CREEDE— Superintendent Lis Richards is used to a bigger school than the one in Creede, but she is making leaps and bounds as she works through her first year at the school. The school welcomed 90 students to the 2017-18 school year, a number that is slightly higher than in previous years and Richards has plans for the students come the new year in January.
In partnership with a former student and current staff member, Richards will be bringing a career and technical education program that will offer several career-based classes to students. The program will consist of automotive, engineering, graphic design, woodshop and welding come January at the school. These courses will be dual credit courses that will include both high school credits as well as college credits for students who participate in the program.
Former student Jason Whitehorn left Creede to pursue a military career where he achieved Lieutenant Major status after which he decided to come back to help teach students at the school. Whitehorn will be teaching the engineering, woodshop and graphic design courses while Dave Richards, who is the current transportation director, will teach welding and automotive courses. “The program will teach technical skills to students who want to enter those types of jobs in the future,” explained Richards.
In addition to the technical program, Richards is also hoping to introduce an agricultural program, which she is working in partnership with the county to offer students at the school. A junior class student is currently interning with a county official on an agricultural program that Richards hopes to bring to the rest of the student body in the near future.
Among these coming changes, the school has also changed their coop agreement with Lake City which included the two schools in their basketball program. At the beginning of the year, school board members spent many hours working with Lake City Schools to form a new coop agreement but Lake City opted out at the last minute. Board members diligently to form a new agreement with the neighboring school, trying to find a compromise that would allow for the existing coop to continue.
According to Richards, after board members worked to create a final draft of the coop, Lake City school officials decided not to participate in the coop. “The Lake City School decided to dissolve the coop. Students are still welcome to come on their own, but it is totally up to the parents and students to make that happen,” explained Richards.
Richards is also working to invite the community of Creede to several events in order to open a line of communication and bring out the welcome mat to parents. “It is amazing what two miles can do. When the school moved out here, the community stopped coming. This is a public building and needs to be used as one. My door is always open to anyone who wants to come visit,” explained Richards.
Richards is helping students and staff create family nights, where members of the public and students’ parents can come and be a part of their school community. “I love to hear from the community. I moved the board room out into the main lecture room, so that board meetings are out in the open and moved my office so that it is accessible to the public when they come.”
Richards is also working with the county to have a sign for the public library placed on Highway 149, directing people down to the school and to increase hours so the the library is open on a regular basis. “We want the community to come here more and to be a multi-functional facility,” said Richards.
Events coming for the public include parent nights, community educational courses like the healthy eating seminar that was recently finished and a veterans breakfast to honor those that served and are currently serving their communities on Nov. 13 at 9 a.m.
“The most important thing I want the community to know is that my door is always open. I want to break down the distance between the school and the community,” finished Richards. Dates and times for coming events will be reported as they come available.