{"id":45200,"date":"2021-08-16T01:41:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-16T07:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-performing-arts-center-opens-in-mancos-school-district\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:23:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:23:49","slug":"new-performing-arts-center-opens-in-mancos-school-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-performing-arts-center-opens-in-mancos-school-district\/","title":{"rendered":"New performing arts center opens in Mancos school district"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Mancos RE-6 School District's new performing arts center.<\/span>Kala Parkinson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Mancos school district welcomed the community to celebrate its $25 million makeover Friday.<\/p>\n

A Masonic cornerstone ceremony commenced at 5:30 p.m. to honor the school\u2019s renovations and all the effort that went into pulling them off.<\/p>\n

Masonic officials traveled from all over the state to conduct the commemoration.<\/p>\n

\"A
A cornerstone dedication ceremony made the school\u2019s renovations official.<\/span>Kala Parkinson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Then, just before 7 p.m., a ribbon-cutting revealed the new performing arts center, which features a glossy new indoor court and stage.<\/p>\n

\"Previous
Previous Mancos superintendent Brian Hanson allowed new Superintendent Todd Cordrey the honors of cutting the ribbon.<\/span>Kala Parkinson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Afterward, families were invited to tour the campus, exploring the new updates and becoming acquainted with them ahead of the first day of school Tuesday, Aug. 17.<\/p>\n

The school applied for a BEST grant<\/a>, which funded $20 million to the project.<\/p>\n

A bond passed by the community supplied $5 million.<\/p>\n

Firmer Superintendent Brian Hanson addressed the crowd, speaking of embarking on the journey of conceptualizing the improvements and applying for the BEST grant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a roller coaster up and down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At first, the district didn\u2019t receive the grant, he said.<\/p>\n

Then, two more schools \u2014 Mancos was one \u2014 were allotted the funds to complete their dream projects at the last minute.<\/p>\n

Hanson was visibly emotional during his speech.<\/p>\n

\u201c(A) falsehood about retirement is that you never have to cry in front of strangers again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He told the community about the original goals he set out to achieve: building the performance center (originally planned for 1992), revitalizing the destroyed gym and enhancing security.<\/p>\n

His dream became a reality.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the cafeteria was connected to the elementary school, a bus loop was installed in front of the school to increase safety, the elementary school gained a new playground and the football field was revamped.<\/p>\n

New superintendent Todd Cordrey, who is beginning his first year overseeing the district, thanked Hanson for his dedication to the Mancos schools.<\/p>\n

He spoke of cleaning out Hanson\u2019s office once he was hired \u2014 and finding a few belongings he left behind.<\/p>\n

Cordrey returned a pair of goggles to Hanson, thanking him for his vision for the district; a vest, thanking him for his concern for safety: and a construction hat, thanking him for his leadership.<\/p>\n

A plaque will hang in the new performing arts center to recognize Hanson\u2019s service to the district.<\/p>\n

Cordrey was happy with the turnout to the event, he said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s looking forward to the plays, performing arts and even more sports the school will be able to host, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really fortunate to have an exceptional music and arts teacher,\u201d Cordrey told The Journal<\/em>. \u201cIt (the renovation) was needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The district\u2019s new football field.<\/span>Kala Parkinson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019re very blessed to have this,\u201d athletic director Heath Showalter told The Journal<\/em>, speaking of the new football field.<\/p>\n

The old football field\u2019s condition wasn\u2019t up to standards, he said.<\/p>\n

While the school\u2019s sports seasons got cut short because of the pandemic, the school has since taken advantage of the new facilities and is looking forward to continuing to do so, he said.<\/p>\n

About 550 people made all of the renovations happen, said Neil Dolder, project superintendent at Jayne\u2019s Construction, which worked on the schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a real special place in our heart for the town of Mancos and the Mancos schools,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have nothing but fond memories of building this school.\u201d<\/p>\n

His team was even invited to teach a math class and hold a career fair along the way, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have the best football field in the Four Corners,\u201d said a representative from Goff Engineering, another firm who worked on the project. \u201cGo, Blue Jays.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday\u2019s cornerstone and ribbon-cutting ceremonies celebrated about a year\u2019s worth of renovations to the Mancos schools <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,83],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-45200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-mancos"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45200","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=45200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86392,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45200\/revisions\/86392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45200"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=45200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}