Montezuma-Cortez High School students wanting to take classes at the west campus of Southwest Colorado Community College have one more way to get there.
The Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1 is receiving $17,934 from the Region 9 Economic Development District out of Durango to fund two round trips for high school students wanting to take classes at the college but have no way to make the approximatley 16-mile round trip.
Ed Rice, career technical education director for the Re-1, said this transportation cost was once included in the districts budget but was taken away two years ago because of budget constraints.
Rice conceded that most of the seniors who take classes at the college will drive their own cars rather than take the available transportation.
However, he said, there are students who do not want to or do not have a car who were being shut out from taking college level courses because they did not have transportation to travel to that campus.
Rice wrote a letter to Marc Katz of the Region 9 Economic Development in Durango in April to formally request funding to transport M-CHS students to the community college.
Rice said the Re-1 usually sends 20 to 30 students to the community college each year to further their interest in education, gaining an employable trade and providing opportunities to pursue subjects the high school cannot offer.
In his letter, Rice said that the district is willing to provide this transportation if costs can be covered, which would include driver wages and benefits, fuel and maintenance.
He also wrote in the letter that $18,000 may seem like a pretty small request, but the need for Re-1 is huge.
While some students do drive themselves to the college to take classes, the district does not encourage ride sharing of high school students because it is a school-sponsored activity, Rice said.
He added that because of the new concurrent legislation, the Re-1 wants to expand this opportunity to more students, many who are not yet driving.
He said the Re-1 would be able to do this if there was a bus available for a morning drop off and an afternoon pickup.
Rice said there are college level courses students want to take that are not offered at the high school and mentioned auto mechanics, cosmetology and welding as a few of them.
Ed Morlan, executive director of the Region 9 Economic Director and Laura Lewis-Marchino, the assistant director, were scheduled to make a presentation Tuesday night to the school board to formally accept Rices request but a traffic situation on Highway 160 near Durango kept them from making it to the meeting.
Reach Michael Maresh at michaelm@cortezjournal.com
