At their monthly Monday board meeting, the Mancos School District RE-6 school board discussed upcoming events and spoke at length about their board seats coming up for election in November.
On Oct. 3 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. in Mancos High School’s historic Room 223, the district accountability committee will begin hosting monthly meetings, which will run from October to May.
Superintendent Todd Cordrey urged parents and community members to attend the meetings, saying they were welcome to discuss the district and schools.
Board President Pamela Coppinger spoke of her seat coming up for election in November, asking the other members of the board to consider taking her Colorado Association of School Boards position when her seat is up.
On top of her responsibilities as board president, Coppinger holds a seat in CASB, an organization that updates school districts on legislation and laws that could affect schools in Colorado.
“This work is important,” she said. “We need to know what’s going on in Denver.”
Coppinger said CASB meetings take place two times per month from January through May and last about two hours. In August, they meet again to go over new submissions of laws, legislation and more for the start of the school year.
The board also discussed school board elections, and Coppinger asked both Emily Hutcheson-Brown and Victor Figueroa for advice they’d give new board members who are serving on a school board for the first time.
Hutcheson-Brown emphasized the importance of taking the time to learn what it means to be a board member and to learn board functions and responsibilities.
“Get up to speed on what it really means to be a school board member,” she said.
Board member Katie Cahill-Volpe gave an update on BOCES and, like the Dolores board, brought up Montezuma-Cortez’s plan to pull out of BOCES.
She said it wasn’t clear how Cortez’s exit would affect BOCES funding. She said the state would determine the impacts of Cortez’s withdrawal.
After the BOCES update, Cordrey spoke of another parent night coming up on Thursday, Sept. 28, which he said would be a project-based learning night 5:30-6:30 p.m. in the school cafeteria.
District parents are invited. Child care and snacks will be provided, and Cordrey said it would be a chance for parents to hear from school leaders about project-based learning and goals for PBL learning in the Mancos schools in a “casual, warm environment.”
Cordrey also gave a shoutout to Mancos teacher Ivy Dalley, one of seven finalists for Colorado Teacher of the Year. He described it as an exciting accomplishment for Dalley and the school district, since there are more than 50,000 teachers in the state.
In the finance update, the board was informed of a “very strong audit” that showed their ending fund balanced with no deficiencies.
At their Oct. 16 meeting, the board will hear a presentation from the district’s gifted and talented coordinators for elementary and secondary. The meeting begins in person and online at 6 p.m.
