Bordering school districts clash

A fleet of eight to 10 Upper Rio Grande School District bus drivers start and end daily trips between the current elementary school and the old Underwood Building in Del Norte. Photo by Patrick Shea

SAN LUIS VALLEY— On Monday, Feb. 11, six representatives of the Upper Rio Grande School District (formerly known as the Del Norte School District) attended a single-topic Creede School District meeting on the Creede campus. Addressing transportation issues for parents from South Fork, the Creede board provided handouts and encouraged questions and discussion.
Currently, 35 school-age children from South Fork travel to Creede for their education, and 47 South Fork students remain in-district by attending classes in Del Norte. In January, Upper Rio Grande School District Superintendent Chris Burr sent a letter to the Colorado Department of Education identifying illegal travel reimbursements to families from South Fork who opt out of the Upper Rio Grande School District and choose Creede instead.
Creede officials acknowledged the error. Creede Superintendent Lis Richards sent a letter to the Colorado Department of Education on Feb. 4, noting that “As of Jan. 1, 2019, we have stopped any mileage reimbursements to any parents outside of our district. We will not do this in the future without proper consent.”
Also on Feb. 4, Creede School Board President Damon Gibbons and Secretary Tim Bachicha attended the Del Norte Board of Education meeting during the lunch hour to convey the same message in person. They also sought “proper consent.”
“We’ve come to you, the Del Norte School District, to get permission to cross school lines,” Gibbons said in Del Norte on Feb. 4.
The subsequent discussion touched on multiple details, ultimately concluding with board members expressing unanimous support for Superintendent Burr’s position on the illegal reimbursements. However, an expression of support is more like a head-nod and not a board directive or official decision. The protocol requires Creede officials to make a request to be added to a Upper Rio Grande School District meeting agenda. If the board agrees to add the agenda item, they can follow the official procedures for making and seconding motions and voting to make decisions.
During the Creede School District special meeting on Feb. 11, parents received handouts with email addresses for Upper Rio Grande School District officials and a schedule of the next four board meetings. The second page also included email addresses for Superintendent Burr, President Neal Walters and all four board members (Ryan Haynie, Veronica Climie, Bridget Kreutzer and Donna Velasquez).
Climie and Walters joined Superintendent Burr, Administrative Secretary Terri Dudley, Aaron Horrocks (curriculum director and special projects) and High School Principal Russell Randolph for the trip up Highway 149 to attend the Creede School District special meeting. The Del Norte officials did not engage in the discussion, perhaps because they were not on the agenda.

Editor’s Note: Originally called the Upper Rio Grande School District for Internal Revenue Service purposes, the district officially changed its name to start the meeting on Feb. 4. Now the name is the same for the IRS and everyone.