MEEKER | The Meeker School Board of Education held its regular meeting last week at the Meeker School District building, with all board members present. High School Principal Amy Chinn and Elementary School Principal Michele Cheesman attended in person, while Middle School Principal Katie Johnston joined via Google Meet.
The agenda was approved with one addition, to accept the resignation of Meeker High School head track and field coach Hallie Blunt.
While there were no district celebrations, the board honored winners of the White River Conservation District poster contest. Contest organizers included District Vice President Kathy Nelson, District Manager Blake McGahan, and Interim Director Vanessa Trout. The contest highlighted this year’s theme, “May the Forest Be With You Always.”
“We teamed up with Mrs. Bullen and the sixth graders again this year. We came in and gave little lessons, worked with the kids and helped them brainstorm a bit, and then turned them loose,” Nelson explained. “Then a week or two later we came in and picked the top 10. The top 10 went to Streamline Realty downtown and the public voted on it. The top two get to go to the state contest and be voted for starting on Dec. 4, 2024, to see if they go on to nationals,” continued Nelson.
The three winners were in attendance at the meeting. In first place the winner was Hannah Coryell who received $100, the second-place winner was Miles Etchart who received $75, and the third place winner was Jada Gould who was awarded $50. Sixth grade English and science teacher Mrs. Bullen was very happy to do the contest again and is looking forward to doing the competition again next year.
“I want to thank the Conservation District for doing this again with me this year. I thought it went really well, I really liked the partnership with the sixth grade and I’m looking forward to it again next year,” Bullen said.
Superintendent Chris Selle provided updates on required state training for teachers. Colorado mandated 45 hours of English Language Learner (ELL) professional development for core content teachers to renew their licenses.
“This is a $12,000 cost to the district,” Selle said, explaining that while recertification hours are typically a teacher’s responsibility, the district felt it necessary to cover this state-mandated training.
The training is scheduled for this coming summer the week after school gets out. They will also include educators from Rangely, with potential participation from Moffat and Garfield counties to offset costs.
“It’s a pricey amount, but given some of the challenges we have finding teachers we want to be able to facilitate the teachers that are maintaining their license,” Selle added.
Selle also mentioned that the social studies and health teachers are engaging in content review. Selle explained that some of the content curriculum materials in multiple subject areas are non-existent when it comes to health or are out of date.
“Teachers got together to review their standards and then looked at different curriculum materials and had a scoring rubric that they could use to see how they liked those materials,” Selle said.
In the end it comes down to the cost, and then it goes back to the board for approval when it comes to changing materials. After the discussion, the board talked about moving the Dec. 9 2024, meeting to Dec. 10 in order to have information for the county so the school board can certify their bills. The board agreed to move its December meeting from Dec. 9 to Dec. 10 to accommodate potential county updates related to budget certification. The meeting was adjourned after the schedule adjustment.
By JARED HENDERSON
