{"id":44107,"date":"2021-10-23T01:14:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-23T07:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-superintendent-suggests-getting-state-input-before-removing-elementary-curriculum\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:17:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:17:20","slug":"montezuma-cortez-superintendent-suggests-getting-state-input-before-removing-elementary-curriculu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-superintendent-suggests-getting-state-input-before-removing-elementary-curriculu\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma-Cortez superintendent suggests getting state input before removing elementary curriculum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez Board of Education members discuss Wit and Wisdom curriculum at the elementary school level.<\/span>Montezuma-Cortez School District RE-1 YouTube<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A vote to dissolve the current Wit and Wisdom curriculum from elementary school instruction was tabled at the Montezuma-Cortez School District RE-1 Board of Education meeting Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

The school board voted against the motion after Superintendent Risha VanderWey said it was likely necessary to obtain authorization from the Colorado Department of Education before rescinding curriculum because the district is on a Continuous Improvement plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t just pull things without double-checking with CDE because they have \u2013 with our Continuous Improvement plan \u2013 they have OK\u2019d what we teach and what we instruct,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In previous meetings, board members found the Wit and Wisdom curriculum to contain elements of critical race theory \u2013 a hotly debated subject that has caused controversy in school board meetings across the country \u2013 and that has contributed to escalating tension in the RE-1 school district among sweeping staff shortages and other debates.<\/p>\n

The board voted to pass an official document, titled \u201cResolution Opposing Principles of Critical Race Theory,\u201d at its monthly meeting Sept. 21.<\/p>\n

In Cortez, opinions on the current curriculum range from vehement opposition to steady backing. Some believe that it is ineffective and\/or teaches harmful division, others believe it to be effective in teaching history and reading, and still others insist that critical race theory isn\u2019t present in current teachings at all, instead referring to it as a graduate-level theory not ingrained in grade school curriculum.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, critical race theory wasn\u2019t explicitly referred to in Tuesday\u2019s board meeting. Rather, conversation about Wit and Wisdom focused more on its effectiveness in meeting educational standards. However, when it was decided curriculum wouldn\u2019t be immediately changing, Board President Sherri Wright asked \u201cAre you going to be working with the teachers for the rest of the year to make sure that we\u2019re not teaching something that will upset community?\u201d<\/p>\n

Executive Director of Academic Student Services Jim Parr said the district has put together and begun to encourage a list of supplemental materials, but that not all teachers are using them.<\/p>\n

Board Member Tammy Hooten requested to add the vote on the curriculum\u2019s removal to the agenda at Tuesday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

She said Wit and Wisdom isn\u2019t meeting standards, and that surveys completed by kindergarten through fifth grade teachers reflect a majority desire to do away with the lessons.<\/p>\n

VanderWey suggested speaking with CDE to get approval for the curriculum\u2019s removal first \u2014 otherwise, she said the district could be in a \u201cdire spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo scrap something without something in place leaves our administrators and our teachers in a very tough place, especially since we\u2019re under school improvement,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Hooten agreed to having VanderWey speak with CDE before further action was taken, saying she didn\u2019t want to do anything to jeopardize the district.<\/p>\n

CDE recognizes Wit and Wisdom<\/a> as supplemental instruction, defined as \u201cinstruction that goes beyond that provided by the comprehensive core program because the core program does not provide enough instruction or practice in a key area to meet the needs of the students in a particular classroom or school.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was adopted in 2019, Parr said.<\/p>\n

Results from the surveys in question were divided by grade level, Hooten said. In kindergarten, she said, six out of six teachers wished to eradicate the Wit and Wisdom curriculum. In first grade, four out of six voted to keep the curriculum. In second grade, there was no tally available \u2013 but there were comments like \u201cnegative aspects,\u201d \u201cvery strong programs, very high expectations\u201d and \u201cstruggling students will suffer.\u201d In third grade, six out of seven teachers voted against the curriculum. In fourth grade, there was no tally available, but Hooten said there were \u201cremarks of \u2018no.\u2019\u201d In fifth grade, there were seven negative comments, she said.<\/p>\n

Hooten said Parr shared the surveys with the board a couple of months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo basically we had 50% of the people answer, because we don\u2019 know a couple of those answers. I go to the same adage \u2013 we can please 50% of the people 50% of the time,\u201d board member Stacey Hall said.<\/p>\n

There are currently 52 elementary school teachers, although not all are certified \u2013 some are long-term substitutes, said Executive Director of Human Resources Cyndi Eldredge. That total does not count Exceptional Student Services teachers, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI keep hearing that the teachers are doing so much work pulling stuff out and trying to make it work,\u201d Board President Sherri Wright said.<\/p>\n

She asked whether that was happening under board direction, or if it had been ongoing.<\/p>\n

Parr said some teachers have supplemented lesson plans \u201cto a small degree,\u201d although it hadn\u2019t been requested up until this point. VanderWey said supplementing happens with every curriculum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to just scrap everything right now and find the perfect program \u2014 that\u2019s not going to happen,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n

VanderWey said that Parr is ordering other curricula to evaluate what other options the district may have for teaching reading skills more effectively.<\/p>\n

Wright expressed frustration, saying educational processes are slow and that some community members think the board isn\u2019t taking action as a result.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust out of curiosity, so if we\u2019re on this improvement plan, wouldn\u2019t they (CDE) have looked at our curriculum and said \u2018Why are you using this curriculum?\u201d board member Sheri Noyes asked.<\/p>\n

Noyes said she is concerned that CDE hasn\u2019t intervened to more actively guide the district in improvement, rather than waiting to evaluate the district\u2019s progress at the end of its five-year improvement period.<\/p>\n

Assistant Superintendent Lis Richard said CDE expects the district to use curriculum outlined on its website. She said CDE would take action if the district was using unapproved curriculum.<\/p>\n

VanderWey said that despite low test scores, the district has experienced \u201ca huge lift\u201d from previous numbers.<\/p>\n

VanderWey said it takes three to five years to improve schools. Currently, schools across the state are on a two-year accountability pause<\/a>, and academics will not be evaluated, Richard said.<\/p>\n

Parr said teachers would face some challenges in implementing a new curriculum midyear, and VanderWey said she had never executed a curriculum change midyear before.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we decide to change programs, then we need to make sure we have adequate time to do all the proper reviews and have teachers have information before school starts next year,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n

Richard said that there should be specific guidelines used while reviewing language arts curriculum.<\/p>\n

Superintendent Risha VanderWey was unavailable for comment Thursday or Friday.<\/p>\n

Communications representatives from the Colorado Department of Education have not responded to Journal<\/em> requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wisdom curriculum under review in RE-1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,167,216,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-44107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-local-news-lead","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\/44107","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=44107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85974,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44107\/revisions\/85974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44107"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=44107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}