A big decision was scheduled to be made yesterday evening, Wednesday, Jan. 21, by the Archuleta School District Board of Education. In a special meeting, the board was slated to choose a site for a potential new building to serve students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
While you won’t find which potential site the board opted for in this issue because we needed to print this week’s paper before that meeting began, you can find that information at www.PagosaSUN.com and in next week’s issue of The SUN.
While we’re really not sure which site the board will choose — near the existing high school or off of Vista Boulevard — we know the decision has not been easy, and the board hasn’t made it lightly.
For the last year, the district has involved the community in the decision-making process about which direction to head for its facilities, including renovating existing facilities or building new, and where.
We appreciate the thoughtful approach the district has taken, especially because we know every option comes with a multitude of pros and cons, and we know there’s no perfect answer that will make everyone happy.
We’ve liked hearing the different opinions, thoughts and knowledge expressed by the members of the Master Plan Advisory Committee, school board, district staff, community members and experts, and they’ve given us ample food for thought as we’ve pondered what decisions we would make if we were in their shoes (thank goodness we’re not).
Decisions like this have the potential to affect everyone in Pagosa Country, whether they have a student in school or not, and we appreciate that the gravity of the situation has not escaped those who have been tasked with helping to gather information and offer their thoughts each step of the way.
Regardless of the decision made on Jan. 21, this process is, in many ways, just beginning, and we hope the district and board will continue to be as open and transparent with the community every step of the way to help us make an informed decision about if and how we’d like to invest in our community and its future.
Randi Pierce
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