Durango School District 9-R Board of Education on Tuesday held its first in-person regular school board meeting since September.
The board meeting felt more like a celebration than a policy discussion. Students from Animas Valley Elementary choir and Miller Middle School band played at the beginning of the meeting as part of Youth Art Month.
“Youth Art Month recognizes problem-solving, creativity, observation and communication,” said 9-R Superintendent Karen Cheser. “Our students have demonstrated all these skills to keep their passions alive during the pandemic. We are so proud of how they have adapted through this challenging time.”
Parents huddled behind their phones to try to get the perfect picture or video of their young musicians.
The walls of the board room were adorned with drawings and paintings from students across all 9-R schools.
Animas Valley Elementary School music teacher Hannah Britt said this is the first student performance she’s had since December 2019.
“It’s been a while,” Britt said. “We’re super stoked, and the kids have been looking forward to it. They work so hard, and it’s hard working hard when you don’t get a chance to show it off.”
Britt led the Animas Valley Elementary choir in a song at Tuesday’s board meeting.
Taylor Bogan, a flute player with the Miller Middle School band, said she was excited to be performing again.
School Board President Kristin Smith said the Youth Art Month showcase before the board meeting was great to see, because it was canceled the past two years because of COVID-19 concerns.
“It’s a huge accomplishment for our whole community that we’re in a place where it’s safe to come and see our students perform,” she said. “We’re really excited to welcome our students and staff back into the board room as well as the community at large.”
Parents like Misty Taylor said they’re happy to see meetings back in-person.
“It’s nice to feel some normalcy again,” she said.
The school board tried to hold in-person meetings throughout the 2021-22 school year, but had to move to virtual meetings because attendees would not comply with masking policies put in place to limit the spread of COVID-19.
“You had to wear masks and we also had capacity limits, and (some people) would just not follow those rules,” Cheser said. “We even brought in the police to try and help us and people still wouldn’t follow the rules.”
Technically, the board’s first in-person meeting was a work session held March 8, but Tuesday’s meeting was the first regular in-person meeting, which involves greater public participation.
“When you’re sitting at home on a screen, you’re not really sure if everything is being received the same way it would be if things were in-person,” Smith said.
Smith noted that although in-person meetings have returned, public commenters seeking answers to questions may not find them immediately at a board meeting.
“That’s why we have our community coffee chats. It gives us more time to dialogue about things, answer questions, give information, or go out and gather more information,” she said.
School Board Coffee Chats are held once a month at varying times, usually in the mornings or evenings. Each month two board members host a coffee chat, usually in the middle of the month.
“They rotate based on board member schedules,” Smith said. “It rotates and the reason for that is to make it equitable and accessible for everybody.”
njohnson@durangoherald.com
