On Friday, the Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 school district was presented an excellence award on behalf of Mesa Elementary School.
The award was presented at the Colorado Department of Education’s School and District Awards Ceremony, and the award for Mesa was the 2024 Centers of Excellence Award. It was presented by Colorado Department of Education Commissioner Susana Cordova and Colorado State Board of Education Chair Rebecca McClellan.
Superintendent Tom Burris, Mesa Principal Robert Laymon and board Vice President Ed Rice were present to accept the award.
The school also received a “Center of Excellence” poster.
“This is the only excellence award received, at least in the last decade, if not ever,” Burris told The Journal. “I am proud of the work that has been done at the schools to implement basic, good teaching skills into the classroom. The effort paid off.”
The ceremony took place at the Hydro Confluence Theater on the Colorado State University campus in Denver. Awards presented included Centers for Excellence, John Irwin School of Excellence, Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award and Academic Growth Award, among others.
When the district announced that they had been invited to the awards ceremony, they said, “We are so very excited and curious,” via email.
