As mentioned previously in this editorial series, the Archuleta School Board did not make any decisions about mask-wearing at their August 10 regular meeting. The decision appears to be in the hands of the District administration at this point.
They heard that the vast majority of parents who had responded to a family survey, and the vast majority of staff who had responded to a separate survey, said they were comfortable with allowing individual families and individual staff members make their own decisions about whether to wear masks — or not — when the school year officially starts on September 7. Unless new requirements are established by state agencies, it appears that’s how the school year will begin. It also appears that students will be allowed to socialize in ways that were prohibited at the start of last year, and that includes full participation on sports teams.
Pagosa Peak Open School, Archuleta County’s District-authorized public charter school, started the 2021-22 school year on August 2, also with a “masks-optional” policy, although that policy has now changed, and staff are required to wear masks, until further notice. Masks remain optional for the children.
But dealing with COVID and related policies and rules is only one of the School District’s concerns, as the school year begins. Another key issue: workforce housing. The School Board was given presentation by Pagosa Springs Medical Center board president Greg Schulte, who mentioned, in passing, the PSMC resolution that was provided to the School Board… Resolution 2021-13, which reads in part:
…WHEREAS, PSMC employs a wide breadth of employees ranging from food services and housekeeping to nurses and surgeons; and
WHEREAS, locating affordable and attainable workforce housing has been a significant issue for the spectrum of the PSMC workforce for several years; and
WHEREAS, PSMC believes the unavailability and unaffordability of workforce housing has dramatically worsened with the last year and is now a serious issue for all sectors of commerce and government within our service area…
NOW, THEREFORE…
…PSMC wishes to communicate to our community and other anchor institutions in Archuleta County (including but not limited to, the Town of Pagosa Springs, Archuleta County Government, Archuleta School District, Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District, Pagosa Fire Protection District…) that Pagosa Springs Medical Center stands ready and willing to be a partner in coordinated efforts to address the workforce housing crisis in Archuleta County.
Following Mr. Schulte’s presentation, the School Board tended to a few housekeeping matters, heard about standardized test scores, and got a financial report from District Finance Director Mike Hodgson (you can download the Q4 report here).
Then we came to the ‘Affordable Housing Discussion’:
Superintendent LeBlanc-Esparza will update the Board on discussions she has been involved in regarding affordable housing. The Board will discuss relevant data, trends and potential solutions for the lack of affordable housing for the staff of Archuleta School District.
Here’s Dr. Kym, introducing the subject:
“It’s not going to get better unless we do something. Our service industry is also hurting; most of our restaurants are operating on abbreviated schedules… and the hospital has now reached out, as you heard from Greg.
“Earlier this year, I participated in a County meeting, where the commissioners took public comment and listened to recommendations from [the County Planning Commission] on how to reduce the impact of Short-Term Rentals… it’s my understanding that they did not take the full action that was recommended at that point in time. Over the past four months, I’ve met with the Town Manager as well as planners and members of the Pagosa Housing Partners board, a couple of times now. We walked the District’s properties and considered locations for workforce housing.
“I’ve also met with our CTE (Careers Technical Education) Building Trades staff and our maintenance director, Josh Sanchez, to discuss short-term options, using our Building Trades students and our RISE grant. At this point, we’re looking at small-footprint, micro housing options that our students could build…”
I will pause here to mention (once again?) the lack of available construction industry employees here in Pagosa… and pretty much everywhere in the US.
Shop classes — once embedded in the curriculum at high schools across the country — faded into obscurity, beginning in the 1980s, when the education industry determined that everyone ought to go to college. Those courses — wood shop, metal shop, auto shop — had often been a student’s first introduction to a power tool, or a tape measure, or a socket wrench, and were an important feeder into various vocations. The lack of shop classes has made it harder to attract and recruit young talent in the building industry. That, plus an aging construction workforce, heading into retirement — the average age is 43 — has created a hole in employment. The pandemic only made matters worse.
Both new home construction and remodeling of existing homes are surging, thanks to a lack of inventory in a red-hot housing market. In order just to keep up, the construction industry will need to hire 430,000 workers this year and 1 million more over the next two years, according to Associated Builders and Contractors.
Pagosa Springs High School had only one shop class when my family moved here in 1993: auto shop. But I’m pretty sure it’s been 30 or 40 years since Pagosa students have had access to a wood shop class, if they ever did? And I doubt there was ever a ‘building trades’ class here, until 2018. Students are now starting their fourth year of learning the construction business, and, last May, built the chicken coops shown below for their annual fundraising auction. (We’d be delighted to live in one of these units… if we were chickens.)
Are these students ready, now, to start building housing for people?