One of three finalists for superintendent of Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1 pulled her name out of contention Monday night after a public interview session.
Karen Sanchez-Griego’s announcement came at the end of the two-and-a-half-hour gathering, which included repeated audience questions about transgender students, critical race theory and DEI.
Sanchez-Griego, Ph.D., is the former superintendent of the Cuba Independent School District in New Mexico and was credited with dramatically improving graduation rates there. Her pullout leaves Mike McFalls and Eddie Ramirez as candidates to replace current superintendent Tom Burris, who is retiring.
McFalls, Ph.D., was abruptly dismissed in September after 16 months as superintendent in Grand County, Utah. He said he has nearly 40 years’ experience in education, including being superintendent in Westcliffe, Colo. He said most of his experience was in central Texas.
Ramirez is the current assistant superintendent for Re-1. He worked for Burris as assistant superintendent when both of them were in Roswell, N.M.
Burris told KSJD the school board won’t name another finalist to replace Sanchez-Griego. The board is working fast to choose a new superintendent before Nov. 4, when a new board will be elected.
Monday’s community meeting was facilitated by Stephen Candelaria, the newly named head of the Re-1 District Accountability Committee.
He pulled audience questions, which had been written anonymously on cards, out of a jar.
One of several questions about DEI asked the finalists to describe any diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives they had supported.
All three said they hadn’t supported any specifically under that term.
Ramirez said all students deserve the same protections and to be safe from bullying
McFalls echoed that, saying all children should be treated with kindness.
Sanchez-Griego said she has not done things that were labeled DEI, but that she feels DEI is a “made-up” and loaded issue. She emphasized that children of different languages, cultures, and religions should be supported.
All three candidates stressed that teachers need to follow the state-mandated, district-approved curriculum rather than stray into other areas.
The subject of critical race theory, which was relatively unknown until around 2020, also came up.
The term and concept of critical race theory reportedly originated in the 1970s and ’80s. (The word “critical” is used in the sense of analytical.) It has been defined in numerous ways, but a central tenet of CRT is that racism is endemic in society rather than just present among scattered individuals.
It’s a concept that is considered graduate-level rather than something for K-12 schools, but many people, especially conservatives, have raised concerns about children being taught negative things about white people.
“Teaching history is important,” Ramirez said. He said that if any DEI or CRT or other ideological theories come up, he looks at, “What does it have to do with reading, writing and math?”
“It’s difficult enough to teach what is there now than to navigate the confusion that is created” by topics such as CRT, he said.
McFalls said that if something is in the curriculum and state standards, it will be presented objectively.
Schools may teach about Nazis and World War II, McFalls said, “but that doesn’t mean we endorse what they did.” Schools need to teach children to be critical thinkers, he said.
Sanchez-Griego said CRT is not something schools use in Colorado or generally anywhere except in some law schools.
The publicity about CRT feels “like a push to try to divide us,” she said. “It’s something that is brought into education to create chaos.” She said major school districts do not teach CRT.
The candidates were also asked repeatedly about whether biological males who are transgender should be allowed in women’s sports or locker rooms, and they all said no.
They were also asked how many genders there are, and they all said two, although Ramirez, who has taught science, added that there may be exceptions considering that some people have extra X or Y chromosomes.
Late in the meeting, another question asked was whether DEI, cell phones, and pride flags should be kept out of schools.
McFalls said cell phones don’t belong in schools and all kids should be treated with kindness. “We do not teach beliefs, we teach the curriculum,” he said.
Ramirez said all those things should be kept out of schools.
Sanchez-Griego said she’d work with the school board and community to develop a policy on cell phones.
She said, regarding kids that identify differently in terms of their sexual orientation or other issues, “We are going to treat them with respect.”
She said there may be parents who say they don’t want their own children learning about such things, “but how do we separate the two?”
She described herself as a Latina who came from a Spanish-speaking home, relating that her own mother was spanked for speaking Spanish.
She said trying to limit what languages children speak means a language loss and added that she was beginning to wonder whether she was the right superintendent for the district.
In closing remarks, Sanchez-Griego said although she finds this a beautiful community, she doesn’t believe she would be a good fit for Re-1.
“I have decided to withdraw my name,” she said.
“Based on some of the questions and other things. . . you need a strong leader.”
Burris told KSJD that having a superintendent finalist pull out at the last minute is extremely rare, but that he has seen it happen one other time in his career.
“It was a surprise, though,” he said.
Regarding the repeated questions about transgender students, he said he isn’t aware of any currently in the district who are biological males trying to join women’s sports.
He said when he first came to the Re-1 district many years ago, there was a transgender male at the high school who was allowed to use the women’s restroom and he was eventually beaten up by three girls and left the state.
The issue isn’t a major one at the moment, he said, but it’s become something of a political rallying point. Burris said he does understand why people are concerned about former males, who may well be larger and stronger, competing directly with females in sports.
He said the DEI issue is something that has come up in recent years, but the district is going to follow the curriculum, not teach outside subjects.
“We’re going to teach what’s in state standards, and it’s not,” he said.
Burris added that, because Re-1 is on a four-day week, the district has just 120 days to prepare students for CMAS (Colorado Measures of Academic Success) tests, which measure how a district’s students are learning, and the focus needs to be on basic subjects.
