Mancos Re-6 Superintendent Brian Hanson said the district is having trouble finding substitute teachers.

“We are struggling to fill classrooms with subs,” he told school board members at an Oct. 24 meeting.

Hanson said the board may want to adjust substitute pay rates, because the rate in Mancos is the lowest in the area. The district must compete with Cortez and Dolores schools for substitute teachers, and the low rate of pay becomes an issue in attracting them to Mancos, Hanson reported.

Elementary school Principal Cathy Epps said she has had potential applicants for paraprofessional teaching positions drop out because they can make more money substitute teaching for other districts.

Hanson said he would have a proposal in front of the board at a later meeting.

Also at the meeting, Hanson reported that Re-6 did not receive an accreditation rating from the Colorado Department of Education. The agency remarked that there was insufficient data and low participation from Re-6.

Hanson said he will appeal the rating, asking for an “accredited” rating. Requests for reconsideration are due to CDE by Nov. 7, and the State Board of Education will hear ratings appeals in the coming months.

CDE did not issue accreditation ratings in 2015. Hanson said internal assessments show improvements in district data from 2013 to 2016, so the district should be accredited.

“Certain members of the state board are more than willing to entertain our position,” Hanson wrote in a report to the board.

Some CDE officials are not sympathetic to that reasoning, however, Hanson said.

Re-6 had high opt-out rates for PARCC testing during the 2015-2016 school year, with less than 16 students in each grade level taking the English language arts and math tests, according to data from CDE.