Montezuma-Cortez School Superintendent Tom Burris announced his resignation at Tuesday night’s meeting of the District Re-1 board. He said he was retired when he was called about the job in April of 2022 and initially accepted it as a four-month interim position. Listing some of his achievements, he told the board and audience that he led the district in what he called a much-needed abandonment of Manaugh Elementary School and the development of a Pleasant View charter school. He also noted that by the end of his second year, all the schools in the district were off the clock in regard to their performance ratings. Burris has been a controversial superintendent during his three and a half years at Re-1 At almost every school-board meeting, people voice criticism of the district’s policies during the public-comment sessions. That was true at Tuesday’s meeting, when seven people expressed concerns about unfilled teaching positions at the Montezuma-Cortez Middle School. Burris said he had told board President Sheri Noyes that he would stay through her final term as a board member, which ends in November. He said he is giving the board 60 days to find a new superintendent but if they cannot, he will stay. Noyes said, “Thank you for everything you’ve endured, everything you’ve done, every wall you’ve been up against for the sake of all of our students and our staff.”
Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.