The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
District continues to seek restitution in Leatherwood case
The Gunnison Watershed School Board went into executive session at its August 11 meeting to consult with legal counsel regarding the Cannon Leatherwood litigation and possible claims against insurance provider Zurich, due to the non-payment of funds due. Leatherwood was sentenced to 12 years in prison for felony theft in June after he was found guilty of embezzling more than $600,000 from the Gunnison Watershed School District. At the close of the executive session school board member Bill Powell told superintendent Doug Tredway, “I believe that the direction to our superintendent is that you continue working with the school attorney to recover insurance funds, to make the school district whole. Those funds were stolen from the children and they need to come back to the children.”
Parents can pay fees online
The school district continues to refine its electronic payment system, which when completed will allow parents to pay for everything from school lunches to sports fees online with a credit card. The system should be finished within the next year.
Testing may decrease in the future
The school board has been working with administrators and other Colorado school districts to determine just how much standardized testing is enough. Currently Gunnison Watershed schools exceed the federal minimum in terms of assessment testing. According to Tredway there is a call by teachers and parents to scale back the amount of testing to match the minimum so that class time can be better used for teaching and other educational opportunities.
New hires and resignations mark the beginning of school year
Staffing continues to evolve in the district as several new teachers and staff have been hired for the 2014-2015 years. Many of these positions are filling vacancies created by resignations, although Tredway said the district may soon need to hire additional teachers in order to keep class sizes down.
Superintendent’s contract extended
The school board voted unanimously to extend Tredway’s contract through the 2014-2015 school year. The superintendent’s contract will be revisited by the board in January 2015 for the 2015-2016 school year.
