Animas High School’s board of directors has named Rebecca Ruland as its next head of school.
Ruland has significant families ties in Durango, but is moving from Glenwood Springs where she worked at Colorado Mountain College coaching and mentoring teachers.
She is scheduled to start at AHS on July 1.
In addition to welcoming a new head of school, AHS is preparing to move to a new building on the Fort Lewis College campus.
Part of Ruland’s role will be to help the charter school and FLC form a strong partnership. She said the potential is “completely unlimited and so exciting.”
Ruland said she looks forward to getting to know the Native American community on campus fulfilling AHS’s strategic plan, which is focused on academic culture, rigor and accountability.
“I’m joining a talented team,” she said. “I think my strength is consensus-building and listening and facilitating conversations.”
She also has “extensive” charter school experience in Colorado, having served as the founding head of school at Two Rivers Community School in Glenwood Springs.
Two Rivers received a “performance with distinction” rating from the Charter School Institute and increased its enrollment from 165 students to 350 students under Ruland’s leadership, according to a news release from AHS.
Ruland also worked at Grand Valley Center for Family Learning in Parachute, where she collaborated on the districtwide introduction of “Expeditionary Learning” programs; and she was the professional development coordinator at Colorado River Board of Cooperative Educational Services, according to the release.
Sean Woytek, current head of AHS, is moving on after seven years with the school, he said Friday.
Woytek said he made the personal decision to step down as head of school to move to San Antonio with his family where he will help his in-laws with their ranch.
While Woytek is distancing himself from Durango, Ruland will be returning to where she has family roots.
Ruland said her grandparents opened Durango Music Store on Main Avenue where they sold band instruments, guitars and Sears products.
Her grandfather was a marching band instructor at FLC and became the first probation officer in the area before moving on to serve as a Colorado senator.
Her father, Ed Ruland, was born and raised in Durango. He went on to law school and became a public court judge for the state of Colorado.
Her family used to own a cabin at Electra Lake where the ashes of her father and grandfather now rest.
Woytek said it is a serendipitous time for Ruland to join AHS. She will assume leadership as the school transitions into a brand-new building this fall.
“I think it’s actually perfect timing for a new head of school to be able to come in and have that physical transition to a new building,” he said.
Hopefully, he said, the transition will give Ruland and faculty members the chance to revisit what it looks like to perform the full-fledged AHS model of education now that the pandemic has loosened its grip.
Woytek said his decision to leave AHS is purely personal.
Through his career at the charter school, Woytek said AHS (and other charters) are unique in that they are mission-driven. He repeated the phrase, “mission, vision and values,” and said his approach to education involved living the school’s mission, vision and values on a daily basis.
Woytek relied on students, faculty and families to be sure he was living up to the school’s values, he said. When he wasn’t getting that feedback, he made sure to encourage it.
“Give us feedback and help us get better,” he said. “That’s definitely been part of my philosophy these last seven years.”
The reality of education, he said, is there are many different educational philosophies. Some approaches to education are “fantastic,” others are not.
For AHS, the mission is to prepare every student for postsecondary success, whatever that may be – college, the military or a fulfilling career.
“We have small class sizes, student-teacher relationships, hands-on authentic learning,” Woytek said.
The new AHS, a 40,000-square-foot building, is Woytek’s crowning achievement, he said. The fact he can visit Durango in 15 years and the new facility will still be there is a physical manifestation of his legacy.
But also, Woytek treasures the collaborative relationship between AHS and FLC and hopes that relationship will bear fruit with Ruland at the helm, he said. He is excited the high school will finally have a facility that reflects the “amazing education that’s going on in the classrooms.”
“The building and the partnership with Fort Lewis College is going to write the next chapter in the history of Animas, and I think it’s going to be a pretty amazing and bright next chapter,” he said.
cburney@durangoherald.com
