At a special meeting June 28, the Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 Board of Education discussed the football practice field, District Accountability Committee bylaws and adding a new athletic trainer.
The meeting, which primarily consisted of action items, started with a discussion on DAC bylaws, which have been in the works for a few months. In the last school board meeting on June 20, the bylaws were part of the list of action items, and board member Sherri Wright abstained from the vote after a tie.
The members voted again Wednesday evening and officially passed the bylaws after making an adjustment to one of them. In the bylaws, DAC members could vote even if they were not present at a meeting, including voting over email.
The board struck that portion of the bylaws and passed the others unanimously.
The board also approved adding two new positions. One is an athletic training position, and the other is an ESS administrative assistant.
While the board noted they still need to decide on the athletic trainer’s hours, salary structure and how the trainer would cover all the school’s sports, they approved the position, which will be under the high school’s athletic director and health department.
In the regular school board meeting, Superintendent Tom Burris expressed his desire to have a back to school keynote speaker come in to address staff and the board. He informed the members on Wednesday that he had been in contact with the Colorado Department of Education, and they had agreed to split the cost of bringing the speaker.
The speaker, AJ Crabill, is an education reform advocate, public speaker on education reform and author. Crabill, who resides in Texas, serves as the national school board governance leader on the Council of the Great City Schools.
The district will pay $12,500 for Crabill to speak, and CDE will cover the other $12,500. Crabill’s travel expenses were not available at the time of the meeting.
Burris said the plan is to host a school board summit from 2-6 p.m. on Aug. 6 for school boards in the area, followed by a presentation from Crabill on Aug. 7. He said he would also like for him to work with the board, principals and assistant principals. Mancos and Ignacio school boards have already expressed their intention to attend the summit.
The board approved having Crabill come as the back-to-school-keynote speaker.
The board also approved renovating the practice football field for $132,000 after repeated concerns about the practice field’s safety. They are still working on an official bid, but the plan is to add more topsoil and sod to help prevent injuries from the uneven ground.
They also discusses updates to the softball field, but tabled the discussion for a later time.
The Board approved the purchase of a Traverse SUV and 84-passenger activity bus for a combined total of $217,373. They will replace older vehicles, many of which are 2008 or older.
Other approvals included heated sidewalk pads for the Montezuma-Cortez High School ESS entrance during the winter for $3,500 and a flooring project for $103,000 because of asbestos safety concerns.
Before concluding, the board noted that members had been invited by the city of Cortez for a board-to-board meeting and to have a discussion “about a couple of things.” One of the discussion items mentioned was affordable workforce housing.
The tentative date is Thursday, July 20 at City Hall.
The next regular school board meeting will be July 18 at 6 p.m.
