ALAMOSA — Diana Jones, Superintendent of the Alamosa School District recently had her contract with the district extended through June 2027. She and Assistant Superintendent Luis Murillo were both hired in the 2021-2022 school year and recently met with the Valley Courier for a general interview.

The district has six schools, 37 extracurricular activities, 17 athletic teams 136 teachers, and over 2,200 students,

"I'm just really proud we have been able to dig in and really find ways to create the conditions for our staff to be successful, which in turn creates the conditions for our students to be successful. The raise for the teachers certainly helps and utilizing our funding and completing a BEST grant through the state for HVAC has truly made a difference in the environment, we had failed air quality assessments in all of our schools except the high school which barely passed. Being able to provide quality airflow for our students and staff is huge. Students trying to read in a comfortable environment and this made a significant impact on them and the staff.  Even some of the HVAC workers said, 'I don't see how people could be in here all day.' "I'm really pleased about that and it was one-time money that we used effectively. We really could not have afforded to do that without the money from the government,” said Jones. In June 2023, the district board approved a 7% raise for all employees effective the 2023-2024 school year.

BEST (Building Excellent Schools Today) grants are a Colorado Department of Education program that helps public schools with many capital construction needs. The goal of the program is to provide first class, high-performing 21st-century facilities and to alleviate health and safety concerns, according to the department.

The district developed a strategic action plan, said Jones, a milestone she and Murillo worked on in tandem. The district collaborated with the Colorado Education Initiative. As part of the initiative, a District Graduate Profile was created. The profile is a tool that a school or district uses to communicate a broad set of competencies and skills — like collaboration, adaptability, or a growth mindset — that they want students to have when they graduate.

The Alamosa Graduate Profile includes the attributes of resiliency, local and global awareness, future readiness, including academic and communication skills, critical thinking/analysis, and confidence.

"Future-ready Alamosa students are prepared to meet the challenges for the rapidly changing world with confidence and maturity. They build and use skills to make sense of the world, access resources to solve challenges, and collaborate with others to achieve the best possible outcome in their work," according to the profile.

An accomplishment both Jones and Murillo are proud of is the family center.

"We opened a family center and that work has just begun and we partnered with Jamie Dominguez at 8th and Ross [Shooting Stars Cultural and Leadership Center] we have had several successful events there and have engaged the community to develop and build trusting relationships. All of these things in developing trust with our families, teachers, and our union. We have created a team They say to surround yourself with quality people and we have done that. There are so many things that I am proud of. All of these people have teamed together to help support and build upon our strategic plan," said Jones.

"We are focusing on teacher recruitment and retention and wanting to make as Dr. Murillo says, 'make Alamosa a destination place to work,' and we want people to want to be and stay here. That positively affects our student learning and achievement," according to Jones.

Murillo added, "The intent of the family center, is navigating the current educational system and that is tough for all families. It is even tougher for families that are new to our area and might not speak the language, or maybe did not have a good experience when they went through the education system. The goal of the family center is to be a one-stop shop to help navigate our school district and our community."

Regarding school security Murillo said, "Because of security improvements, our schools have become harder to access. To provide a safer environment for all, we have double doors, we have security entrances, we ask you [school visitors] for identification, we run a background check on you, we have armed security guards. These security measures are not welcoming to some people. We wanted to create a space that feels more welcoming that can help our community navigate our school system as well as our resources in Alamosa."

The center, which opened in May of last year held a Back to School Bash on its south side and neighboring Historic Zapata Park in July. It was a huge success and was attended by over 400 people. The bash was a registration event and, "In the past registration was only done online and this was difficult for some families so we got off our throne, our pedestal and we went to the people. We also celebrated Historic Heritage Month there which included folklorico dancers, food, and was a community gathering," said Murillo. The registration outreach included visits to Tierra Nueva Apartments and the Century Mobile Home Park in Alamosa.

Murillo said the school was partnering with outside organizations such as La Puente and the Boys and Girls Club of the San Luis Valley and mental health centers, "We're really trying to open up our doors and lead in a way that is welcoming to all people."

The school district will also apply for another BEST grant for the renovation of the Alamosa High HVAC before the Feb. 6 deadline, those funds won't be available until July. There is another BEST grant in the works to finish the HVAC project at Ortega Middle School and the elementary schools.

Jones said the district match is 38% and while Jones did not have the final cost [as of the interview] the projects are in the $5 million range. Jones stressed that figure was just an estimate and recently the school met with their BEST grant representative and that was very productive. The school will submit a grant application for safety and security at the high school, that "will include another safe and secure entrance on the west side of the building.”

“We are looking at mental health services for our students, and we will be adding counseling offices to increase the size of the offices. Right now, they are very small and not very inviting. We want a calm environment, with sunlight coming in. We hope to add a safety vestibule, a secure entrance, and additional space in the cafeteria and provide a safe space for our students and a better space for our health services and nurses," according to Jones.

"We do have people with LPC's [Licensed professional counselors] addressing mental health issues and we have our school counselors that are not LPC's that are helping deliver instruction in classes and providing skills to the kids so they can self-regulate and deal with situations. We have at least one LPC per school,” said Murillo.

Regarding the district adopting a four-day school week, Jones said, "So far, so good, our staff and our students and parents have been very have been very pleased. It has been a great transition. One of the concerns was providing a safe place as well as being able to see them on that fifth day for our students. Our community partners jumped in to help us, the boys and girls club, Generation Wild, Alpine Achievers, parks and recreation, and the public library have all jumped in to help."