At their December meeting, and the first official meeting with the new board members, the Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 Board of Education heard from two local charters about their renewals and celebrated a teacher who was recognized as an outstanding educator.
Mesa Elementary second graders Alexis Shry and Adelia Gurule presented the board their “Christmas Around the World” PowerPoint. According to their teacher, Teri Davis, the class has been learning about Christmas in other parts of the world.
Many countries celebrate Christmas, while others do not. In class, students learned Christmas traditions, wrote stories, wrote letters to Santa and worked on Christmas crafts.
Battle Rock Charter School and the Children’s Kiva Charter School are up for renewal, and both schools sent representatives to tell the board what’s been going on in their schools in the past year.
Battle Rock’s presenters Tegan Lewis and Moqui Mustain-Fury shared that enrollment has grown from 24 students in 2014 to nearly 100 now.
Their model follows “hands-on, place-based learning,” and their priorities include establishing a strong foundation in English language arts and math, social-emotional learning and critical thinking skills.
“We believe our location in McElmo Canyon is an authentic environment for children to explore and celebrate history,” the Fury said in the PowerPoint presentation.
She also shared that their teachers are trained in intervention, and analyze data regularly to ensure students are learning.
The school reported an post-COVID increase in bad behaviors, a sharp decline in attendance (90% of students missed over 10% of school in the 2022-2023 school year) and an increase in students exhibiting characteristics of autism spectrum disorder.
Consequently, Battle Rock is working to increase coaching, show clear policies, improve communication and encourage family engagement.
Children’s Kiva Charter School shared its mission of building a strong foundation for students through “integrated curriculum,” saying they work in “supportive and engaging environments” while collaborating, celebrating diversity and exploring passions.
“Children’s Kiva Montessori is a place of vibrant and joyful learning where students are immersed in academic, emotional and social growth on their way to becoming kind, confident and engaged members of their communities,” Kiva representative Lurleen McCormick said in her presentation.
Some of the classes incorporate “non-traditional” lessons that include real-world content, “grace and courtesies,” choices, learning groups, outdoor education and connecting with the community.
She provided examples for the grace and courtesy portion of the classroom, saying that elementary students may learn how to address others respectfully and how to introduce themselves, while upper elementary learn social media etiquette, conflict resolution and goal setting.
Middle schoolers will learn email etiquette, how to properly apply for a job and how to respectfully write a complaint.
McCormick also shared their goal of achieving the state’s highest level of performance level in the upcoming school year.
The school was founded in 2014, and now has 142 students ranging in age from kindergarten to eighth grade.
In celebration reports, the board acknowledged sophomore Alexis Martinex, who was nominated for the Congress of Future Medical Leaders and Mike Ptaszynski, who was recognized as an outstanding educator by Colorado State University.
The letter from CSU informed Ptaszynski that he was nominated by former student Willa Rice, who said, “Ptaszynski was an amazing teacher in the science department that gave me an amazing foundation that I am still using in college today!”
Superintendent Tom Burris welcomed new board members Mike Lynch, Rhonda Tracy, Leland Collins and Rafe O’Brian, then gave an overview of the board’s time at the Colorado Association of School Board conference at the beginning of the month. He said that he always learns something there and reconnects with friends.
Burris also noted the completion of Kemper Elementary’s portable classrooms, adding that Lewis-Arriola’s are almost finished.
“The next project is the middle school play structure,” he said.
Attendance at all the schools is still at 90% except for Montezuma-Cortez High School, which Burris said has dropped to 89.67%. While he said he wished they could have stayed at 90%, he was still happy with the high number of students prioritizing their attendance.
At the end of the meeting, the board approved the consent calendar, receipt of the annual financial audit and the 2023-2024 capital reserve request for heating pads for the sidewalks at MCHS’s ESS entrance for $7,728.92.
The next Montezuma-Cortez school board meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 23 at 6 p.m.
