The Archuleta School District (ASD) held a secret meeting yesterday, June 25, with a small group of local citizens, to discuss a $50 million tax-funded facilities plan.
I had no idea the meeting was going to be conducted secretly. I had heard about the meeting several weeks ago… but I didn’t know the exact time, nor the location. Some of the information published by ASD said “5pm” and some said “6pm.” None of the published notices stated the venue. None stated that the public would be excluded.
So I did what any normal taxpayer might do. I wrote an email to ASD Superintendent Linda Reed to find out the exact time and location:
Hi Linda
I am trying to find information on the Facilities Task Force meeting tonight, June 25. Some ASD info says “5pm” and some info says “6pm.” Which is correct?
Also, where will the meeting take place? Thanks for getting back to me on this.
— Bill Hudson, editor
I received a prompt reply from Ms. Reed:
Hi Bill,
The meeting is NOT a public meeting. I emailed both Ursala and James to let them know that the meeting to which you and the other PPOS board members are invited is the board meeting on Thursday evening. Thursday’s board meeting, at which we welcome the input of the PPOS board, is at 5:00 at the middle school.
Linda Reed
Superintendent
My interest in the subject of school funding derives from being a media reporter for the Daily Post, and also from being a board member of the Pagosa Peak Open School (PPOS), the first District-authorized charter school in Archuleta County.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been told that a community-wide planning meeting was “NOT a public meeting.” In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever been told not to attend a community-wide planning meeting, conducted by a local government entity, in my 14 years as a Daily Post reporter.
The topic for the meeting was a possible $50 million bonded debt for School District facilities, to be funded by a local tax increase, plus a potential mill levy increase that would cost local taxpayers an additional $34 million over the next 20 years (as estimated by ASD). Both of these tax increases have been the subject of numerous public meetings over the past year — many of which I have attended, and written about.
To be fair to Ms. Reed, government entities often hold meetings to which the public, and the media, are not invited. Typically, those meetings include discussions about internal operations of the organization, where it might be challenging to speak openly and honestly with media reporters present.
But ASD had, up until last night, been very transparent about its planning processes concerning these two multi-million-dollar tax proposals. The District had purposely tried to let the community know when the planning meetings were taking place, and where, and had invited the public to attend.
But there you have it. Apparently, no member of the general public was allowed to attend last night’s planning meeting, at which a group of perhaps 20 or so volunteer ‘task force’ members were expected to develop a recommendation concerning two rather large tax increases, to be presented this Thursday evening to the Archuleta School Board.
Most certainly, the local media was not invited to attend yesterday’s meeting. I was nevertheless curious who, exactly, would be making this momentous recommendation to the School Board. So I showed up at the Pagosa Springs Middle School at about 5:30pm, hoping to document the meeting with a one simple photograph, so that the community could know at least who was involved in the secret meeting. When I arrived, Ms. Reed was addressing the assembled participants, and she immediately stopped speaking, and reminded me that the meeting was NOT a public meeting… and asked me to leave.
I asked for permission to take a photograph of the room — the Middle School library — which would include (of course) the numerous participants of the meeting.
Ms. Reed told me that I did not have permission to take a photograph.
So I left the room, with only a quick glance at who the participants were. They appeared to be essentially the same folks whom I had observed participating in numerous ASD Planning Assistance Team meetings over the past year. Those numerous PAT meetings were open to the public, and were covered by the weekly Pagosa Springs SUN and by the Daily Post.
Thus, the only photograph I have to share with our Daily Post readers today is the one below, showing the entrance to the Pagosa Springs Middle School yesterday, taken yesterday evening from the public sidewalk.
I will readily admit that I did not have permission to take this photograph… but I figured maybe a photo taken from a public sidewalk was permissible.
I remain curious, however, about the planning discussions that Ms. Reed did not want the local media to hear on the evening of June 25, 2018.
We — the taxpayers — will never know exactly what was discussed, unless a member of the ‘task force’ is willing to tell us. (For obvious reasons, I don’t expect Ms. Reed to reveal the information in any detail. Secrets are meant to remain secret.)
Tomorrow, Wednesday, June 27 at 3pm, the Archuleta School Board will hold a ‘retreat’ at the Sunset Ranch, 4186 E Hwy 160. Since that meeting will include three or more School Board members, the meeting is, according to Colorado law, open to the public (including the media.) I am hopeful the School Board will openly discuss the proposed tax increases, but the purpose for the retreat is not clear from the information posted on the ASD website:
AGENDA ITEM DETAILS
Meeting: June 27, 2018 – School Board Retreat
Category: DISCUSSION ITEMS
Subject: Retreat
Type: Discussion
One might assume from the above description (if one had been well educated in our American public schools) that the “Subject” of the discussion will be “Retreat.” But I can’t believe the School Board would actually conduct a three-hour retreat to discuss “retreats.” So I remain hopeful.
As noted, this “Retreat” is a public meeting, open to all taxpayers and voters. If you are planning to attend, you might want to advise School Board President Greg Schick of your intentions, so that provisions can be made; the School Board rarely gets more than one citizen attending their Board Retreats. President Schick’s email (as shared on the ASD website) is gschick@pagosa.k12.co.us
You can find a map for Sunset Ranch on their website: http://www.sunsetranchcabins.com/
The School Board also plans to meet at 5pm on Thursday, June 28 at the Middle School Library, to hear recommendations from the (secret) task force meeting.
From the ASD website:
AGENDA ITEM DETAILS
Meeting: June 28, 2018 – Special Meeting
Category: ACTION ITEMS
Subject: Task Force Recommendation Type Action
Recommended Action: It is recommended the Board accept the Task Force’s recommendation for moving forward with a Mill Levy Override and/or a Bond Issue. The Board will receive the final report from the Task Force and consider accepting their recommendation for moving forward with a Mill Levy Override and/or a Bond Issue. The recommendation could potentially be to put a Mill Levy Override and/or Bond Issue on the 2018 November Ballot, or it could be a recommendation to not put either on the ballot.
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.