{"id":30776,"date":"2023-10-10T18:40:37","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T00:40:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-school-board-candidates-touch-on-many-subjects\/"},"modified":"2023-10-11T00:40:37","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T00:40:37","slug":"montezuma-cortez-school-board-candidates-touch-on-many-subjects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-school-board-candidates-touch-on-many-subjects\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma-Cortez school board candidates touch on many subjects"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez High School has introduced a new logo that includes a representation of the sun, mountains and mesas. M-CHS also announced that its online school store has officially launched and is filled with new Panthers gear. Twenty percent of every retail price purchase will go toward supporting student programs. Visit the new M-CHS School store by clicking the banner on their school homepage at http:\/\/mchs.cortez.k12.co.us or by entering B1SELFSHOPS.com\/mcsd_montezuma_cortez_high_school in your Internet browser window.<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Candidates in the upcoming Montezuma Cortez Re-1 Board of Education elections made their pitch to community members during a forum Monday evening at the Cortez Elks Lodge.<\/p>\n

With several new directors slated to join the board after the November elections, it will be a significant shake-up at a time when the district faces a host of issues, including gun safety and concerns about student performance.<\/p>\n

One candidate, Leland Collins, was not in attendance.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, tensions still simmer over Superintendent Tom Burris\u2019 April decision to put former Montezuma-Cortez High School principal Emily Moreland on administrative leave.<\/p>\n

At the top of the meeting, Burris addressed his efforts to block directors from interfering in personnel matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe school board has three functions: set the budget, set the policy, and I am the only employee of the school board,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Candidates were then questioned over whether they would be able to effectively enforce district policies despite potential personal objection. In particular, Jonathan James \u201cJJ\u201d Lewis, who is running in District C to replace outgoing director Sherri Wright, was singled out over his support for Moreland.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolicy wasn\u2019t followed by, apparently, one of our principals,\u201d one attendee said. \u201cEven though policy was being broke, you stepped up and said, \u2018Ignore that, keep this person because she\u2019s really good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Lewis said it was important to support administrators.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not aware of all the human resources stuff that happened and intricacies on that part,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Later, he reemphasized that teachers and staff need more support in the schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, you had teachers who were afraid to voice their concerns,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Other candidates expressed the difficulty they would face in enforcing policies if they were in opposition to personal beliefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a struggle for me,\u201d said Mike Lynch, who is running unopposed in District G to replace outgoing director Layne Frazier. \u201cI believe it\u2019s possible to have a situation where perhaps a state law or a federal law has prompted a particular policy, but that policy goes against certain moral foundations or certain constitutional foundations.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also added while speaking to The Journal <\/em>later on in the evening that he would be a \u201cvoice on the school board for conservative family values. I know that can be a lot of different things for different people, but I have my meaning,\u201d said Lynch.<\/p>\n

Rafe O\u2019Brien, who is running unopposed in District A to replace outgoing director Cody Wells, echoed a similar sentiment about upholding moral and constitutional values.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would follow the policies to the best of my ability,\u201d he said. But \u201cif there\u2019s a moral high ground I feel like I need to stand by, I will stand it.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien, whose children go to school in the district, added later that he would love to see more parent and community involvement in the school board and schools in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all live in this town together. \u2026 We all need to do this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The candidates all voiced support for the Second Amendment and putting armed, trained personnel in the district\u2019s schools to help prevent potential gun violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as it is our right to be armed, we should exercise it,\u201d said Rhonda Tracy, an Air Force veteran who is vying for the seat held by departing director Wright alongside Lewis. \u201cWe have to be proactive, and disarming people is not proactive.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked further about her stance on teachers and faculty being allowed to carry firearms in the school if trained to do so, Tracy said, \u201cThe people who are trained to use the guns are not the ones who are the problem, who are a danger. The criminals are the danger. And by disarming good people, we don\u2019t make this world a safer place.\u201d<\/p>\n

The district also will be testing out a new metal detector system, Burris said at the meeting. If the initial pilot proves successful, the detectors would be used at area schools and football games.<\/p>\n

Despite hope among the candidates for a more cordial working relationship between the board and Burris, there were clear policy divisions.<\/p>\n

At the start of the meeting, Burris touted the recent improvement in test scores. But both Wright and Tracy later expressed concern with a curriculum focused squarely on success at standardized testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople get really focused on test scores. We heard a lot about test scores tonight. But I think we need to look at the whole child,\u201d Tracy told The Journal.<\/p>\n

Tracy also emphasized getting back to the basics of reading, writing, math and the arts to make students are learning what they need to be learning in school, sharing that she once taught seventh graders who did not know how to properly write a sentence.<\/p>\n

Finally, Lewis, who was outspoken about the firing of Moreland during a spring board meeting, spoke to The Journal <\/em>about his relationship with Burris following that meeting where he called for his resignation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope to improve that relationship. I reached out to him and asked for a meeting to work collaboratively and establish a collaborative relationship, but at this point in time he has refused to do so,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cHe has stated that, should I be elected, he will be willing to meet with me at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Candidates speak about teacher support, school safety, tensions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,155,28,216,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-cortez-school-district-re-1","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30776","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=30776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30776"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}