The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“The calendar is an incredibly emotional topic. Half the community is going to love it, half is going to hate it”
by Kendra Walker
The Gunnison Watershed School District school board has agreed it is not ready to consider any changes to the district calendar in the near future, and would like to focus on other high priorities including checking off milestones within the district’s strategic plan, employee housing and building strong trust and partnerships within the community.
During a November 2 work session, superintendent Bill Summers presented the board with a proposed process for evaluating changes to future district calendars. He emphasized that the framework was intended solely to lay out a structured two-year process rather than push a specific outcome for a change to the current calendar, noting that calendar concerns surfaced as a popular community topic when he was hired.
“We’re discussing a process and not an outcome,” Summers explained. “This is not me pushing an agenda. The calendar rose to the top of that community survey during the interview process for the superintendent. It was passed to me by my predecessor that it’s something I may need to look into. It has been communicated to me by the community since I started.”
The district calendar discussion has been a challenging and emotional topic in the past, with differing opinions regarding the Wednesday early release and two different holiday schedules between Crested Butte and Gunnison schools. The board members recognized that it is extremely difficult to create a calendar every year that meets the needs of all students, families, teachers and community members.
“The calendar is an incredibly emotional topic. Half the community is going to love it, half is going to hate it,” said board member Katya Schloesser.
The district also has a calendar committee of approximately 30 members composed of principals, teachers from each building, operations staff and athletic directors to ensure a range of voices of the district are included when the calendar is drafted and considered for board approval every year.
Schloesser raised concerns over opportunity cost and limited bandwidth for both the board and a new district superintendent.
Schloesser also suggested allowing more time to see how recent changes with after-school programming in Gunnison will shake out.
“I’m looking at our strategic plan and see some priorities that we’re behind on. We’re also looking at affordable housing, policy analysis and next year is an election year,” she said. “We’re taking on some big things, and I think as far as a board with a new leader there’s only so much capacity and building trust with our community. I just wonder, is it the right time?”
“I get that it’s a challenge for many families,” said board member Mark VanderVeer. “Unless someone can tell me what’s seriously wrong with the current calendar, I would not be in favor of going down this path at this point.”
“The calendar doesn’t seem to be bubbling to the surface for me right now,” agreed board member Jody Coleman. “I’m not hearing much from the community about big issues.”
The rest of the board echoed the sentiment, noting they would like to focus on other priorities at this time, including the strategic plan and related community outreach, employee housing solutions and policy analysis. They agreed it makes sense to revisit the calendar process discussion a year from now after the board election, as at least two seats will be open for the November 2027 election.
Summers reiterated that he was not pushing an agenda to change the calendar, but fulfilling a responsibility to outline a thoughtful and thorough process should the board get to that point.
“I appreciate this attempt at creating a process, because in the past I felt I didn’t know what the process was,” said Coleman. “I think we need a process that is established for future leaders, but it would be wise for us to postpone it for at least a year until we have the new board.”
