At their Tuesday night board meeting, the Montezuma-Cortez school board received recommendations from the District Accountability Committee and heard from parents and students regarding teachers and college credits, among other items during their meeting.
At the start of the meeting, the board heard from Linda Towle and the city’s Helen West about designating the Manaugh Elementary building as a local, historic building.
According to West and Towle, the building qualifies because it is more than 50 years old and has architecture that distinguishes it as a historical building. The board later approved the application to apply for the building’s historic designation in action items.
Superintendent Tom Burris was absent, and his report was uploaded to the district’s BoardDocs website. It said a new draft of strategic plan, refined with the help of Arsenio Romero, will be presented in the June meeting.
He added that attendance is over 90% across schools and he was compiling data from the meetings with parents at Kemper and Mesa about the potential reorganization of the schools.
Principals reported the data from recent testing. Montezuma-Cortez High School Principal Jennifer Boniface shared that the school didn’t hit proficiency in participation or achievement two years ago, but has seen substantial growth since then. She and Pueblo Community College talked about the benefits of concurrent high school and college enrollment.
In their presentation, DAC co-chairs Laura DeWitt and Laura Blair shared six recommendations from the recent parent survey. The first recommendation was to develop a districtwide communication plan, as “families are overwhelmed by inconsistent, fragmented communication.” Others were to create a unified district calendar and family engagement liaison, rebuild trust with leadership, support educators more effectively and identify root problems of transportation issues.
The board agreed there was work to be done on communication. They liked the idea of a district calendar and family liaison, but there hadn’t been room for one in the budget.
The board will discuss the DAC’s recommendations further at their June work session.
Multiple citizens, including students, shared concerns including relocation of teachers, communication and college credits. Some spoke about the reported cut of the French program for fall and about a high school math teacher being reassigned to the elementary school to be a PE teacher.
Sabrina Elliott spoke on behalf of Nikki Crowley, who was attending her daughter’s state golf tournament.
Crowley’s letter addressed “alarming” staff turnover, elimination of advanced classes, moving staff to positions that don’t match their credentials and moving college-credit courses from one credit to half a credit. She also noted that the district has lost 232 students in the past three years, and 131 this school year.
Crowley asked that the district address root cause of staff turnover, restore advanced classes offerings and return to full credit valuation for college courses.
Incoming senior Mckade Mumbower said it was “deeply troubling” that the district was not renewing contracts for teachers in essential courses and that it could allow teachers “to leave because they don’t feel valued.”
MCHS senior Shaun McAllister asked that the board support new staff in various art programs.
“Strong arts programs help get students to school,” McAllister said.
Sophomore Kyla Christensen said she moved from Dolores High School to MCHS hoping for a better education, but has been disappointed by turnover of teachers.
“We want strong instruction, we want consistency, we want to be heard,” Christensen said. “I came to Cortez seeking opportunity and growth, but instead I’ve watched stability disappear, programs shrink and teachers be pushed out. It feels like our future is being compromised before we get the chance to fully prepare for it.”
Sophomore Micah Lewis said her time at MCHS so far has been “nothing short of chaotic,” mentioning the math teacher who is being moved to elementary PE, saying it was “insulting.” She added that some of her peers had discussed commuting to Durango for a better education.
Tori Palmer, DAC member, parent and member of Kemper’s PTO, asked about staff support, mentioning theater director Nicholaus Sandner.
“We had the theater teacher of the year, and why did he feel like he needed to leave? Did he feel like he was supported?”
Boniface said she was proud of students for voicing their concerns. “But I want them to know, we are not out to get them,” she said. “We are not out to get their teachers. We are trying to do good things for them.”
Boniface said the reduction in college credits was made to deal with GPA inflation.
She said she would follow up with the students who had presented to hear about their concerns in more detail.
In action items, the board accepted the resignation of Jennifer Sanchez, board member for District A. Sanchez became a member of the board in December.
The board extended discussion of nondiscriminatory and equal opportunity policies meant to align with federal policies implemented by the Trump administration. Compliance is needed to receive federal grants.
The board noted that because Indigenous students are offered scholarships and tutoring that other students, it could be considered discrimination. As of now, those programs will continue without changes.
The next board meeting is June 24 at 6 p.m.
