IGNACIO – After a contentious and crowded public hearing Thursday evening, the Ignacio School Board voted 5-0 against Ascent Classical Academy’s application to place a charter school in a building near Durango-La Plata County Airport.
The decision comes a week after Durango School District 9-R denied reviewing Ascent’s second application for a charter school.
“There are still too many questions,” said Ignacio School Board President Allen McCaw. “There’s still holes around the budget of the building and the repairs needed. Who’s paying for that?”
McCaw also expressed concern about some aspects of Ascent’s application and its approach to classroom structure and student discipline.
“I believe in freedom of speech, and it doesn’t seem like this school encourages students to speak their minds,” McCaw said. “And is it inclusive of all students? I still don’t know.”
In fervent disagreement was the crowd of attendees at the meeting in support of Ascent Classical Academy. Only a handful of Ignacio residents with children attending the Ignacio School District were among the vocal group of men and women demanding the school board allow Ascent to move into the district. Some were parents and supporters from Durango who want the school’s placement somewhere, anywhere, in La Plata County after its application was twice rejected in Durango.
“Ignacio schools are at the bottom of the bottom,” said Durango resident Kristen Mischker. “This is an opportunity you have to provide.”
Mischker then added, “We need classrooms free from technology or cellphones. These distractions in the classroom make it impossible to learn.”
“Ascent is focused on education, not identity,” said another Durango resident, Whitney Hargraves, who then asked the Ignacio school board, “Did you get into this thankless job for the kids or for the teacher’s union?”
“Our children can’t read,” said Molly O’Hare, an Ignacio parent. “They’re heading toward drugs and gangs.”
Parent Charlotte Dyer emphasized the appeal of Ascent’s timeworn curriculum.
“We want a traditional education,” she said. “We don’t want a school following current trends. My children need traditionally structured classrooms. We want a choice. We should have a choice.”
After several Ascent supporters spoke, many lauding Ascent’s strict policy of no cellphones in the classroom and a curriculum that trends away from a more modern, liberal education, Ascent spokeswoman Kim Gilmartin addressed the school board.
“The staff and the DAC (district accountability committee) have recommended to deny our application every time,” Gilmartin said. “It’s like there’s a playbook, and every time the reasons are the same. The stated concerns and fear about our program not fitting the community, not serving all children, have never materialized. In fact, we have defied that. We have met the needs of all children.”
Gilmartin did not, however, go into detail about how Ascent would meet the needs of Ignacio’s diverse student population.
“Classical education works,” she said. “I know there’s been talk amongst everyone here about Ignacio playing second fiddle (to Durango), about us recycling the same application, but I implore you all not to view it that way. We applied to 9-R first because of the size.”
After Ascent’s supporters finished speaking, school board treasurer Leila Baker addressed the crowd.
“How many of you have actually been in our classrooms?” she asked. “Have you seen what our teachers are doing in the classroom? How hard they’re working? You say we have no parent involvement at our school? Our parents are working. They have no choice.”
Baker then made a pointed statement to the Ascent supporters in attendance.
“The parents at this meeting aren’t a majority of the parents in Ignacio,” she said. “We don’t want someone coming into our community and saying, ‘Hey, we want this here!’”
David Quiroz, an Ignacio school district educator, also voiced concern about the lack of community representation.
“Our community is not even being considered,” he said. “We’re only Plan B because Ascent was denied by Durango twice. There’s been no recognition of our culture here. Their curriculum is Western-centric. Where does our diverse population come in? Where are they observing our cultural diversity and history?”
Said Jim Bulwan, secretary of the school board: “There’s good points and there’s tough points. I am for choice, but our top priority is the Ignacio School District. It doesn’t make sense for us to partner with Ascent or have it go through our district. The way this application was written, it was not born of collaboration with us. It should be turned over to CSI (Charter School Institute).”
Yvonne Chapman, the school board’s vice president, agreed.
“This process could have been better,” Chapman said. “I’m pro choice as well. Why are we afraid of competition? How does it help our school district? Why aren’t we looking at CSI? The application should be released to them. I don’t think we should vote on this now.”
The Colorado Legislature created the Charter School Institute in 2004 as a response to the growing demand for charter schools. CSI can authorize the placement of charter schools outside of a district’s authority and become the charter’s governing body.
Nearly 2½ hours into the meeting, McCaw asked for the school board to vote on the issue. Even with doubts from Chapman and other members, the five board members voted unanimously to reject the application. They were also in agreement with Chapman and Bulwan that the matter was no longer for them to decide and should be looked at by CSI.
Undeterred by the school board’s rejection, Gilmartin said she is determined to keep moving forward with putting a charter school in the district.
“We want to have a collaborative conversation with Ignacio and their school board,” Gilmartin said. “We’ve asked them what would make them comfortable with us being here. We want them to be comfortable.”
She said the charter school will now wait for the school board to give permission to apply to CSI.
“We want to work with Ignacio and the school board,” Gilmartin said. “We know it’s a small district, and they only have about 700 students. That’s why we went to Durango first.”
Gilmartin also added that there were no clear next steps for Ascent to open a school serving the Southwest Colorado area.
“We are committed to the parents and supporters in Durango, Ignacio, and surrounding areas who have pushed so hard to bring Ascent to their communities, and we remain hopeful that local boards will listen to these families.”
Ignacio School District Superintendent Chris deKay reflected on the idea of turning things over to the school district Charter School Institute after the meeting’s conclusion.
“Once a school district turns it over to CSI, then that’s a one-time thing,” deKay said. “Then CSI runs things going forward. They become the governing body, and there wouldn’t be shared resources between Ascent and the Ignacio School District.”
DeKay then commented on the rowdy crowd of non-Ignacio parents that showed up to the meeting in support of Ascent.
“I thought they were a little more aggressive at this meeting than the last meetings,” he said. “They’re obviously passionate about their beliefs, but we’re obviously passionate about ours.”
molsen@durangoherald.com
An earlier version of this story erred in saying Ascent Classical Academy’s next step will be to bypass the Ignacio School District and go to the state for a charter. The charter school still needs permission from the school board to apply to the Charter School Institute.
Also, an earlier version of this article misquoted Kristen Mischker as saying, “There is no need for cellphones or technology in schools.” The correct quote should have read, “We need classrooms free from technology or cellphones. These distractions in the classroom make it impossible to learn.”
