{"id":42425,"date":"2022-01-31T20:09:16","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T03:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/update-montezuma-cortez-superintendent-vanderwey-formally-resigns\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:07:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:07:17","slug":"update-montezuma-cortez-superintendent-vanderwey-formally-resigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/update-montezuma-cortez-superintendent-vanderwey-formally-resigns\/","title":{"rendered":"Update: Montezuma-Cortez Superintendent VanderWey formally resigns"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Risha
Risha VanderWey will formally take the reins of the Montezuma-Cortez School District RE-1 on July 1. (Courtesy of Tuba City Unified School District)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Montezuma-Cortez School District RE-1 announced Monday that Superintendent Risha VanderWey resigned effective Jan. 21.<\/p>\n

A letter from the school board, emailed to The Journal <\/em>Saturday, cited \u201cphilosophical differences of short and long-term goals\u201d between the board and VanderWey.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate the patience of the community as we value our balance of transparency against the confidentiality needed for some aspects of this process,\u201d the letter continued.<\/p>\n

VanderWey\u2019s contract spanned from July 1 to June 30, 2023. Her annual base salary was $125,000 for the 2021-2022 school year, with an annual provisional increase of 2% of the previous year\u2019s base salary thereafter.<\/p>\n

The Journal <\/em>also requested the school board\u2019s evaluations of VanderWey on Monday, and filed a formal request for the evaluations under the Colorado Open Records Act on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

In addition, The Journal <\/em>made a formal request for all electronic and written communications discussing VanderWey by board members in January.<\/p>\n

The school board said it would appoint staff to fulfill VanderWey\u2019s duties at its next meeting, on Feb. 22, until the board hires a new superintendent.<\/p>\n

The board\u2019s announcement came nearly two weeks after residents and city and school staff began discussing the status of VanderWey\u2019s position and the week after board President Sheri Noyes formally announced in a news release Jan. 24 that VanderWey had been placed on administrative leave.<\/p>\n

At January\u2019s school board meeting Tuesday, Jan. 18, the board entered into an executive session for just over an hour to discuss VanderWey\u2019s position. VanderWey was initially not part of the meeting, but was invited in to talk before again being excused, at which point the board had \u201cvery little discussion\u201d following, Noyes said.<\/p>\n

\n

Timeline of former superintendent Risha VanderWey\u2019s resignation <\/h4>\n

\u2013 July 1, 2021: VanderWey begins her tenure as superintendent in Cortez, after previously serving as superintendent of majority-Navajo Tuba City Unified School District in northern Arizona, and as Coconino County Education Service Agency in Flagstaff.\u2013 Jan. 20, 2022: Word of VanderWey\u2019s paid administrative leave begins to circulate through Cortez.\u2013 Jan. 24: Board President Sheri Noyes issues a brief, three-sentence letter announcing VanderWey\u2019s leave and the formation of a governing \u201cquorum\u201d to replace her. Noyes declines to provide additional details.\u2013 Jan. 28: The Journal <\/em>requests VanderWey\u2019s employment contract from Kyle Archibeque, executive director of finance, and asks about the duration of VanderWey\u2019s paid administrative leave. Archibeque does not respond.\u2013 Jan. 29: The school board issues a letter announcing that VanderWey chose to resign from the district after \u201cphilosophical differences of short- and long-term goals.\u201dThe letter announces a plan to appoint a \u201cquorum\u201d of staff who will fulfill VanderWey\u2019s duties at its next meeting, on Feb. 22, until the board hires a new superintendent.\u2013 Jan. 31: The Journal<\/em> requests the school board\u2019s evaluations of VanderWey from Debra Ramsey, executive assistant to the superintendent. Ramsey replied that the district was \u201crequesting clarification from the District\u2019s council (sic) prior to disclosing any information.\u201d\u2013 Feb. 1: The Journal<\/em> files formal requests for VanderWey\u2019s contract and board evaluations under the Colorado Open Records Act.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The meeting agenda listed the reason for the private session as \u201ca personnel matter regarding the Superintendent\u2019s evaluation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Jan. 24 news release stated that a governing \u201cquorum of highly qualified administrative staff members\u201d would fill in for VanderWey but did not provide details about the \u201cquorum\u201d staff.<\/p>\n

Noyes also would not provide details about VanderWey\u2019s job status.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey (the community) can come to their own conclusion,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Former Assistant Superintendent Lis Richard resigned from her position Jan. 4 on disability leave. Her resignation, she said, has nothing do with the current situation in the district, she told The Journal<\/em> on Jan. 24.<\/p>\n

Among well-attended and often tumultuous school board meetings, VanderWey sometimes departed from the board\u2019s majority opinion, most notably on topics such school closures and masking.<\/p>\n

VanderWey favored mandatory masking, and the board did not.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 1, the school board held a virtual emergency meeting to vote whether to grant VanderWey the power to transition schools into remote learning as needed because of COVID-19 and severe staff shortages.<\/p>\n

It denied VanderWey the authority to do so.<\/p>\n

Instead, the board decided each director would vote individually by phone whether to permit a request from VanderWey to close schools that school day.<\/p>\n

Such a telephone vote would be considered a serial meeting. Although serial meetings are not illegal in Colorado, they lack transparency.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 5, the board held another emergency meeting after finding themselves in a legal \u201cgray area.\u201d<\/p>\n

The board reaffirmed its decision to deny VanderWey the power to close schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be perfectly honest, I don\u2019t have to ask the board\u2019s permission to close a school,\u201d VanderWey said in that meeting. \u201cBut I would rather ask before I close schools because of a workforce issue and\/or because of an uptake in the coronavirus.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day, Kemper Elementary School shifted to online learning.<\/p>\n

Later that month, all RE-1 schools \u2013 apart from the charter schools \u2013 closed for two weeks when over 700 students were quarantined with COVID-19 and 51 cases were reported among staff and students.<\/p>\n

This article was republished on Feb. 1 with the correction that VanderWey did take part in the executive session. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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