This week’s Montezuma-Cortez Re-1 school board meeting saw a little of everything — some positive news, some more sobering. As the academic year winds down, the board members and district administration touched on a number of issues that will resurface down the road.
EARLY TCAP RESULTS NOT STELLAR
Complete TCAP results aren’t available for two and a half months, but the school board got an early glimpse of this year’s third-grade reading scores on Tuesday. Administrators are hoping they aren’t a harbinger of things to come. Only 51 percent of the district’s 197 third-graders were proficient, meaning reading at grade level, down eight points from last year. An additional one percent were reading above grade level.
At tiny Lewis-Arriola and Pleasant View elementary schools, the proficiency rate was about two-thirds, followed by Mesa Elementary at 62 percent, Kemper Elementary at 57 percent, and Manaugh Elementary trailing with 30 percent. All schools’ numbers were worse than last year.
“The truth of the matter is that this is disappointing, but not surprising,” superintendent Alex Carter said.
Board member Brian Demby wondered at the sharp drop in Manaugh’s performance, noting that 52 percent of its third graders were proficient last year.
“Manaugh stands out like a sore thumb,” he said.
Carter was “deflated” by the TCAP scores but said it was too early to despair, without the full picture. In late July, 54 data sets will be released, across all grades and all subject areas. This particular cohort of third-graders could be a disappointing outlier.
“We know (student achievement) levels are low — what we need to see is growth,” Carter said.
Statewide, 73 percent of third-graders scored proficient or advanced in reading, down roughly a percentage point from 2012 and on par with 2011.
Mancos was the region’s high achiever at 79 percent, followed by Durango at 75 percent, Dolores at 65 percent, and Dolores County (Dove Creek and Rico) at 63.5 percent.
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
The preliminary test scores grew all the more worrisome when juxtaposed against the district’s improvement plan with the Colorado State Board of Education.
On July 1, Re-1 will enter the third year of its five-year improvement plan.
As a “priority improvement” district, it falls within the lowest 15 percent of districts in the state. If it fails to bring up academic performance to certain benchmarks by the end of that window, Re-1 risks losing accreditation.
M-CHS CONTRACTOR TAPPED
Colorado Springs-based Nunn Construction, Inc., will serve as construction manager/general contractor for the new Montezuma-Cortez High School. Nunn will partner with local firm Southwest Contracting. Final contract details with Nunn are being ironed out.
PLAUDITS FOR NURSE
School nurse Denese Brisbin, who plies her trade at Manaugh Elementary, Mesa Elementary and Beech Street Preschool, is valued by the students she treats and the district she works for. Now she’s being officially recognized by the Colorado Association of School Nurses.
Brisbin was recently awarded 2013 School Nurse of the Year for Colorado.
“The parents of her medically fragile students feel confident that Denese provides their students with safe and comprehensive care at school,” wrote Susan Ciccia, Re-1 health services director, in her nomination letter. “This confidence greatly enhances attendance rates for these students, minimizing the academic frustration that so often occurs with students who have medical conditions and miss school.”
Ciccia added that Brisbin “epitomizes the advocacy role of the school nurse first exhibited by Lillian Wald, the first school nurse in New York City schools.”
Brisbin will be honored by CASN at a November conference. Her name will also be thrown into the ring for National School Nurse of the Year, announced in February 2014.
BELT TIGHTENING
Chief financial officer Melissa Brunner unveiled a proposed budget of about $27 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The number does not include bonds or other costs associated with the new M-CHS facility. The budget is down $1.4 million from 2012-13, Brunner said.
No big salary raises are in the works. But all Re-1 personnel, except coaches, will get 1 percent cost-of-living adjustments.
Carter hoped Senate Bill 13, the school-finance bill recently passed by the Legislature, could be a vehicle for teacher raises. If voters agree in November to raise taxes on themselves, the bill will boost education funding in Colorado by $1.1 billion. Per-pupil funding in Re-1 would rise $1,400, to $7,698, the Journal previously reported.
“Until we have a competitive salary schedule, we’re at a competitive disadvantage,” Carter said. “If a teacher has job opportunities in Cortez and Durango right now, (money-wise) it’s an easy choice.”
Trimming class sizes for younger grades is another priority. Re-1 recently announced a partnership with the Ute Mountain Ute tribe to start a kindergarten classroom in Towaoc next year, if there is enough interest from parents. The 2013-14 budget also adds first-grade teachers to Kemper, Manaugh and Mesa elementary schools, giving each school four first-grade classrooms instead of three.
Cortez Middle School will also get a $25,000 security upgrade to its main entrance/rotunda area, including two sets of double doors and a buzzer system.
The district will tap its reserve fund to pay three special-needs teaching positions funded, until now, by San Juan BOCES.
The cost is $230,000 over three years.
Brunner budgeted down most programs to cope with expected sequestration cuts of 5 to 6 percent.
Pending revisions, the budget will be adopted on June 11. It is viewable at www.cortez.k12.co.us.
TEACHER SURVEY YIELDS MIXED BAG
Teachers across Colorado filled out a survey earlier this year called the TELL (Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning).
Responses from Re-1 teachers showed they are pleased with the amount of time available to collaborate with their colleagues, and less pleased with how they are perceived.
Eight in 10 teachers thought collaborative time was adequate, up from 46 percent last time the survey was administered.
They also gave high marks to clear communication (with faculty, parents and students), feeling appreciated for their accomplishments and feeling held to a high standard of instruction.
Fewer teachers agreed, compared to last survey, that they are “recognized as educational experts,” and are trusted/relied upon to make decisions.
Sixty-eight percent agreed that their school was “a good place to work and learn,” down from 80 percent last time. Board members asked if this indicated poor morale.
“We’ve made so many (budget) cuts, we have parents doing recess duty,” said Dan Porter, principal at Lewis-Arriola and Pleasant View Elementary schools. “It’s almost to the point we don’t have the numbers to do the job right.”
Another educator mentioned that 70 to 80 percent of kids are arriving to kindergarten unprepared, and teachers must scramble to try to make up two years of instruction.
In all, of the 24 questions asked, 17 trended positive, and seven trended negative.
lukeg@cortezjournal.com
