Mancos School Board members are discussing potential short-term solutions for the absence of Elementary Principal Cathy Epps.
Epps was injured in a Jan. 2 crash at the intersection of Montezuma County Road 40 and Colorado Highway 184, about three miles north of Mancos. She hit a patch of ice coming off the county road and slid into the path of an oncoming semitrailer, according to Colorado State Patrol. She was airlifted in critical condition to Farmington with injuries including head trauma, a punctured lung and a broken clavicle.
Superintendent Brian Hanson told school board members on Monday that he does not expect her to return before the end of the school year.
“We are praying and thinking of her every day,” he said.
In the next few weeks, Epps will be transported to Craig Hospital in Denver, Hanson said. She will spend at least six to eight weeks there for rehab to her head injuries, he said.
A page on the website CaringBridge is being updated with information on Epps’s condition.
Hanson told board members that hiring someone in an interim position in Epps’ absence would cost around $17,000. That would be a deficit-spending item that is not included in the district’s 2017 budget, he said.
Hanson said he had some ideas for people who might be willing to fill in for Epps, including some retired principals.
Another option was to have Hanson and Athletic Director Heath Showalter work longer days to cover the extra hours needed for elementary school administration. Board members agreed that it would not be appropriate to add more to the workload for Showalter and Hanson. They told Hanson to look for someone to hire as an interim principal.
