By Randi Pierce
Staff Writer
Pagosa Peak Open School is launching a capital giving campaign to help pay for improvements to the building that houses the school, which was purchased by the school’s building corporation.
According to documents related to the campaign, PPOS is looking to raise $1,150,000 by 2023.
Those funds would, the documents indicate, go toward building renovations and improvements, playground redesign, a social and emotional learning advisor or counselor, academic remediation, remote learning technology, distance learning supplies, and a garden/greenhouse.
In a report earlier in the meeting, School Director Angela Reali Crossland explained that the total renovation cost for the remaining work on the building is estimated at $750,000.
She also noted PPOS had gotten a waiver on the number of restroom fixtures needed for the building because the figure had been based on a building capacity of 900 people.
The PPOS Board of Directors is slated to consider the $750,000 in building renovation work, which includes restrooms and the kitchen, at its meeting on Oct. 19.
So far, the campaign document states, PPOS has raised $206,794.18, which Communications/Grants Manager Alison Beach noted exceeded the goal for the first quarter of the campaign.
In other business at the same meeting:
• Reali Crossland noted that PPOS’s enrollment was at 115, which the school had budgeted for, and there was a waitlist for kindergarten, first and second grades.
• Business Manager Chenni Hammon explained that the school is slated to receive $8,145.99 in per-pupil revenue. She noted that figure is higher than anticipated and the school had budgeted for 110 students.
• Reali Crossland explained that, until its in-house kitchen is completed as part of the building renovations, PPOS is using hotel kitchens to prepare meals for the school’s hot lunch program.
She noted the school is serving an average of 150 meals per day — a number higher than anticipated — following the announcement that students would continue eating for free in schools through December.
