A group of parents in Manitou Springs School District 14 say that more than 60 administrators, teachers and staff left during the 2021-22 school year — and they’re sounding the alarm, calling the turnover rate “unacceptable” for a district of Manitou’s size.
At the Monday, May 16, D14 school board meeting, D14 parent Brenda Holmes-Stanciu spoke on behalf of the group Stand Up for Manitou, representing concerned community members.
“We love Manitou, and with the board, we want to make it the best experience it can be for students and families,” Holmes-Stanciu said during public comment.
She asked whether the high turnover was due to a lack of listening, support or understanding.
“Are we losing what is most special and unique to Manitou in the process? Are we losing what makes this district our district, the choice district?” she said.
Holmes-Stanciu said some D14 staff members had told Stand Up for Manitou that they were micromanaged, had no work-life balance and felt like they were “never enough.” She said the group has also heard from staff fearing retaliation for speaking out.
Via email, D14 Superintendent Elizabeth Domangue said that for the fiscal school year 2021-22 — measured from July 1 to June 30 — 54 people retired or resigned, as compared to 53 for the previous year. Domangue argued the departures are “not inconsistent” with trends across the country.
According to the district’s human resources specialist Marsha Weimer, D14 employs 225 employees per year on average.
The school board’s personnel reports from June 2021 to May 2022 are what Stand Up for Manitou used to find its numbers, Holmes-Stanciu said. Sixty-two people were listed as retiring or resigning during that time frame, though two names appeared to be listed more than once.
To combat the turnover, D14 is “continuing to focus on our core values of relationships, deep learning, and opportunity,” Domangue wrote. “This is always the goal. This includes celebrating the great things happening in our school district community.
“Any acts of retaliation would be against our core values,” she added. “Like every school district, we do have expectations for professional behaviors when it comes to student and staff safety and security.”
Addressing work-life balance, Domangue agreed that “all educators can benefit from systems (not just school district systems) that allow staff to accomplish their work during the school day.”
She said that’s one of the main reasons D14 plans to continue starting the school day later on some Wednesdays.
“This is not a simple answer, and we are focused on engaging with our educators to explore ways to address this reality that has been the reality for educators for decades,” Domangue said.
“This would include engaging with parents and students. The District Accountability Committee is a group that we will engage with to continue this important topic.”
Kimberle Spraggins, who’s had two kids graduate from the school district with one still in the high school, is concerned about staff leaving the district.
“Does leadership play a role in driving them away? We have lost five principals in four years,” Spraggins said. (Domangue later said that D14 has actually lost six principals in four years, with three retiring.)
Spraggins recommended the district enlist a third party to conduct exit interviews and staff surveys to research why staff had been leaving in such large numbers.
“All the changes impact our kids — constant turnover, constant change in a time we are needing stability,” she said.
Domangue said D14 currently conducts exit interviews that are anonymous, and staff, student and parent surveys are administered anonymously via Survey Monkey, as well. She said the district is looking to move to another platform “for the sake of consistency.”
Previous survey results are available for the public on the BoardDocs May 16 work session page, she said, accessible at www.mssd14.org/district_information/board_of_education.
Several staff members who attended the D14 board meeting spoke positively about their experiences with the district.
Cory Urban, sixth-grade math teacher at Manitou Springs Middle School, said she was grateful for an administration that made her feel supported, challenged and appreciated on a daily basis.
“Very few things make me feel more supported than when the superintendent of Manitou schools drops by my classroom simply because she is interested in the wonderful things that staff and students are participating in,” Urban said.
Tim Barrette, sixth-grade social studies teacher at Manitou Springs Middle School, said that though he is part of the turnover, he’s felt supported at D14, and wanted to express his gratitude at the meeting.
“Unfortunately, I would say the issues with Colorado education in general are what’s pushing me out,” Barrette said. “The rise in inflation, my inability to be able to make ends meet — it’s incredibly difficult.
“On a daily basis, I have to think of the students that I’m saying goodbye to, and it’s not because I want to, it’s because I’m being forced out of it.”
The upcoming school year’s proposed budget, which the board approved during the meeting, includes a 5 percent pay increase for all staff, as well as a 7.5 percent health insurance increase shared by employees and employer, short-term disability insurance for all employees, and increases for around 37 classified (hourly) staff members that market research found needed a pay bump.
However, Domangue said the adjustment will not even begin to address the inflation rate, nor the effects she said the Colorado Budget Stabilization Factor unleashed a little more than a decade ago.
“The budget stabilization factor, or negative factor, was introduced in 2010 as a way for Colorado lawmakers to legally cut the education funding required by Amendment 23,” a May 18 story in the Vail Daily explained.
“Amendment 23 is a measure that, among other things, requires the state to increase per-pupil school funding by at least the rate of inflation each year.”
A report from the nonprofit Colorado School Finance Project, titled “Twelve Years of Colorado K-12 School Funding Cuts 2009-2021 Inclusive of Budget Stabilization Factor, Negative Factor, and Mid-Year Recissions,” lists D14’s total lost revenue from 2009 to 2021 at $15,880,219.
Domangue also listed a lack of affordable housing as an issue for staff, but said there’s hope that COVID-19 won’t impact schools next year as it has previously, something she said will contribute to staff retention.
The board adjourned early after learning about a small fire near the Cave of the Winds, leaving the “Policy Review” and “Board Development” sections of the meeting incomplete. Domangue said those items will be addressed at the June 6 meeting.