Durango School District will throw open its doors Tuesday for the beginning of the 2015-16 school year.

But teachers and staff members have spent this week getting ready, and Friday, they were the guests at a pep rally at Durango High School to raise spirits for the year.

Staff members arrived to rock music and greetings from DHS student leadership before the fun began in the gymnasium, with the DHS Red Pride Band providing musical accompaniment and more than a few drum rolls for announcements.

“It’s nice having students here,” said Needham fifth-grade teacher and Durango Education Association President Gretchen Wilson. “It reminds us what this is all about.”

District 9-R Superintendent Dan Snowberger was “undercover” for the first part of the session as the DHS Demon mascot, cheering the crowd on before he got serious.

One big change, he told the crowd of more than 650, will be the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers testing. Adjustments at the state level mean the district will go down from two to one PARCC testings this school year.

“We had reached a critical mass where it felt like we were testing more than teaching,” Snowberger said. “If a junior in high school can show what they can do in math, language and literacy in four hours of testing, why should we test for seven, eight, nine, 10 days? But don’t let assessment be a four-letter word, it’s about knowing what our kids can do.”

Snowberger also asked everyone to be innovative and try new things.

“School isn’t just about smart kids, not just about high test scores, but kids who are going to be successful,” he said. “We know that smart kids aren’t always successful, it’s the kids who show up to work on time, turn in their assignments on time, who are reliable and persistent.”

The group was particularly touched by Jestin Pagel, the son of Shane and Barbara Woolsey, who just finished at Escalante Middle School and will be a DHS freshman Tuesday.

“We thought my mom was dying, and I fell behind at school,” he said. “If I had just been trying to catch up on my own, I know I wouldn’t have been able to do it, but my teachers at Escalante and (interventionist) Ian Lennox wouldn’t let me fail; they were with me every step of the way. Thank you, Escalante.”

New meal system

At the end of the 2014-15 school year, 9-R found itself holding $17,000 in unpaid meal debt. After staff members worked on collections for two months, the debt fell to $4,000, 9-R Communications Director Julie Popp said.

But a district that’s dealing with a tight budget can’t afford to do that again.

So 9-R developed a different approach for this school year that includes a way to pay online, multiple alerts to parents and partial meals for students whose parents fall way behind on payments.

“People forget they have to reapply every year for the free and reduced meal program,” she said. “We don’t want to prevent students from eating, because students who are well-fed, nutritiously fed, are more prepared to learn.”

About 33 percent of 9-R students qualify for the program, Popp said, and at some schools, such as Animas Valley Elementary School, it’s more than 50 percent. But if families incur meal charges before being approved for the free or reduced program, they will be responsible for the fees, Popp said.

Because 9-R makes a point of serving made-from-scratch meals with locally sourced meat, fruit and vegetables when possible, its food budget is a little higher than some school districts, Popp said.

But after district officials debated raising the cost a nickel or dime this year because they don’t want to place undue hardships on families, they had to balance the meal budget. Elementary school lunches will be $2.55, up from $2.45.

For students who qualify for the free or reduced-price meals in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, breakfast and lunch are free. Sixth- through 12th-graders on the reduced meal program receive breakfast free and pay 40 cents for lunch.

“Now, we all have access through the Infinite Campus Portal to check grades, attendance and schedule, we can also check meal charges balances and add credits,” Popp said. “Now, people can only pay with credit cards online or at the district office, but they can still pay with cash or checks at the schools.”

There will be a $2 surcharge for the vendor’s fee on all credit card payments through the portal. Students will not be allowed to charge meals at the high school level.

Contacting families

The change also includes more communication with families about the status of the meal accounts.

When a prepaid account drops to $10, the school chef will give a child a verbal reminder, and the Infinite Campus Portal system will send an automated text or email to the parent or guardian, Popp said.

When it gets down to $5, an automated phone call, text and email will be sent. When the balance reaches zero, a child can charge up to three meals, and if that’s happening, parents can expect to get a daily phone call from the school’s principal or a staff member.

“That won’t be to press them for money as much as to check to make sure the family is OK,” Popp said.

The largest change will be that after those three meals, the student will only get a partial meal – a cheese stick or granola bar and fruit, with the charge still being added to the balance.

“We’re hoping it doesn’t come to that,” Popp said, “but we will make it as small a deal as possible. We’re arranging for emotional and social support for the kitchen staff, who are in the business of making sure students are well-fed. And community members are pitching in to help families on the fringe to help keep it from coming to that.”

abutler@durangoherald.com

To learn more

To learn more about Durango School District 9-R’s meal program and costs, visit http://nutrition.durangoschools.org.

Applications for the free or reduced meal program may be filled out anytime during the school year. Forms are available at the District office, 201 E. 12th St., at each school’s cafeteria and office and online at the webpage listed above.

For more information about the Infinite Campus Portal, visit http://durangoschools.org/ic-campus-portal. To add money to a student’s meal account by credit card by phone, call 247-5411, ext. 1419.

To donate to the community fund to help families who are having difficulty paying for meals, call the 9-R Communications Department at 247-5411.