The Montezuma-Cortez Re-1 School Board is expected to name Lori Haukeness as the district’s interim superintendent Tuesday, according to the board’s agenda.
She could be leading the district until June 30 while the board searches for a person to replace Superintendent Alex Carter, who announced his departure in early January.
The search will involve the community, and the district may ask for assistance from the Colorado Association of School Boards, said Re-1 board president Jack Schuenemeyer.
“I think we would like to have somebody in place by the fall,” Schuenemeyer said.
Carter’s last day will be Feb. 29. He’s headed for the Colorado Education Initiative, a nonprofit that works with the Colorado Department of Education.
The board also will discuss the future of the former Montezuma-Cortez High School on Seventh Street on Tuesday. Tearing down the school could cost between $1.3 million and $2.2 million mainly because of the cost of asbestos abatement.
In the application for the grant that funded the school and in a memorandum of understanding with the city, the district stated it would demolish the building. But in a frequently asked questions document from 2012, the school board said it was open to other options.
Jamie Haukeness, executive director of operations, will be presenting different options for the building including ways it could be reused or demolished, Carter said.
At special school board meeting the last week of January, Monica Plewe presented the idea of using the funding set aside for a stadium at the new high school to tear down the former high school.
The $1.8 million that was approved by voters for the stadium is not enough to cover its construction, she said during a later interview. But it could be re-appropriated by the voters to help cover demolition costs.
“Once the voters approve it or don’t approve it, the board, the city, whoever is or is not involved can start having a vision for what we can do there,” she said.
The district could also potentially use about $400,000 that is expected be refunded from the BEST grant. While the district does expect to receive this refund, it has not come yet, said Wendy Everett, director of finance for Re-1.
The board did not comment on her suggestion during the previous meeting, Schuenemeyer said.
“It was just presented in the course of looking at the revised budget. Nobody from the board or staff made any comment about it one way or the other,” Schuenemeyer said.
But there is a strong consensus on the board that the building shouldn’t be left empty, he said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
