Chaffee County High School (CCHS) was the focus for almost all of those registered for public comment at the Buena Vista Board of Education’s regular meeting on Monday, February 28, 2022. The meeting came to order at 6:00 p.m. and after a few brief reports from the superintendent, the five registered individuals took their turn to speak.
Communications Concerns
Chandler Vandaveer, a CCHS alumnus, shared his and the community’s frustrations with the board’s lack of communication about the decision to sell the CCHS campus, the process, and the future of the CCHS students and space.
“It’s very damaging what you don’t do, and in the case of CCHS that’s been communication with students, parents, and community stakeholders,” he said. “When you make a change that affects the foundation of an alternative education campus, the community expects an overwhelming amount of communication from the people who are instituting that change. And right now the community doesn’t feel that that’s happened.
“We need to do better as a community and as a board to communicate with each other so that we don’t leave room for misinformation and so that students, parents, and the community have time to feel included in the process,” he said. “It’s imperative that participation is given to the community, and a lot of community members right now feel that they have been blocked out of participation through a lack of communication, which is not to say that you haven’t communicated. The sentiment from this community is that the bare minimum of communication has been made pertaining to [this] change to CCHS.
“I ask the board to take more time to provide concise and up-front information to parents, students, and community stakeholders about the changes that are being made, and importantly, before it’s too late, to be part of the process, too late to attend meetings before people feel like they’ve been marginalized and disrespected by the lack of communication.
“The actions that the board has taken about CCHS with a lack of communication has left a significant portion of the community with just one question to ask, which is not whether or not this board cares about or is invested in the future of alternative education,” Vandaveer concluded, “but whether or not the board is willing to consider and respect the people who ARE invested in the future of alternative education in Buena Vista.”
Patricia Jahla, who spoke next, said that Vandaveer had covered what she’d wanted to ask, “unless there had been an update on the progress in the retrofit of the Sprung building for classes and when classes will commence there, and where are the kids now.”
CCHS students will be finishing out their school year in their Main Street building, which the district is leasing back from the buyer through the rest of the academic year.
Shawn Shake, who graduated from Buena Vista High School (BVHS) in 1990 and is a sixth-generation Buena Vista resident, expressed that he didn’t understand why the district was selling the properties when the town is growing and its economy is booming.
“Currently, I own a couple of businesses and employ half a dozen people, and my portion of my property taxes that go to the school district is about $12,905,” he said. “I don’t understand why you’re selling these properties. This area is flourishing, the building department is overwhelmed, and I have more work than I know what to do with … You sell stuff when you need to sell stuff. You don’t sell stuff when the economy is just booming.”
Shake also shared that he was doing research into the Archway property, located on North Court Street and Piñon. His father had said the property was given to the district; he found a deed that it was sold to the district for $90,000.
“His understanding was that it was given to the district and they weren’t supposed to sell it,” he continued. “I don’t understand why we’re selling stuff … CCHS has given back to the community and the school district, as well. I would like to understand why we’re selling when this economy in this area isn’t going away. It’s going to continue to grow, property taxes are going to continue to rise, and there’s going to be plenty of money coming in.”
Carle Linke shared her confusion since the CCHS building sale, about what money will be going where, as well as what the numbers actually are.
“Since the CCHS building sold, a lot of things came to the surface, and it gave a little bit of mistrust to the community members, not knowing about so much money coming from the sales,” she said. “$1.1 million for the CCHS building, and then seeing in the paper they’re going to renovate the Sprung building for $1.3 million. There are a lot of different numbers there, and I’m not sure which ones are right. I’ve heard $500,000 for renovations, I’ve heard $300,000… Nothing’s really right.”
A Question on CCHS curriculum
Linke moved from the building sale to her concerns about things she had heard about the CCHS curriculum that bothered her, including asking students’ social security numbers to teach them how to do their taxes and critical race theory in the curriculum.
“I don’t think that’s something the staff needs to know. That’s personal information,” she said. “On that same piece of paper … I was told they’re not teaching critical race theory [CRT], and I found it right here in black and white. English, block one, senior seminar: race. Institutionalized racism and history throughout America. Block two, Harlem Resistance. Hip-Hop and Poetry. That to me spells CRT…Why didn’t they talk about the presidents? Why didn’t they talk about the Civil War?… A lot of these things are showing up now.”
“I’ve seen it in boards before, where they’ve sold property, they haven’t let other people know, and they haven’t let other people be a part of it,” she continued. “It needs to stop, and we need some answers, and they need to be published in the paper for all of us to see.”
Board president Suzette Hachmann offered to connect with Linke further to help her get access to the information she wanted. The last attendee decided to pass on their time.
The school board thanked those who spoke for sharing and reminded them that they would be responding to their questions individually and in future meetings rather than addressing them during the present meeting.
The board’s next regular meeting will be held on at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, March 14, 2022, at the District Administration Building, located at 117 North Court Street in Buena Vista. Agendas and information packets can be found on the board’s page on the district website ahead of the meeting. All those interested in speaking during the public comment portion of the meeting must register before the start of the meeting. Public comments are limited to three minutes per person and 15 minutes per topic.
Note of Clarification: CCHS block plans can be found on their Monday Meeting notes. The blocks referenced by Linke were from the February 14, 2022, notes. However, the block is titled “Harlem Renaissance” in the meeting notes, NOT as was incorrectly stated “Harlem Resistance”. The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics, and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. The National Gallery of Art has done an exhibition on this largely artistic movement, which occurred between the first and second World Wars.
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