MONTE VISTA— The Monte Vista Board of Education met Thursday, June 15 for their June meeting. Superintendent Robert Webb began the meeting by noting unfortunately the Monte Vista Band Director Josh Garcia had submitted his letter of resignation that day.
Webb expressed disappointment at Garcia’s resignation because he believed Garcia had done great things with the band programs and was concerned it would be difficult to hire a replacement before the 2017-2018 school year begins. Garcia informed the board via his letter he will be pursuing a master’s degree with other marching accolades but alluded to the large workload at Monte Vista, with all of the bands from fifth grade through the high school ensembles, also being a consideration. Webb noted although Garcia had never had any serious behavioral issues in the classroom, previous band directors had expressed frustration at the class sizes and distractions, especially at the middle school level and suggested pursuing an aide in the classroom for the middle school band and possibly the high school bands. The board also received a letter of resignation from middle school art/health teacher Alisha Gallegos, and Webb similarly explained it would be difficult to replace her and find someone qualified for and passionate about both art and health education, but they would put their best effort forward. Webb also regretfully was informed about the similar resignation of Kyle Welty, the science teacher at the Delta Center.
The graduation dates of May 19, 2018 for the Delta Center and Online Academy and May 26, 2018 for the high school were voted on and confirmed by the board. There were no comments from the audience at this meeting.
During district reports, BOE member Gary Wilkinson noted the Monte Vista Education Foundation had made the Jean Ritchey Memorial Scholarship renewable for four years, pending the recipients maintained a 2.5 grade point average and could provide proof of enrollment when renewing, which the board was very happy to hear. Nehring joked “My collaboration with CDE [Colorado Department of Education] continues” when referring to his work contesting the academic status of Monte Vista schools. Nehring stated he has been working at analyzing the data by different categories and has found some potential issues in the process, pointing out students who don’t fit into many of CDE’s demographic categories often perform at the 88th percentile, but factoring in just one additional category dropped performance to the 20th percentile. He also stated students on Individual Education Plans (IEP) are included in the data, implying that was a questionably fair process.
During the superintendent’s report, Webb stated the work at Marsh Elementary was moving forward. About one-third of the roof would be worked on to deal with the immediate leaks and damaged parts and the company would then be better able to analyze the decking for further damage. If the decking is damaged the company currently estimates the work to be between $278,000 and $300,000 to repair, only $194,000 of which will be covered by the Rural Relief Grant. Webb expressed frustration that other districts like North Conejos, which are only two students below the limit, are granted nearly twice as much money, roughly $390,000. Webb also stated he has received confirmation from the state that “the PARCC test is no more” which nearly elicited surprised relief from the board, except that the state has sponsored with the Pearson Company to develop the new standardized test. Webb stated there aren’t any additional specific steps for the board or district to take at this time. Webb had also been analyzing some of the district’s teacher ratings and found an error in some of the School Performance Framework cut points, which once fixed, found only three teachers in the district were rated as partially-effective.

2017-2018 budget
The only discussion item on the agenda was the 2017-2018 budget. Webb reviewed the budget in detail noting the school’s last pupil count was 1,126 and stated there had been issues with waiting on confirmation of some of the title funds. Other major points included the potential lease of land by the middle school to a solar farm beginning the first of October and a slight increase to the technology use fee. The vocational education budget was increased and Webb stated he is encouraging all STEM teachers to pursue vocational certification as well. Webb noted transportation costs are not significantly different than other years but the state only compensates the district in a certain range regardless, seemingly altering the standard to meet the amount they want to pay.
The total budget for all staff was $4,905,508. Webb noted the 2016-2017 school year was the highest cost for substitutes at about $121,000 so the budget planned for $141,000 for the upcoming year. Roughly 83.4 percent of the budget is for salaries and benefits for staff, teachers and administrators. The upcoming school year will be the last that teachers can pursue a voluntary severance package and early retirement, and PERA and Medicare benefits are being decreased by the state as well. The board thanked Webb for all of his work on the budget and Webb thanked them in return. Webb also noted he was proud of the school’s staff for their work staying within parameters and noted a significant shift in philosophy recently. Staff used to pursue spending any leftover money at the end of the year in a rush and staff has shown considerably more caution. The Delta Center’s retiring principal, Dirk Oden, attended the meeting and noted sales emails staff receive often encourage that practice. Nehring noted the reason that staff salaries could be adjusted in the future is because staff “doesn’t spend money just to spend it.” Webb also has been pursuing several options for hiring a school nurse but has been unable to obtain agreements of cooperation from neighboring districts yet but stated historically the nurse has been paid on a teacher salary which is not competitive for a registered nurse “by about $10,000.”He will be pursuing possibly increasing the salary to attract more potential applicants. The budget will be finalized and voted on at a special meeting on June 29 at 5:30 p.m.
Policy review and policy revisions were tabled until a meeting with the full board present. Jennifer Clutter was asked to explain the increase in lunch prices to the board before they voted on it. Clutter explained the paid rate has to meet a mandatory minimum in order for the school district to qualify for the free-and-reduced lunch program and their current rate would have to be increased. She presented the option of increasing prices $.05 for every student or $.10 for secondary students, with the board selecting the former option. For the 2017-2018 school year, students in preschool through fifth grade who do not qualify for free or reduced lunch will pay $2.40 per meal and students in sixth through 12th grade will pay $2.65.
The board does not normally meet in July. Excluding the special budget meeting on June 29, the board’s next regular meeting will be Aug. 17 at 6 p.m., as some board members could not attend if they met on Aug. 10.