At the Sept. 15 meeting, the Mancos RE-6 school board reviewed a clean financial audit, previewed the upcoming candidate forum and celebrated success in nontraditional courses.
While the board has not yet appointed a student member, it has received applications from interested students.
Business Manager Chrissy Miller said the district received a clean audit. The general fund ended with a balance of $2.6 million in reserves.
Miller said seeing the reserves in such a good place is “awesome,” especially after some “major” capital improvement projects and the recent purchase of new buses.
In her BOCES report, Rachel McWhirter said BOCES is waiting for the Colorado Department of Education to decide whether Montezuma-Cortez can become its own administrative unit.
Superintendent Audrey Hazleton gave her report, organized under the three main goals in the strategic plan.
Hazleton said she has begun meeting regularly with Mancos United Executive Director Katie McClure, and they will work on a reflection and review of the Summer Hub facilities.
She praised the early childhood staff and their ongoing family engagement initiatives. Staff from Mancos Early Learning Center recently attended “Wonder and Wisdom: Supporting Relationships Through Joyful Connection,” an early childhood conference at Fort Lewis.
Two Mancos educators also presented “Art Without Bounds: Focusing on the Process” at the event.
Tiffany Aspromonte, HR lead, secondary academic adviser and registrar, completed a new hire onboarding process that includes follow-up support. At the New Hire Lunch, new staff “shared how much they feel welcome and supported in the Mancos School District,” according to Hazleton.
Hazleton, McWhirter and Will Custer also established a teacher liaison role to assist student board members in improving the process and student experience.
The document for the district’s upcoming mill levy vote was finalized.
The board discussed the School Resource Officer position, which remains unfilled. The position is open but on hold. The Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office continues to maintain a presence to ensure student safety.
A presentation on the Mancos Strategic Plan focused on the district’s nontraditional courses. These include middle school exploratories, CTE pathways and other offerings.
Middle school exploratories include robotics, hunting, farm stand, coding, CAD, music, cooking, drama, creative writing, CSI and art.
High school CTE pathways include culinary, manufacturing trades, health (A&P and sports medicine), and business (business and marketing; intro to entrepreneurship). Certifications include drone licensing, ServSafe Managers Food Safety, wilderness first aid, CPR and NCCER (building trades).
The presentation noted 92% of last year’s graduates earned at least one certification, and 53% earned two or more. The district also offers concurrent enrollment, work studies and internships.
Other opportunities include PCC Friday Academy (sign language, auto brake service, emergency medical responder, engineering, nursing and more), job shadowing, Summer Institute, Futures Fair and others.
Board members responded positively to the presentation. “It’s pretty amazing,” Figueroa said.
According to board President Emily Hutcheson-Brown, since 2023, Mancos High School students have received 259 industry certifications through the district’s pathways.
Currently, 132 students are enrolled at the high school.
A moderated candidate forum is scheduled ahead of the November election. The forum will take place Monday, Sept. 29, at 6 p.m. in the cafeteria.
The district is asking that questions for the candidates be submitted in advance at https://bit.ly/mancoscandidateforum.
The next Mancos school board meeting is Monday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m.
