Photo: The historical 1928 Pagosa Springs High School building, to later become the Junior High, and currently, the 5-6 Grade Middle School Building.
The future of our education system will, in some ways, determine the future of our society. But people tend to make decisions based on what happened in the past, or on the current coditions, rather than looking into the future.
We’re listening to Lisa Scott, co-chair of the Master Plan Advisory Committee (MPAC), giving a final report at the May 13 work session of the Archuleta School District (ASD) Board of Education. Ms. Scott had brought along a PowerPoint slide show to help illustrate the final report.
“It was not hard to put together the committee. We had lots of people who said, ‘Oh, I’m so interested!’ We really tried to put together a diverse group that was representative of the community, of age and of interest…
“All the data and information was really supplied by RTA Architects and sort of other people that they know, to gather information. And we have this very robust website with everything on it. So you can continue to review that at your leisure…”
You can visit that website here.
Disclosure: I served as a volunteer on the MPAC between January and April, but this editorial reflects only my own opinions, and not necessarily the opinions of ASD or the MPAC group.
Ms. Scott:
“We really appreciated the criteria provided by the School Board, up front. And there was good learning and awareness that the Pagosa Peak Open School is a charter school in this community, but it is part of the Archuleta School District.
“We have lots of school options in this community, and some people don’t know if they are private or public. So good recognition and acknowledgement there… and we would recommend, if we move forward with a community bond, that [PPOS] would be part of that…”
Ms. Scott noted that MPAC was an advisory group, and that the final decisions about the Facilities Master Plan and any ballot issues will be made by the School Board. She then summarized the data that was presented to the committee during the four two-hour meetings, between January and April, and ending with the advisory group giving the highest ranking to a new PK-8 facility… to include a preschool component… rather than renovating and upgrading our existing facilities.
A majority of the MPAC group ranked the options presented by the consultants from RTA Architects, in this order:
- New PK-8 School
- New Elementary and New Middle School
- New Middle School, Renovate Elementary
- New Elementary, Renovate Middle School
- Renovate Both Elementary and Middle School
As I mentioned in Part One, this ranking did not align with my own personal priorities.
We can note that our community has historically shown itself to be adverse to tax increases for new government facilities. The voters twice rejected a tax increase for a new jail, in 2017 and in 2018. In 2011, the voters rejected a proposed K-8 school facility. The voters rejected a tax increase for a downtown recreation center in 2014.
Most recently, the voters within the Pagosa Lakes Property Owners Association (PLPOA) rejected a proposed gymnasium addition to their existing recreation center, by a 3-to-1 margin. That proposed $2 million facility would have been built with cash, rather than with bonded debt, but was defeated — in my observation — by an active opposition campaign conducted mainly through social media.
How would those voters react to, say, a $200 million bond for a new PK-8 school building?
Meanwhile, our community has twice approved ‘Mill Levy Override’ property tax increases for Archuleta School District (ASD), for security upgrades to our existing schools and for increased teacher and staff salaries. So a certain level of support for education obviously exists.
I serve on the Pagosa Peak Open School board of directors, and I would support a modest property tax increase for necessary repairs and upgrades to address deficiencies at certain schools… including at PPOS, which operates in what was previously an office building, near Walmart.
Any building, no matter what its function and no matter what its age, can be seen as deficient in certain ways. Can we live with the deficiencies? Does the broader community want to help address the deficiencies — either by upgrading the existing buildings, or funding new facilities?
We can wonder, for example, where education is headed over the next couple of decades. Will students continue gather in classrooms, with a single teacher leading a shared lesson? Or will instruction increasingly be delivered to each student, individually, based on their particular interests, needs, and abilities?
The MPAC had also ranked additional facility needs, including:
- Build High School Auxiliary Gym and Critical Maintenance
- High School Athletic Field Improvements
- San Juan Mountain School
- Pagosa Peak Open School
- District Administration Building Improvements
Ms. Scott concluded her presentation to the School Board:
“Everybody thinks all of these things are important, but we can’t afford all these things. These physical things. So, we are definitely going to have to make some hard choices about… We’re going to end up with a certain amount of money, whether it’s a BEST grants or whatever we go to the voters with. And it’s just not going to fund everything. So there’s going to need to be a clear priority, of what you’re going to fund first, and fund second. And that’s a conversation for certainly parents and staff and the community, so they understand what coming first, and what’s in the parking lot…
“I’m a big proponent of, if we want to get anything passed in this community at any given time, at any level — big, small, medium — we have just got to engage our community, in a very intentional way, and educate them. And I will tell you, that’s not an easy thing to do. Community buy-in and support, and understanding the rationale for why decisions are made, because you’re going to have people who say, ‘I can’t believe they chose to do that!’ or ‘I can’t believe they chose that location!’… Some of the potential detractors, it’s not because they don’t want anything to happen, they just don’t like what was chosen.”
She also shared a timeline, noting that mail ballot voting starts in mid-October in Colorado.
“The MPAC members were very engaged in this process, they’re very committed, and they’re available to convene in a large group or in small groups, to do any other work that you feel you need us to do.”
The national economy has endured some hard shocks since the Trump administration took over the White House. Does the School Board think 2025 is the best year for a school bond election? Maybe a “longer runway”, leading to a 2026 election, is preferable?
And maybe we want to take a hard look into the future of education in Archuleta County… before we spend $200 million on new buildings?
Read Part Three, on Monday…