CREEDE— The Creede Board of Education met for their monthly meeting on June 25. The board approved the agenda after an addition to the discussion session and then started in on regular reports.
Finance Director Sherry Scallan began and gave a brief report on the financial status of the school for the end of the fiscal year. “We received tax funding from the county, which put us in a very good position for the end of the year. We have paid the bond fund with Zion bank and are working to reconcile all of the grants we received throughout the year. Our audit is scheduled for August and we are continuing training as well as preparing for the next fiscal year,” said Scallan.
Board President Damon Gibbons asked that Kara Brittain and David Robinson give a report on a meeting that was held with the Mineral County Commissioners earlier in the month where they discussed the SRS funding. The funding is distributed to several departments in the county with a portion that goes to the school.
“We had a very great meeting with the commissioners. They were very happy to have us on the agenda and stated that it was the first time anyone from the school district had ever come to speak with them directly and explain what we planned to do with the funding,” said Robinson.
Brittain stated that the school explained during their meeting that they intended to put the money towards the hot lunch program and to continue work on the track to get it in shape for students to use. “Our meeting went very well, and they were happy about where we intended to put the money. We ended up getting about the same as last year which was a 60/40 split. It was approved at the last county meeting,” said Brittain.
After the financial report, Gibbons moved on to the next topic on the agenda, which was a discussion about the Creede School District becoming an online charter school for a program known as ACCEL. The program is a spinoff from the more popular K12 Online School that was started several years ago and is a product of the same creator, Ron Packard.
Gibbons explained that Packard had reached out to Creede Schools specifically because they were looking to begin an online charter school in Colorado. If the school decides to do this program, they would be the first in the state. “It is something I want this board to consider because not only would our students have free access to the online classes we choose during negotiations, but it would bring in a portion of tuition fees as steady income,” said Gibbons.
“One of the results we gathered out of the parent survey we did earlier this year was that the community felt that by seeking grants to help pay for costs, the school was not obtaining steady income. Most parents and even some community members have asked me several times, what happens when the grants run out or don’t come through? I think, if done correctly and diligently, this may be our answer for steady income,” explained Gibbons.
Many of the board members and even school Principal John Goss posed several questions about the proposal during the discussion, which Interim Superintendent Collin Vinchattle wrote down for further review.
“I do not want to stop discussing this or educating ourselves about this opportunity, but I do not want a decision to be made until after the election of the new board members in November. Please just do your homework, walk to parents and community members and ask them to look into this school. We are also waiting on references from three other schools that have this program, to see what they have to say. Ron is willing to come out and meet with us in person as well. I just know that if we do not act on this, there are several other schools in the state that will. We just have to do this the right way and cautiously,” finished Gibbons.
The board opted to leave the topic on the table for discussions in coming meetings.