The new Montezuma-Cortez High School recently received an additional $2 million in construction funding.
Montezuma-Cortez Re-1 Superintendent Alex Carter announced at a school board meeting last week that the funding would enable the new school to be fully wired for technology. The reserve funds will also fund a 50,000-kilowatt rooftop solar system, he said.
“That building will be everything we promised to the taxpayers and more,” Carter told board members on Tuesday, March 10.
The two-story 152,500 square-foot schoolhouse is expected to open on a 35-acre site behind Walmart this fall. Initial construction bids totaled $33.7 million.
The new $2 million in funding is restricted from helping to fund athletic facilities at the new school. Carter announced this week that building a new football stadium would likely be completed in phases.
“We’re going to keep hustling for additional grant funds,” said Carter. “It could take years.”
The district has $1.85 million on hand to construct new athletic facilities.
A Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) grant is financing 54 percent of the new school construction cost, and a local bond is financing the remainder of the project. Neither funding mechanism included costs to construct a new stadium.
The current Montezuma-Cortez High School serves about 650 students. The new larger school is designed to accommodate 725 students.
Bus explodes
In other news, board members voted unanimously to purchase a used school bus for $60,000 on Tuesday, March 9. Before the authorization, the district’s capital reserve fund totaled $1,038,267.
Carter said the purchase was necessary after a bus engine exploded, stranding 45 students on the side of the road. Additional details about the incident were not released.
“We have to start addressing our fleet,” Carter told board members.
Carter has previously described the aging bus line as the districts “greatest fiscal cliff.” Currently, no allocations are forecasts to update the district’s transportation system within the next four years.
Policy on e-meetings
Also on Tuesday, board members approved a policy that would allow them to attend meetings electronically. The measure passed unanimously without discussion.
According to the policy, board members can seek permission to appear via telephone, video or audio conference or other electronic device “only when extenuating circumstances prevent the board member from physically attending.” The policy limits each board member to two electronic appearances per calendar year. State law requires the board to declare a post vacant if a board member has three consecutive unexcused absences.
Board members Eric Whyte and Diane Fox were both absent from this week’s meeting. It was announced that Fox would officially resign from the board on April 14.
tbaker@cortezjournal.com
