New Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1 Superintendent Alex Carter is excited about the new school year, but hes not the only one.
The 40 members of the brand-new teacher teams are also excited, he said.
Theres more excitement in this district than there has been for a long time, said Carter, who grew up in Woodbridge, Va. and recently worked in Telluride. Theres a new energy and a new commitment to really put kids first.
The administration is implementing several changes that were pushed by the Re-1s outgoing interim superintendent, Mary Rubadeau, who will be on campus for 24 days in the 2012-2013 school year working as a consultant.
The biggest change involves reverting to a traditional five-day week for students and teachers after having a four-day week the previous three years.
Students will learn more in five days, Carter said.
You have to have processing time. Kids are like a cup. After a certain point, theres saturation, he said, referring to the more than 9-hour days from recent years. Having an extra day of processing will increase the learning quite a bit.
The previous decision to go to a 4-day week was good for adults, Carter said. Teachers had not received raises and the extra day off was an incentive. It was also meant to reduce energy costs.
Were trying to make decisions that are best for kids and best for learning, he said.
The 5-day week will involve the early release of students on Wednesdays. Students will be let go 90 minutes early. Teachers will use those 90 minutes for what Carter calls professional learning communities, or PLC.
With Rubadeaus help she was in Cortez two days last week the district created SEED, or Students and Educators Educating Dreams, teams composed of teachers. Those teachers will facilitate Wednesday sessions at the districts six schools.
Shes an expert on creating professional learning communities that are data-driven and how to take that information to create academic interventions to help students learn more, Carter said of his mentor.
Were expecting them (teachers) to really hone in on student performance. (During the 90 minutes) well be talking about what were doing and how we can do it better.
Were going to honor that (time commitment), Carter said. Were not going to take that 90 minutes back ever. Its iron-clad. Its dedicated to student learning.
Another change involves flipping the start times for elementary and middle/high school students, with the younger children starting their day at 7:40 a.m. and the older ones beginning at 9 a.m. This reflects studies that reveal that younger students do better earlier in the day than older students.
The traditional model had older students starting earlier mainly because of athletics, Carter said. Most sports practice sessions will be held later in the day than previously, although some will be held prior to school.
The three big changes represent the best practices nationwide to help teachers address under-performing students.
The changes were a factor in the Montezuma-Cortez School District needing to replace 45 teachers since the end of the 2011-2012 school year. The district only had to replace 30 to 35 teachers the previous two years, Carter said.
The loss of the 4-day week played a part in the loss of teachers, he said, but some are leaving because we dont pay very well in this area. Montezuma-Cortez School District pays less than the neighboring Dolores and Mancos school districts, for example.
Some teachers left for other reasons, Carter said, noting two went to Korea, one went back to Alaska and two got married and relocated.
Nonetheless, the district has been able to fill all of the teaching positions except for two in special education. As of Friday, Aug. 17, the district had 183 teachers on staff.
Carter has been busy. Hes spent half of his time working on the upcoming $21 million bond that voters will consider in November. But thats another story.
Editors Note: Rubadeaus salary will be paid for through a $133,348 federal TDIP, Transitional District Improvement Plan, grant, Carter said. Rubadeaus portion of that $37,500 will come through Focused Leadership Solutions, a Denver-based educational consulting group composed of Rubadeau and three former school teachers and administrators.
calebs@cortezjournal.com