At their Tuesday night meeting, the Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 school district board approved a proposal for new legal counsel from Lyons Gaddis and the 2026-27 salary schedule.
The meeting opened with a presentation from Panorama Education, a company that provides student and educator support in academics, social-emotional learning and behavioral issues.
According to presenter Spencer Peters, the platform helps reduce some of the more tedious parts of being an educator, including rubric building, lesson plan drafting, IEPs and other administrative tasks.
Peters said about 50% of the top 100 largest public school districts nationwide use the program. Data from Panorama also shows that schools using the platform have GPAs 18% higher and an 80% reduction in suspensions.
After the presentation, Kemper Elementary Principal Jennifer Boniface spoke on behalf of the FFA, which is sending eight students to Washington, D.C., in June for community service projects and service-learning activities.
The students will also learn how to develop and implement impactful community projects and are scheduled to meet with members of Congress. The group has raised about $2,000 for the trip.
During celebration reports, the board was told that high school student Josh Yarborough received the Daniel’s Scholarship. Members also learned about the strong attendance rate for CMAS testing at Kemper Elementary. Boniface said state testing went “really” well, with only 17 students absent. Those students have since made up the work, which she said may have boosted the school’s test attendance rate to nearly 100%.
After a brief discussion session, the board moved to action items.
Among those items, the board approved Kemper Elementary’s UIP action plan for the 2026-27 school year. Members also adopted the new salary schedule for 2026-27, which will take effect before the start of the school year and includes special secondary programs staff, classified staff, assistant principals and principals.
The board then revisited Panorama Education’s proposal and voted 5-1 to move forward with the platform.
The next Montezuma-Cortez school board meeting will be Tuesday, May 19, at 6 p.m.
