Proving that government doesn’t always get bigger, Durango School District 9-R board is trying to shrink itself from seven members to five – a measure district residents will vote on in the upcoming November election.
In Colorado, seven-member school boards are a relative novelty; the great majority – about 75 percent – have five members.
School board President Jeff Schell, who is term-limited this year, said the board hopes that by contracting, it will attract a more stable membership.
“I don’t know that there’s been a 12-month period in my eight years on the board when we’ve had all seven members continuously,” he said.
Current board member Carol Smith came on 11 months ago after former member Wendy Rice abruptly quit.
Julie Popp, district spokeswoman, said being an effective board member requires knowledge, diligence, and the ability to represent both urban and rural concerns.
“But sometimes it’s difficult to identify that many passionate, qualified candidates who can give that level of dedication we expect from them,” she said.
Five seats on the school board are up for election in November, and only two – those held by Julie Levy and Kristy Rodri – are not. But right now, it’s still unclear who is going to run for re-election, and there’s some speculation that at least one current member will become ineligible due to buying a house out of the district.
If voters approve the shrinkage in November, the seven members will sort out who stays and who goes amongst themselves, said Popp. The districts would be redrawn.
Being a member of the education board is not a dilettante’s gig.
Schell said that last year, he went to “probably 100 meetings.” School board meetings, which are held every other Tuesday night, begin in the early afternoon and often end late in the evening. Though the content often seems accessible to outsiders – no discussion about education is complete without referencing seven acronyms, 20 statistics and four abstract values – they touch on every aspect of education in Durango, from curriculum to teacher salaries to student performance to expulsions.
Unlike county commissioners and city councilors, school board members receive no compensation for their service.
Schell, who noted that school board candidates tended to campaign with the utmost civility, said he didn’t know what would have to change to bestir more people to run for the school board. “But the hope is that with five people, there’s maybe less turnover,” he said.
cmcallister@durangoherald.com
