Dolores Schools Superintendent Scott Cooper spent much of his summer vacation hiring a record 21 new teachers and one counselor.

A combination of retiring teachers, teacher burnout, and families moving away for other reasons led to an instructional staff shortfall at the school.

"Since February I've interviewed 30 candidates, and in June was still eight teachers short, but we made it," Cooper said. "Typically, teacher recruitment is done by principals, but we hired two new of those as well, so I took on the task."

In addition to new secondary and elementary school principals hired in spring, the school recruited 16 new teachers for K-12, and five teachers for the preschool.

Some are new to teaching, some are returning to teaching, and others just wanted to relocate to Colorado. They're all highly qualified, Cooper said.

"We've got a lot of new faces who have a lot of energy and skills," he said. "They came here because of our strong schools, new facilities, teacher support and smaller class sizes."

Many brought school-age children, helping to boost the elementary by 30 students, which will increase the budget.

Preschool director Valenia Rosenkrance said she "could not be happier" with her five new instructors, two of whom speak Spanish, and one who is qualified for sign language.

The Teddy Bear preschool was recently accredited with the National Association for the Education of Young Children, ranking it as one of the top three preschools in the nation.

"We have a very quality program with an improved curriculum that is more aligned with the kindergarten," Rosenkrance said. "Our preschool teachers receive the same training as elementary teachers to promote a continuum of learning for our students to successfully move on."

Teachers benefit from $6 million in renovations, including state-of-the art science labs, a math wing, a new vocational department, new elementary classrooms and upgraded locker rooms.

And this year, each of the 215 high school students will be assigned a Chromebook, a portable computer for instructional learning, free of charge.

Upgrades to older parts of the school include new air-conditioning units at the middle and high school buildings.

The school met its hiring needs thanks to help from the community and social media, Cooper said. An announcement at the Dolores River festival to spread the word for new teachers led to several leads, two of which produced successful candidates.

"Reaching out on Facebook by my wife and I also brought in some candidates," he said. "We've pulled together a dynamic group, and are ready to go."

jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com