ALAMOSA — Members of the Colorado State Board of Education had words of high praise for the Alamosa School District after a visit on Wednesday afternoon.
“This team has done amazing things,” said Rebecca McCllellan, Chairperson of the Board and representative for District 6. “They were struggling for some years, but they’ve really made progress.”
The purpose of the tour, attended by seven of the nine members elected to the board plus the commissioner of education, was to connect those at the state levels with all the regions across the state.
Among the school districts in the San Luis Valley, Alamosa was chosen to host the visit, which began with the State Board conducting their board meeting from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. That meeting was followed by a group conversation, led by Assistant Superintendent Luis Murillo, with students from Alamosa High School (AHS) about their school experiences, including what is working and what is not.
The AHS conversation was followed by various administrators with the district highlighting the accomplishments made in recent years culminating in a meet-and-greet at the Alamosa Family Center at the Shooting Stars Cultural and Leadership Center where center founder, Jamie Dominguez, explained the significance of the Maestas Case mural that was recently added to the Center.
During the meet-and-greet, Board member Karla Esser, representing Jefferson County and District 7, was notably impressed with the AHS students’ ability to express themselves.
“One student told me how many hours she’d already earned in high school toward her Associates degree, her plan to go to college, what she planned to major in, and everything she had planned out for her future after that,” she told the Valley Courier. “They were also very open about issues. Social media was on their minds a lot and bullying and how the bullying is always anonymous. They even said they weren’t sure I could understand what they were experiencing because things were very different when I was in school. I was so impressed by their awareness.”
Esser also praised Murillo for being so encouraging and open to hearing the students’ comments and concerns.
Chairperson McCllellan commented on AHS Principal Andy Lavier’s tenure with the school district.
“He’s been with the district for, I think, 26 years? That’s so important. Stability in that position makes such a huge difference, especially when it’s a person who’s as good at their job as he is.” She went on to add, “And when a person who isn’t doing such a great job is in their position for a long time, that impact is obvious, too.”
Board member Dr. Lisa A. Escárcega, representing Denver, noted the inclusion of parents in basic processes like registration for school.
“They’re very welcoming of parents,” she said. “Instead of doing this,” she said, demonstrating two fists bumping into each other, “they’re doing this.” She then opened her hands in a welcoming gesture. “That’s so great to see.”
Several of the board members acknowledged that rural districts have advantages that larger districts don’t have, such as the ability to be more “nimble” and “flexible”, allowing them to alter what they’re doing more easily when they find out something isn’t working. “Larger districts like Denver just don’t have that ability,” Dr. Escárcega said.
She also went on to say that she believes public schools are getting an unfair reputation for not providing good education.
“It starts with — no offense — the media saying that,” she said. “But if you ask parents what they think of their son or daughter’s teacher and they’ll say, ‘I love her, she’s doing such a great job.’ That’s what the reality is in most schools, as I’m sure it is here.”
Board member Rhoda Solis, representing newly formed 8th District, was among the most exuberant, part of which she attributed to returning to a part of the state where her family had deep roots and part of which she attributed to what she saw going on in the district.
“It’s so important for everyone to work together,” she said. “One board member can ruin everything. Really, it just takes one person to do that. But when you have the teachers, the administration, the school board, the parents, the students, the community and the city council all on the same page and all working for the same thing, it’s amazing what can happen. I know we did that up in Greeley. And I feel like that’s what’s happening here.”
When asked for a final comment, Colorado Department of Education’s Commissioner Susana Còrdova complimented ASD for being on the right track, while adding that no one should look at just one year’s scores to evaluate a school but the trajectory the school is on.
