The Montezuma-Cortez School District RE-1 school board on Tuesday approved $63,469 of spending from the district’s capital projects fund and heard a presentation about the district’s rebranding campaign.
The board also discussed Thursday’s evacuation drill at the Cortez Middle School and the progress of a regular district financial audit.
Capital projectsThe board unanimously approved three spending resolutions to pay for a bus repair, safe disposal of hazardous lab chemicals from the middle and high schools and the purchase of a walk-in fridge for the district warehouse.
The spending equates to 4.8 percent of capital project fund revenues (plus beginning fund balance) for the school year and 13 percent of the year’s budgeted expenditures.
The largest cost will cover the new walk-in cooler and freezer for use by the district’s food services department. The cooler and freezer will be installed at the district’s new warehouse.
Chemical disposal is periodically required by the school district, which maintains a used chemical storage for disposing materials. The chemicals are used by students at the middle and high schools in exercises and experiments during science classes.
The smallest of the costs will pay for a new transmission for bus No. C2, which was diagnosed with excessive slipping.
Rebranding initiativeBefore the start of the regular meeting, TJ Zark, a local branding and design professional, spoke to the board about the importance of strong branding and provided a few ideas for district taglines and emblems.
Zark was contracted by the district help the district develop stronger branding, which will likely lead to a redesign of the district’s website, official district communications and marketing material. The updates will give the district’s branding assets a fresh look and unified, organized feel.
Teachers from around the district were scheduled to meet Wednesday to provide feedback for Zark as she prepares draft branding material for review by the school board.
Other news from the meetingThe M-CHS softball players planned to leave the high school via police escort at 9 a.m. Thursday for the state 3A tournament in Aurora. They will face the team from Eaton High School on Friday at 12:15 p.m.M-CMS planned to conduct a lockdown drill at 2:15 p.m. Thursday to ensure students, faculty and staff were familiar with the school’s security protocols. A video about standard emergency response also was planned.Major’s & Haley, a local accounting firm, has completed a district audit that will be presented during a work session before the district’s board meeting on Nov. 13.
