Brenda Holmes-Stanciu is a 30-year veteran educator, mostly in Colorado Springs District 11. She has two children at Manitou Springs High School and has lived here since 2001.
She’s also at the forefront of the Stand Up for Manitou group’s attempts to learn more about why teachers are leaving District 14.
Holmes-Stanciu spoke to the Bulletin face-to-face on Friday, Oct. 7, along with another SUFM member who wants to remain anonymous. That part of the conversation was by phone because the person didn’t want to be seen near the Bulletin office.
Holmes-Stanciu’s long career, which includes teaching college education classes, has equipped her with knowledge about the education process at all levels.
“I get to work with administrators, I get to work with and mentor new teachers. So I get to have a feel for where people are struggling and where they’re gaining confidence. And I have worked with principals,” she said.
Holmes-Stanciu said she had to step back from being involved in D14 while raising her children and working full-time, but recently has been able to focus on the local schools.
Then, she said to herself, “Wait a minute, let’s take a look and see what’s going on” with the numerous departures from D14.
According to statistics from the Colorado Department of Education, District 14 reported a 23.9 percent total staff turnover rate between the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years.
“Turnover rate” is defined as the number of people the district did not report as employed in the position category in the most current year (regardless of the reason for leaving), divided by the previous year’s head count. It’s unclear how many simply moved to a different “position category” in the same district.
Looking at the CDE’s statistics for all El Paso County school districts, the lowest turnover rate between those two school years was at Miami/Yoder, with 16.9 percent, and the highest was at Hanover District 28, with 46.9 percent turnover.
The department’s statistics for turnover rates between the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years are broken out into position categories.
Manitou’s total staff turnover rate was 18.58 percent in that timeframe. The rate for teachers only was 8 percent; for principals only, it was 11.11 percent.
El Paso County’s lowest total staff turnover rate was 13.24 percent at Calhan RJ-1 in that timeframe; its highest was, again, Hanover District 18, with 38.18 percent.
The anonymous SUFM member who spoke by phone explained how they researched the number of departures from D14.
“In the (school) board documents, you can find lists for every month that there’s a board meeting. So that’s every month, a list of retirements and resignations by month,” they said.
“I started in July 2021 and counted July, August, September … through June of 2022. So I literally went through every single personnel report to every board meeting and counted.”
Holmes-Stanciu has heard from people unhappy about the SUFM’s activities; the members have been accused of having their own agenda.
“There’s no one in this team that is thinking, ‘I’m going to step into the superintendent role.’ Or ‘I want to be a principal,’ or ‘I have a friend that I’m going to place into that position.’ We have not at any point had those types of discussions,” she said.
The anonymous SUFM member also mentioned something they want the community to think about.
“One of the things that this group frequently discusses is the fact that these are taxpayer dollars. It is perfectly appropriate for there to be a level of oversight. … None of us in this group believes in making trouble for the sake of trouble. We are seeking constructive solutions,” they said.
One of the community’s major concerns has been the departures of five District 14 principals.
They were: Chris Briggs-Hale from Ute Pass Elementary, who retired after the 2021-22 school year; Russ Vogel from Manitou Springs Elementary, who retired in June 2020; Ron Hamilton, who left Manitou Springs Middle School in February 2020; Markus Moeder-Chandler, who left Manitou Springs High School in July 2020; and Jesse Hull, who left MSHS after the 2021-22 school year.
CDE statistics show D14 principal turnover as 11.11 percent from 2018-2019 to 2019-2020 school years.
Dr. Elizabeth Domangue was hired as D14 superintendent on a three-year contract to replace Ed Longfield. That contract began July 1, 2019, and has been renewed through the 2023-24 school year.
Domangue responded to the Bulletin’s questions via email; much of what she wrote has been included in the school board meeting story that begins on page 1. She also sent links to documents chronicling information about budget adjustments and staffing, and proceedings of the District Accountability Committee.
(Editor’s note: As the Bulletin’s only full-time employee, I have not had the time to research the documents. In the interest of fairness, I will write a story incorporating that information and, hopefully, more of Domangue’s input for the Oct. 27 issue.)
Holmes-Stanciu has been vocal about the D14 situation — speaking during school board meetings, writing guest editorials in the Bulletin and talking with a Colorado Springs Independent reporter for a story that also ran in the Sept. 22 Bulletin.
That willingness to be the face of the SUFM group has led to a lot of feedback from former and current D14 teachers.
“I had people calling me that I’ve never physically met,” she said Oct. 7, gesturing to a binder full of interviews she’s compiled.
“When I would have a conversation with somebody about their experience, it was not a half hour. These were very long, very thoughtful conversations.”
Most of what the group has is confidential since they were comments on a survey that didn’t obtain permission to share them.
That survey, as reported in the Sept. 22 Bulletin, resulted in answers from 53 staffers who left during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years. Newmeasures, a Colorado-based firm comprised of organizational psychologists, conducted the survey.
Before then, Holmes-Stanciu said, the group spent a great deal of time and energy tracking down and reaching out to 88 former D14 teachers. They found contact information for 61 former staffers who had resigned and retired (not including bus drivers and kitchen staff).
According to the Newmeasures presentation, 53 people completed the survey, amounting to 87 percent participation. (See graphic for their answers to one set of questions.)
“We’re not going after Elizabeth, we’re going after the system in place,” Holmes-Stanciu said.
To both of them, and the SUFM group as a whole, this is about ensuring that teachers feel valued. They’re hearing, rrepeatedly, that teachers’ viewpoints and ideas are listened to, but not acted upon.
“You can respect them, you can give them the autonomy to bring their expertise and their passion and their creativity and innovation to the table, because it betters the organization. In turn, they are excited and energized,” the anonymous member said.
“At worst, is actually actively undermining people. It’s just heartbreaking.”
HOW THIS WORKS
The Bulletin’s opinion publication policy allows people who fear negative consequences to remain anonymous in print, as long as the editor knows their names. That information goes no further.
Between Sept. 22 and Oct. 13, we published five letters from people who requested anonymity. We have received three additional letters that will, most likely, run in our Oct. 27 issue, because this newspaper believes in free speech and strives to reflect the community’s concerns and give voice to the voiceless. However, we didn’t have space in this issue for them.
We cannot emphasize this enough: Everyone is welcome to share their opinions in a civil way through guest editorials and letters to the editor. We do not pick and choose which ones to publish and we do not express opinions publicly about any person or issue.