In response to budget challenges, Bayfield School District will cut programs across schools and move Wolverine Academy – its project-based high school alternative – back into Bayfield High School after six years in a separate space.
The announcement, made in an email to families last week, comes less than a month after 15 staff members accepted buyouts and left their roles.
“I believe it is … our responsibility to share that this spring we are in a period of significant challenge with our budget,” Superintendent Dylan Connell wrote in the email. “… Revenue has remained flat for years while inflation has continually increased operating costs.
“Additionally, the housing market in our area makes it challenging for young families to move here, which has contributed greatly to a significant drop in enrollment in our school district. These converging pressures have forced us to make difficult decisions about how we staff and operate our schools.”
The district must identify about $1.6 million in reductions, he said.
“The specific challenge we are facing is that our salary and benefits costs are nearing approximately 90% of our total revenue, a level that is not financially sustainable,” he said. “… Every decision we made was in the context of that reality, and we worked hard to protect programs and people to the greatest extent possible.”
The email outlined changes coming to each district school – Bayfield High School, Bayfield Middle School, Bayfield Intermediate School and Bayfield Primary School.
At the high school level, a “reorganization of roles” will take place in work-based learning programs, a music teacher will be leaving and the project-based Wolverine Academy – which operates out of the former Pueblo Community College Southwest building at 110 E. South St. in Bayfield – will be moving back into Bayfield High School. The academy will also shift its model from having a science teacher, math teacher/dean and a humanities teacher to having a math and science teacher and a humanities teacher, Connell told the Herald.
“This is a variation of the model that was used the year before based on the teacher credentials that we had in the program,” he said.
In a 2024 news release, former Wolverine Academy Dean of Students Halie Forsthoff celebrated the academy having its own space, and said BHS’s large size “wasn’t a good fit” for Wolverine Academy students “for various reasons.”
“(The academy) will still have its own identity but in a new space at BHS,” Connell said. “Dr. (Jason) Wayman will work with students this spring to have them co-design their new space and program.”
Several students and parents spoke in opposition of the move during an April 14 Board of Education meeting.
“Speaking personally, before coming to the Wolverine Academy I had a 1.7 GPA,” a Wolverine Academy student told the board. “I lacked motivation and direction. Since joining this program, my GPA has risen to a 3.0. More importantly, I now have goals and the motivation to achieve them. This school has changed my life. Taking that away and placing students back in environments where many of us were not successful risks undoing that progress.”
Karissa Churchill, a district parent, said she was disappointed in the board and the district for its changes to Wolverine Academy.
“You’ve taken away two of their greatest teachers, and their location – their walls, where they are being successful – and I’m very disappointed in you guys,” she said.
At the middle school, a technology elective has been scrubbed from programming; the counseling team has been reduced from two people to one; the reading intervention program will be led by classroom teachers rather than the dedicated reading interventionist, who resigned; and the special education team will lose one teacher.
Connell described a “reduction in the number of students with Individualized Education Plans” being the catalyst for the decision.
“All services will still be provided by the remaining staff,” he said. “We remain committed to matching our staffing to the service minutes necessary in order to support our students with IEPs and we will continue to analyze this need every year.”
Fewer changes will take place at the intermediate and primary schools.
At the intermediate school, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math will no longer be a standalone explore course, instead transitioning into a “cross-curricular creativity” class in which students will use a 3D printer, laser cutters, lego robotics kits and other STEM equipment to work on projects.
At the primary school, art instruction will be matriculated into the school’s STEM class, making it “STEAM.” It was previously combined with Spanish education and called “SpArt.” Connell said the change means Spanish will no longer be offered to kindergarten through second grade students.
Changes are also being made to the central office and across some departments.
The district’s transportation and nutrition department directors have both retired, and Assistant Superintendent Bill Hesford will take on “executive leadership roles” for both, led by a “coordinator/transportation lead for daily operation” and a nutrition manager, respectively.
All existing transportation routes will be preserved, Connell said, and the district is “committed to maintaining the (nutrition) program at the level that has been available to … families in the past.”
Leaders from each school will discuss the changes and plans for the future at upcoming accountability meetings.
Connell encouraged families to voice their thoughts.
“Your feedback and insights will continue to be important to us in this transition, so I close by sincerely asking that you please reach out to anyone on our leadership team, including your school and district leaders, to share your input,” he said.
He said the district is “doing the best that it can to protect the things most important to students.”
“We will have to be nimble as we learn our revised roles and responsibilities, so we can keep our Bayfield Schools excellent for you and your children,” he said.
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