PHOTO: Board president Ursala Hudson addresses families at the ‘grand opening’ of Pagosa Peak Open School, September 2017. Also shown, on left, Board members Chenni Hammon and Aaron Burns.
I currently serve on the volunteer Board of Directors for the Pagosa Peak Open School, but this editorial series does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the other Board members… nor the School’s staff… nor the School’s parents… nor the School’s students.
And not necessarily the opinions of the Pagosa Springs community in general.
But it does reflect my own opinions.
The Wednesday, May 17, meeting of the PPOS Board of Directors was a bit unusual, in that it marked the final meeting for Board President Ursala Hudson (my daughter). Ursala is stepping down from her position on the Board to pursue other interests.
A bit of history:
When I moved to Pagosa Springs in 1993 with my wife Clarissa and our three children, we became involved with a couple of families who, like us, were interested in exploring educational choices for our kids. One idea was a ‘homeschool cooperative’. Another idea was a private school. The result of these conversations was the creation of a private school, Pagosa Springs Community School, under the guidance of former public school teacher Tom McCullough.
Tom and his wife Carolyn were the staff. One of the young students was our daughter Ursala.
As it turned out, the school was in operation for only one year. The key problem was financial. Young families. with elementary-age children. found it challenging (to say the least) to pay the monthly tuition needed to fund Tom’s and Carolyn’s salaries.
A noble attempt, but perhaps ahead of its time?
A couple of years earlier, the Colorado Legislature had approved the Colorado Charter Schools Act of 1993, to encourage the development of new (and hopefully, more successful?) educational models, and also to give parents and educators “choices” beyond the existing public school ‘monopoly’.
Colorado was the third state in the U.S. to enact a charter school law.
In fall of 1993, the state’s first two charter schools opened their doors. The Connect School in Pueblo and Academy Charter School in Castle Rock are still open and thriving today. Over the next couple of decades, publicly funded charter schools appeared in many Colorado communities, and the state now has about 270 charter schools. In Denver, about 25% of public school students attend a charter school.
In order to encourage innovation, charter schools have their own independent boards of directors, and are allowed a measure of freedom from the “established rules” and from school district control. For example, charter schools are allowed to hire teachers who have education and experience appropriate to a school classroom, but who may not have a Colorado teaching certificate. As of 2022, charter schools were, in general, outperforming conventional public schools in term of the state’s School Performance Framework (SPF), while at the same time serving a higher percentage of at-risk students.
For a number of reasons, Pagosa Springs had not seen a successful application to start a district-authorized charter school here, when, in 2015, Ursala gathered a group of fellow parents to explore the possibility of starting a K-8 charter school here.
The first step was the creation of a non-profit called the Pagosa Charter School Initiative, with Ursala serving as president. Two years later, the group had made visits to 17 innovative schools around Colorado and New Mexico… picked an educational model known as ‘Project Based Learning’… hired a school director with a background in charter schools… and received approval of their charter contract from the Archuleta School District.
Pagosa Peak Open School — affectionately known as ‘PPOS’ — opened its doors on the first floor of the Parelli Natural Horsemanship office building in September 2017 as a ‘school of choice”…
…and Ursala was elected President of the Board of Directors.
She held that office through our Board meeting on May 17, 2023, when Board member Lawrence Rugar was elected President.
During Ursala’s tenure, PPOS had expanded from grades K-4 to grades K-8… purchased the building from the Parelli organization… done a $1.2 million building upgrade to improve safety and security… begun work on a new ‘community’ playground… and converted the former Parelli warehouse into a community space that now commodates Forge Martial Arts and the Pagosa Community Initiative art school.
Additional changes are in the works.
Ursala’s resignation wasn’t the only unusual thing about the May 17 meeting. The Board had also received letters of resignation from Vice President Michelle Carpenter and from Treasurer Julie Simmons.
Ms. Carpenter has been instrumental in guiding the decision, by the PPOS Board, to convert one of its classrooms into a Preschool classroom, and to build a Preschool playground on the south side of the building. This expansion effort has been supported by a $20,000 grant from the Town of Pagosa Springs, and future funding is expected through Colorado Department of Early Childhood’s new Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) program.
Recent community surveys have suggested that a shortage of childcare openings has put a burden on working families, and the PPOS Preschool program hopes to help address that shortage.
Ms. Simmons, in her position as Treasurer, has been one of our hardest-working Board members. Unfortunately for PPOS, she and husband Tony and son Porter have decided to relocate to California, to be closer to family.
At the May meeting, two new candidates were elected to the PPOS Board.
Jesse White has been an active school parent, and was elected to the office of Vice President.
Pamela Meade and her company, Designs for Learning, were involved in helping PPOS set up its financial systems back in 2017; she has been elected Board Treasurer.
Also, at the May meeting, the Board had its first discussion around the 2023-2024 budget. Public school budgets are approved annually in June, shortly after the Colorado General Assembly defines the funding for the Colorado Department of Education.
Colorado’s Democrat-led legislature was rather generous with the proposed school funding for next year.
But there’s a curious glitch, in the way public schools are funded. Or maybe a few glitches.
And COVID tossed an additional monkey wrench into the gears…