{"id":123459,"date":"2026-04-07T12:30:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T18:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dolores-schools-gear-up-for-kindergarten-registration-and-spring-testing\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T12:30:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T18:30:59","slug":"dolores-schools-gear-up-for-kindergarten-registration-and-spring-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dolores-schools-gear-up-for-kindergarten-registration-and-spring-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolores schools gear up for kindergarten registration and spring testing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The Dolores School District is preparing for spring testing and kindergarten registration. They also shared information about the BEST building project, which is on schedule, in an April update.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The Dolores School District is preparing for a busy April as it opens kindergarten registration for the 2026-27 school year, continues construction on its new high school and readies students for state and national assessments.<\/p>\n

Kindergarten registration set for April 23<\/div>\n

Kindergarten registration is scheduled for Thursday, April 23, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Little Bear Gym at Dolores Elementary School. As an open-enrollment district, Dolores Elementary welcomes both in-district and out-of-district students.<\/p>\n

Families will have the opportunity to meet teachers, complete registration paperwork and tour the campus.<\/p>\n

High school construction continues on schedule<\/div>\n

The registration event comes as the district continues its BEST building project for a new high school. Construction remains on schedule, with vertical construction underway and walls going up.<\/p>\n

Students, staff and community members will have the opportunity to sign a steel beam during the week of April 13. The beam will become a permanent part of the new commons area.<\/p>\n

Art, welding and wood shop teachers Rene Cunningham, Jonas Weiss and Tyson Atwell are collaborating with architects and builders on custom \u201cDolores screens\u201d that will be featured in the new building. The screens will highlight local stories and student work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so much to look forward to in this design process, and it\u2019s important to take a moment to recognize their exceptional efforts,\u201d Superintendent Alesa Reed said in the district\u2019s April newsletter.<\/p>\n

Reed said the teachers have spent the past year and a half working closely with architects and builders to refine the project whil<\/p>\n

State and national testing scheduled throughout April<\/div>\n

State testing is also a key focus this month. Elementary students in third through fifth grades will take CMAS assessments in science, social studies, English language arts and math from April 6-8 and April 13-15.<\/p>\n

Middle school students in sixth through eighth grades will test April 14-15, with eighth graders taking the science assessment April 7.<\/p>\n

High school juniors will take the Colorado Measures of Academic Success science assessment April 8. Students in ninth through 11th grades will take the PSAT and SAT on April 15. The district is encouraging strong attendance, with a goal of maintaining a 95% attendance rate during testing periods.<\/p>\n

Additional testing includes Northwest Education Association assessments for elementary students April 28-29 and for middle school students May 5-6.<\/p>\n

Community events and fine arts night planned<\/div>\n

The district also shared details about upcoming community involvement. Middle school staff have planned a town and school grounds cleanup on Wednesday, April 22, from 1 p.m. to 3:55 p.m. Community members who wish to participate can call (970) 882-7288.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great opportunity for our students to work together with community members to help beautify our town and take pride in the place we live,\u201d Mary Weiss, Dolores Middle School principal, said.<\/p>\n

The middle school and high school will host a School Fine Arts Night on Thursday, April 16, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The event will feature the Poetry Cafe, a gallery of student artwork, music and more. Families and community members are invited to attend.<\/p>\n

Cellphone policy update required by new law<\/div>\n

The district also reported on Colorado House Bill 25-1135, which requires school districts to adopt a cellphone policy by the summer.<\/p>\n

High School Principal Matt Walker said the school will roll out an updated cellphone policy this month to support instruction, boost student engagement and improve campus culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate the thoughtful input from students, staff and families as we move forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

building project is still on schedule<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5794,5735],"tags":[44,103,60],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-123459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-news","tag-dolores","tag-dolores-schools-re-4a","tag-montezuma-county"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123459"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=123459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}