. 23 because of licensing issues.

McKenna Macklin, a teacher at Highland Elementary School, told the board she had also faced licensing problems.

“I know a teaching license is a mandatory requirement for teachers across the country,” Macklin said. “However, I also know that when my license expired last year, Mr. Hills and the people at the district office stepped up to help me take care of it and help me get recertified. I spent two months trying to figure out how to get into my account just so I could reapply … and worrying every single day that I’d be in the same position of being asked to leave. Instead, I was given all the help I could’ve asked for.”

Macklin also noted broader challenges in education, saying teachers across the country are burning out, positions remain unfilled and some educators are leaving the profession altogether.

Rifle High student Mackenzie Bowlan also spoke at the Feb. 12 meeting. She described being in Van Der Veer’s classroom Jan. 23 when the teacher packed her things and said goodbye.

“I watched her students scramble around to figure out what had happened to their teacher and then be expected to resume their normal school day,” Bowlan said. “Within minutes, half the school knew what had happened and by the time I got to my senior English class, everyone was wondering where their favorite teacher had gone and if she was coming back.”

Bowlan said she bonded with Van Der Veer over personal struggles, including her own foster care experience.

Another student, Jordan Abbott, said her class was left without a teacher that day.

“Just because it wasn’t done in front of us doesn’t mean we wouldn’t know,” Abbott said. “We’re observant and we know these things … the fact that it was done in the hallway does not mean anything.”

Former student Tate Brown told the board the dismissal was disruptive and unnecessary.

“Changing teachers in the middle of the school year is incredibly disruptive to learning environments and student performance,” Brown said. “Instead of working to resolve what is effectively a clerical error, administration chose to immediately tell students and parents that Kim would not be back and continue with her dismissal, even though her license has already been reinstated.”

According to the Colorado Department of Education’s public records, Van Der Veer’s license was renewed Jan. 30, 2025, and is valid through Jan. 30, 2032.

“This effort to remove a teacher comes while the state faces a shortfall of more than 1,400 teachers,” Brown said. “Rifle High School has job listings posted for seven open teaching positions … How does any portion of our administration defend actively driving out a teacher with a spotless teaching record ever, much less now?”

Despite those statements, the board upheld the dismissal.

Hamilton said in an Aug. 26 email that the board was required to act publicly in this case.

“In this particular case, an administrative law judge rendered a recommendation that, per CRS 22-63-302(9), requires the school board to take public action,” Hamilton said.

A written order from the Aug. 13 meeting reads: “At its meeting on August 13, 2025, the Garfield County School District 2 Board of Education, having reviewed the recommended decision in Case No. ZD 2025-0001, orders that Kimberly Van Der Veer be dismissed.”

Van Der Veer declined to comment, saying she is unable to at this time.