Briefs: School District

By Kendra Walker

Facilities improvements update

Construction for the district-wide facilities improvements project continues, and the team provided an update during the Gunnison Watershed School District board meeting on January 13. “It’s been cold but progress continues,” said Chris Guarino of Artaic, the district’s owner’s representative. “The team remains committed to the school district’s success and we’re quite pleased with the progress we’re seeing.”

At Crested Butte Community School, framing is going up around the building and exterior walls will soon be framed up to prepare for electricians and plumbers to begin work on the new interior spaces. 

“What is it like working out there in these temperatures right now and how much does it slow the progress?” asked board president Tyler Martineau. 

“It’s not easy, it sure is difficult,” said Guarino. “It absolutely impacts progress.” He noted that the teams have daily safety briefings to ensure everyone is taking breaks to warm up, watching for slip hazards, drinking warm beverages, etc. “Thankfully we haven’t had any reported safety incidents or health concerns due to weather or temperature,” he said.

Guarino also explained that the team builds those weather days into the project’s schedule on the front end. “It’s not always perfect, but that’s how we’ve tried to plan.”

The team also said they are still finalizing budget numbers for the turf field at CBCS. The team is meeting with MetRec, which plans to contribute funds toward the fields. Once they meet with MetRec, the plan is to present the updated budget at the next school board meeting. “That will really help us dial in the budget. We’re looking to see how the final numbers shake out,” said Guarino. “That will inform a lot of decisions your Executive Committee needs to make right now on some alternates and other things. But the bottom line is your budgets are intact and we’re in good shape across the district.”

No 2025 Summer Experience

Superintendent Leslie Nichols shared that the district has made the difficult decision that it will not be providing Summer Experience this upcoming summer. In a letter sent out to GWSD families earlier this week, she said, “Because of the extensive construction, renovation, and site work at both Gunnison Community School and Crested Butte Community School, we will not be offering Summer Experience this coming summer of 2025.”

“This was an excruciating decision,” Nichols told the board. “As anticipated, there’s a lot of disappointment and stress being felt. This is hard stuff for families who depend on us, we are childcare.”

She continued, “We are doing what we can with our other partners in the valley to raise awareness, do brainstorming, see if we can support their communications or operations in any other ways this summer and increase that capacity with the partners that do exist. They’re aware and understanding and ready to try to expand what they’re able to offer. We’ll see what we can do.”

She also noted that the district will take this break from Summer Experience to strengthen the program and examine how it fits best within the district’s fiscal responsibilities.