The Archuleta School District (ASD) Board of Education (BOE) held its first regular meeting of the 2024-2025 school year on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at which it further discussed the status of the district’s facilities assessment being performed by RTA Architects, based out of Colorado Springs.
The board first discussed the initial results from the draft assessment during its board retreat in August.
During the retreat, ASD superintendent Rick Holt explained that the district was still waiting on the final results of the facilities report.
At the Sept. 20 meeting, Holt noted again that the district is still waiting for the final assessment results.
He explained that the district is scheduled to meet with representatives from RTA on Sept. 20.
Holt stated that the facilities assessment is looking at the quality of the district’s buildings and the condition of its learning environments.
Also, RTA will be performing a cost analysis with its facilities assessment, Holt explained.
Holt indicated that the final assessment results will be presented during the board’s next regular meeting, scheduled for Oct. 8 at 6 p.m. in the Pagosa Springs Middle School library. The meeting will also be streamed live on the district’s YouTube channel.
Holt went on to explain that RTA is using a three-layer approach in its assessment in order to determine if something is a top concern or of no concern at the moment.
He noted that the first layer looked at things that are requiring immediate action, like, “our middle school sewer.”
Next, the assessment looked at things that will need to be replaced or improved within five years, and then items to address in six to 10 years.
Holt also explained that the assessment then looked into if the concern is a safety issue and if it has the potential to cause damage to the building.
“Last year the water line in the shop created pinhole leaks through the water line,” Holt said, explaining the leaks were not at joints in the system but throughout the line itself because “the water lines are old.”
Holt noted the assessment also considered things like if the building is in violation of current building codes, along with if an issue is simply a space problem.
Holt used the Pagosa Springs Elementary School library as an example of a space problem, explaining the building was built when “far less” students were attending it and that the library is only slightly bigger than a regular classroom.
Holt noted the library “doesn’t match the space,” also explaining the assessment considers ADA requirements, as well.
Holt indicated that the district met with RTA in recent weeks and that “there were some areas where they were saying, like, ‘this is a really big problem.’”
Holt explained that ASD Chief of Operations Josh Sanchez will be meeting with RTA to finalize the assessment results.
“What we’ve discovered is, the findings will not be much better, or any better, than their initial findings,” Holt said.
He explained that, according to the initial draft assessment findings, RTA is giving the elementary and middle schools ratings of a D minus and a F.
Holt went on to explain that what RTA is saying, “based on 200 something schools they’ve done facilities reviews on, what they’re saying is that we should be concerned.”
He added, “We should be concerned about the state of our facilities.”
Holt noted that these results do not necessarily reflect that the work of the district’s crews and the BOE’s investment financially over the past few years has not been done poorly in any way.
He noted that last year the BOE committed $725,000 for facility repairs and improvements.
“We need to start thinking about our schools as simply getting old,” he said.
Holt noted that this is a great time for the district to be updating its facilities master plan, which is required by the state to be updated approximately every five years.
“So, we’re getting after that,” he said.
Holt explained that beginning in October and November the district will hold community meetings at the elementary, middle and high school campuses to inform the public of the assessment results and gather feedback from the community about how it would like the district to move forward.
“We’ll start collecting feedback from folks via survey,” he added.
Holt explained that the district will go through multiple rounds of engaging with the public before presenting suggestions from the BOE on what to do.
“We want to make sure that we are supporting what the majority of our community is saying,” he said, noting how this can be a divisive topic among the community.
Beginning in April 2025, the board will begin to present its proposal to the public, Holt explained.
Holt reminded the board that no decisions in regard to the facilities assessment have been made yet.
“I feel like some other public entities might be trying to speak for us,” Holt said, explaining the board needs to be “slow and intentional about what we do.”
BOE president Bob Lynch asked if RTA will be present with the board during the process of engaging with the community.
Holt confirmed that RTA will be at the October meeting to discuss the final assessment results and will also be available throughout the district’s process of engaging with the public.
Holt commented that there is “something to be said about hearing about Pagosa from Pagosans.”
He went on to mention the community had similar conversations back in 2011.
“The buildings were old then. We’ve gone another 14 years; they’re older now,” he said.
Holt added that he wants to make sure people see and understand the difference between what the district can fiscally afford and what “is just done.”
“I want them to help our community see the difference there,” he added.
Board member Amanda Schick asked if there are certain areas that will be addressed in the meantime while the assessment results and community engagement process are taking place.
Holt indicated that there will be things addressed in the meantime and that the district has been using a process over the past two years to identify those issues.
“We want the public to know we’re juggling big things,” he said.
He further explained that the district is looking at how to handle issues immediately or within six months, along with coming up with a three-year and a five-year plan.
“It feels like we’re going to be investing some money over the holidays this year,” he said, commenting on the middle school sewer line, noting that regular cleanings will be taking place in order to address the problem immediately.
Holt also noted there are other concerns at the middle school such as field space, and middle school Principal Chris Hinger has requested new turf areas, but that the district has not been able to provide that due to other issues with higher properties.
“It’s concerning that we have a middle school that doesn’t have its own fields; like, that’s starting to get really unusual,” Holt said.
Middle school
greenhouse repairs
The Pagosa Springs Main Street Kids and Construction Committee met with Holt on Monday, Sept. 9, to discuss the possibility of using a $50,000 grant to replace the greenhouse windows at the middle school.
Committee member Rosanna Dufour explained that the committee came across the grant through Main Street America, which is being offered by T-Mobile for towns with populations under 50,000.
“We’re hoping that it’ll be enough to replace the windows in the greenhouse,” she said.
Holt indicated that the district would be in support of the committee’s efforts.
Dufour indicated that the committee is also interested in creating a public Wi-Fi hot zone with the grant funds as well.
clayton@pagosasun.com
