At their meeting Tuesday, the Montezuma-Cortez Re-1 Board of Education discussed Exceptional Student Services with executive director Lisa Megal and gave updates on various projects along with talking about the new school year, which began Monday.
The school board heard from Sorrell Redford and Ben Goodrich of the Montezuma School to Farm Project, which has programs in Kemper and Mesa elementaries and science programming support in Cortez Middle School.
In their presentation, education director Redford and executive director Goodrich gave the board some insight into the School to Farm Project and how it works in the district, noting that they align what they teach with math and science standards.
Redford said the project is in its 15th year of working in the county and heading into its third year as an official nonprofit.
The School to Farm Project teaches one lesson a month in elementary schools unless asked by a teacher to do more. In the middle school, School to Farm lessons vary based on what the teacher requests.
The garden is located at the middle school, and Goodrich said he would be interested in working with the district to start incorporating some of the food grown in the garden into school cafeteria meals. Right now, the majority of the food grown is donated to the Good Samaritan Food Pantry.
Board member Lyndreth Wall said he would be interested in scheduling a meeting between the board and project representatives for a tour of the garden and to hear more about the program’s growth and goals.
Superintendent Tom Burris spoke first of the district’s time with education speaker AJ Crabill, a presenter who spoke to the district and the board before the new school year.
“Amazing is certainly an understatement,” he said in his report.
Dr. Christian Northrup was also in the district for about three days, Burris said in his report, and presented the first round of student data.
While there were a few errors in the data, the district anticipates that student data will be valuable for helping students.
“Dr. Northrup will be refining his process and will be getting us updates,” he said.
As the school is moving to an ESS inclusion model, Burris said Megel and Robbin Lewis held a training response to intervention “coupled with differentiated instruction.”
Burris noted that this kind of training is critical as the district moves to an ESS inclusion model. He also gave a brief update on the district’s standing with San Juan Board of Cooperative Educational Services.
“Lisa and I have completed the application to withdraw from SJBOCES,” Burris said. “It is in CDE’s hands now.”
He also spoke about the first day of school, saying it was a success.
“The first day back to school was such a success,” Burris said. “Thanks to the board, teachers, administrators and staff. It takes the team to do what we do.”
At the end of his report, Burris spoke of the practice field update. In multiple past meetings, concerned individuals have spoken about their worries regarding the state of the practice field.
Burris said the upgrades are started and the field should be ready for normal use sometime in October.
Assistant Superintendent Eddie Ramirez’s report was centered on a safety and security proposal that would provide district training.
The course will review the district’s emergency plan, and invited law enforcement officers, fire department and emergency management leaders to discuss the plan and make sure the district’s emergency plan is ready to go.
“This course will do a deep dive into your EOP with everyone involved with responding to crisis events,” he said in his report.
In the report, Ramirez said course instructor Bill Titley has an “exceptional” example of how to keep parents up to date on emergency plans and how they can respond during an emergency in an Ohio school he works in.
Ramirez said he hopes to host the training the last week of October or the first week of December.
Part of the course also includes a site vulnerability assessment, shelter in place, emergency plan enactment and more.
The fees for the trainings are $13,500 and a two-day table top for $6,050, totaling $19,500.
The new director of finance, Danielle Brafford, told the board about new donations, including Montezuma-Cortez High School uniforms donated by an anonymous donor, $500 from Empire Electric to the athletic department, two trombones donated by Andrew and Megan Krueger and a Kroger Co. donation to the M-CHS National Honor Society.
Director of Academic Services Jim Parr gave a brief shoutout about the first day of school the day before, expressing his excitement for the new school year.
He also spoke of the data provided by Dr. Northrup, saying that state level data from spring 2023 is ready for internal use and will go public after Aug. 18. Then, parents will receive a report on their student’s progress and testing.
“Principals and teacher leaders began looking for areas or gaps for improvement to pinpoint plans,” Parr said.
He shared that more data will be provided at the September meeting.
He also touched on teacher professional development that took place Aug. 7-11, which included the convocation with Crabill.
“Student behaviors won’t change until adult behaviors change. Focus on student outcomes!” Parr said in his report.
Teachers and leaders also worked on tools and strategies for differentiation practice to reach all students in the school year. Parr said that training will continue throughout the year.
Megal spoke of plans for the district once the withdrawal from San Juan BOCES is complete.
She said she recently met with BOCES to “define roles” in the school’s process of becoming an independent administrative unit and said she will continue to have close communication with BOCES throughout the process.
She also shared that she has been working closely with district principals and staff to address concerns over the BOCES withdrawal and to give presentations on special education, accommodations and inclusion.
Megal also met with special education staff to discuss new expectations and to figure out the best plan moving forward.
Multiple citizens expressed their excitement of Crabill’s visit to the district, saying that his call to action of student outcomes should motivate the board.
“Changes begin in this room,” one said.
They also urged the board to listen to teacher ideas, as they are the “experts” when it comes to student outcomes.
Two concerned mothers also addressed the board regarding BOCES.
The first said her special-needs son had gotten so much help under the school’s previous system, but now he won’t have the same resources.
“How are you going to help kids like him?” she asked. “We want to know what will happen.
She was urged by Board President Sheri Noyes to contact Burris.
Another mother said she was concerned about the district’s plan to incorporate teletherapy.
“Teletherapy is not going to work for my son,” she said.
She also noted that the letter about her son’s individual education plan set a meeting for February 2024, which she said was too far in the future. She expressed her frustrations with the board for not reaching out to parents of special-needs students before making the decision on BOCES.
“You should have reached out to us instead of experimenting with our kids,” she finished.
The next meeting will take place Tuesday, Sept. 19 at 6 p.m.
