Durango School District will host a State of the District meeting from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Impact Career Innovation Center.
The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held to address “misinformation” about district schools circulating online, according to a district news release.
Superintendent Karen Cheser and school board President Kristin Smith will “address the tough questions head-on,” according to the release.
“This isn’t your typical school report,” the release said.
The evening will tackle statewide misinformation, share the latest data and highlight student success, said district spokeswoman Karla Sluis.
A recent Reddit post in r/Durango titled “Heads up: right wing whackos are running for 9R school board and trying to hide it” sparked a slew of comments about the district and the board election, including one referencing a recent series of videos posted on the Rocky Mountain Voice TikTok page titled “Durango 9-R Dirty Dozen.”
Rocky Mountain Voice, an “unabashedly right-of-center, pro-citizen news source” serving Colorado, detailed and discussed purported issues with the district for 12 consecutive days in the videos, with the first posted Sept. 3.
The final video in the series, posted Thursday, was presented as a message directly to the school board and Cheser, with Rocky Mountain Voice’s Heidi Ganahl referencing discourse at the Sept. 23 school board meeting and describing the “three grassroots candidates” running for school board – presumably the non-incumbents on the ballot – “stepping up because families are fed up with (the district’s) actions.”
The district’s meeting will include a short presentation, followed by an open question-and-answer session, the release said.
“Transparency is at the heart of this event,” Cheser said in the release. “We want our community to have the facts – directly from us – about student achievement, challenges we’re tackling, and the bold opportunities ahead.”
epond@durangoherald.com
