RE-1 board to hear from superintendent search firms Tuesday

The Montezuma-Cortez School District RE-1 board will hear presentations from superintendent search firms at its work session Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 6 p.m. Interim Superintendent Drew Pearson’s October report to the board lists choosing a search firm for the board’s Nov. 17 regular meeting.

The agenda gives each firm 10 minutes. It does not say which firms or how many will present.

Work sessions are for presentations and discussion, and the posted agenda lists no votes.

On the agenda

Presentations. Besides the search firms, the board will hear a presentation titled “Raising Highly Capable Kids,” for which 30 minutes were requested, and the Unified Improvement Plans for the district, Mesa Elementary and Montezuma-Cortez Middle School. Pearson’s report notes that district and school improvement plans were due to the state by Oct. 15.

Buildings. Two discussion items take up the district’s facilities: updates on the Manaugh building, and the facility master plan, with the district’s July 2024 Facilities Master Plan Report for Mesa, Kemper and Beech Street attached. At the board’s Oct. 20 meeting, Pearson said he would bring HVAC options for the elementary schools, the Manaugh building and facility planning to this work session, after the board held off on a $9 million to $10 million HVAC replacement option. A maintenance report in that meeting’s packet put a new roof for the former Manaugh Elementary, closed since 2022, at $600,000, plus a rough $250,000 for asbestos removal. The Current’s story on that meeting has the details.

Other discussion. Classroom feedback, a monthly item on what is going well and what classrooms need; a draft board handbook covering board roles, governance practices, meeting procedures, communication protocols and calendars, continued from October; and pupil enrollment. The state’s Oct. 1 pupil count must be certified by Nov. 10, according to Pearson’s report.

Reports. Reports from the director of the Beech Street preschool and the principals of Kemper, Mesa, Lewis-Arriola, Montezuma-Cortez Middle School and Montezuma-Cortez High School are to be added to the agenda Monday, Nov. 2.

How to attend or speak

The work session is at the District Administration Building board room, 400 N. Elm St., in Cortez, and is streamed on the district’s YouTube channel. It falls on Election Day.

Anyone who wants to speak during Citizens Address the Board must turn in a ticket before the meeting — on paper in the boardroom, or through “Request to Speak” on the district’s Diligent Community portal. Speakers get three minutes each, with an hour set aside. The agenda says the board will listen but will not respond during the meeting.

The agenda is on the district’s Diligent Community portal.