Safety protocols, drug testing reviewed

MONTE VISTA—The Monte Vista School District Board of Education met Thursday evening, April 12, where they honored their classified employee of the year and teacher of the year, discussed several important items for the district and reviewed aspects of the random drug testing policy which will take effect in the 2018-19 school year.

Ashly Arroyo, a paraprofessional at Bill Metz Elementary, was honored as the classified employee of the year for the 2017-18 school year. Principal Gabriel Futrell read her nomination from a coworker, completed as an acrostic poem of her name.

“A is for always prepared…S is for Sherlock Holmes because Ashly is always looking for strategies to help students…H is for hushed is the voice that she uses because she knows it helps struggling kids more [to hear a calm voice supporting them]… L is for learner and accepter of challenges… Y is for yardsticks, because it would take many of them to measure her success.” Arroyo’s nominator praised her ability to be “the epitome of positive” and always look for the most effective and creative strategies to help her students excel, especially in challenging subjects like reading and math.

 Arroyo accepted her nomination with a brief speech expressing her faith and thanking her coworkers for their support, “I love that you’re all there for me.”

Byron Syring Delta Center and Online Academy Principal Kevin Wright read the nomination for the teacher of the year, honoring Special Education Instructor Tracy Simon. Wright praised Simon’s ability to look out for the best interests of the students and “build successful student and teacher rapport,” by keeping her work objective yet student centered and focused on building one-on-one relationships. Wright acknowledged Simon is skilled at working with kids whose lives may be difficult in many ways outside of school, but she gets them to open up and refers them to wrap around services. Wright also praised her ability to keep students’ information updated and sharable with other teachers. “I’ve known Tracy since August of 2001, we’ve been in the trenches together for a long time, and the staff have a running joke about this, but she is on the top of my list of people to work with in an apocalyptic situation,” Wright joked with Simon softly laughing “I don’t know what that means.”

“Tracy, day after day, is a solid person with a 110 percent focus on students,” Wright concluded before Simon accepted her award. “ I’m truly honored and humbled… I don’t do this alone, we do amazing things under amazing conditions,” she said of her coworkers. “The kids need our attention, they need us to listen and they need to know that we love them and I do love them… That’s how we get positive outcomes,” said Wright.

Superintendent’s Report

During the Superintendent Report, Robert Webb indicated he will be attending the next Rio Grande County Planning Commission regarding the solar array on the middle school property, which he expects will be online by October. There will be a remoter reader of the power generated at the middle school for the students to view and utilize and the school should be able to tap into the array for power as well, which could lead to about a $6,000 rebate for their first year.

Webb also discussed increased security efforts in the district displaying sleeves for the classrooms and other auto closing doors that prevent an intruder from opening them in the event of an emergency. The school has $35,000 from bond funds committed to increased security measures and Webb noted the state legislature recently passed $35 million in funding to be dedicated to school districts for security but it’s unclear how that money will be divided yet. The staff completed a PLC reunification drill at MVHS on Friday, April 6, which helped them find what holes are in their current safety processes but that overall went very well.

Drug testing guidelines

Policies on Second Reading included the random drug testing guidelines, and policies on third reading/passed as an action item included the random drug testing consent form and overall policy. High School students and parents will complete a consent form to be tested if they are participating in any extracurricular club or sport. Between five and eight percent of students will be tested during the school year with about seven or eight tested every other week, with the program coordinator determining the final frequency. The first screening test, likely a saliva test, will be administered and if the test is positive for alcohol or other illegal substances the student will have one hour to be escorted to a laboratory testing facility with a parent to complete a UA at the parents’ expense if they wish to challenge the initial result. The first positive result for a student will result in suspension from 20 percent of scheduled school events and activities but more importantly, as Webb emphasized, they will be provided with necessary help and resources to prevent a reoccurrence. “We want students to know this is about getting them help,” he stated.

The school board’s next meeting is Thursday, May 10 at 6 p.m. May 10 is also Pirate Pride Day and Monte Vista students will be found throughout the community helping with clean up and other service projects.