At their last board meeting of 2024, the Mancos RE-6 school board discussed their time at the CASB conference, honored CASB students and received an award for students’ voter registration.
The meeting started with the presentation of the Eliza Pickrell Rout award that was awarded to the Mancos High School. This award is given to all Colorado high schools that have more than 85% of eligible seniors registered to vote during an election year.
Out of all the Mancos seniors, 100% of eligible students were registered to vote, according to Superintendent Todd Cordrey.
Mancos civics teacher William Custer, who presented the award, said that teaching students about the importance of voting “helps prepare the next generation of citizens.”
At the beginning of the month, the school board attended the Colorado Association of School Boards Conference in Colorado Springs, where they were part of breakout sessions, panels, informational sessions and more, with many days lasting around 12 hours.
One particular topic the board noted to be of particular interest at the conference was artificial intelligence. The board agreed that it was important to properly educate students on AI and how to use it responsibly.
Students will need to know how to use it, whether in their college years of jobs, Cordrey said, and students should learn how to use it well now so they aren’t behind as they move onto their next steps after high school.
It was mentioned that an AI class could potentially be offered as an elective to secondary students.
The board also shared that the CASB Conference provided the district with insight into how they were comparing to other schools in the state with pathway and project-based learning programs.
Board President Emily Hutcheson-Brown observed that the district was “leaps and bounds” ahead of other schools with their portrait of a graduate competencies and pathways, and thanked Cordrey for the work he had done to kick-start the district’s pathways courses.
“We’re well ahead of that curve,” Hutcheson-Brown said. “We may be small, but we’re mighty.”
The board also honored the students who attended the student side of the CASB Conference, including student board members Olivia Jukes and Rosalinda Phillips.
Jukes shared that through the conference, she found that the Mancos school district “does stuff really well” and Phillips said she was impressed by the level of professionalism shown by all students she encountered at the conference.
The Mancos students who attended were given a special shoutout from the board, and the board noted which portrait of a graduate competency each student demonstrated while at the conference.
The board commended Jukes’s growth mentality and Phillips’s ability to be a problem solver.
Adam Martinez was lauded for his civic mindedness and Jonah Ritter for his integrity. Finally, the board thanked Tyla Henry for being a team player who “collaborates with others without hesitation, and is self-confident and stands behind her views.”
In his superintendent report, Cordrey congratulated the cheerleading team for placing fifth at state as a young team, adding that their coach had been honored with an impact award.
An update on the after school program showed the program’s growth, and the knowledge bowl team was successful in a recent competition of around 24 teams.
At the end of his report, Cordrey shared that the district’s new school resource officer program is set to launch in January.
The board shared insight into their recent self-evaluation and said they would be going over Cordrey’s evaluation in the new year.
They also accepted their strategic plan objective 1A as approaching standard. This objective states, “Mancos School District connects students with local professionals, businesses and organizations.”
The next board meeting was rescheduled and will now take place on Monday, Jan. 27 at 6 p.m.
