CITY RELEASES LATEST SALES TAX REPORT

Guest Editorial School District 14 making strong and positive start

Time sure does fly by quickly. We are already in the fifth full week of school, and the school year is off to a strong and positive start. It has been wonderful to see students’ smiles.

I wanted to provide the community with some updates and celebrations:

Our District Performance Framework from the Colorado Department of Education increased from 71.3 percent (in 2019) to 72.6 percent (in 2022). Ute Pass Elementary school moved from “Improvement” status to “Performance” status, with a jump from 49 percent to 69 percent. Congratulations, UPE.

All four schools are now in the “Performance” status. For growth, math went from “Approaching” at the elementary and middle schools to “Meets.”

There are many other celebrations when it comes to growth and achievement across all of our schools.

We also know that there are areas of growth that we will continue to work together to support. We will provide an annual report soon. During a time when many districts and schools across the state and nation saw declines, we, in many areas of assessment, saw increases, which are important to acknowledge and celebrate. This is a testament to the strong commitment of our educators and our exceptional students and families. I am so thankful for the opportunity to work alongside such amazing people who always focus on what each and every student deserves when it comes to learning, growing and thriving, while never compromising a whole-child approach.

We started the school year with every licensed position filled. This is a big deal because many of our area school districts started with vacancies. I share this because I am so thankful for each and every one of our employees — in every position.

I am so excited to share that Elanor Fugate is a National Merit Semifinalist. Not only is she academically strong, she has the

OPINION highest character and integrity. She is involved in so many aspects of the high school and she is genuinely a caring person. Her peers frequently acknowledge this attribute that she embodies with humility. I have appreciated getting to know Elanor over the years through Elizabeth Domangue District 14 superintendent her involvement in lots of activities (soccer, Key Club, theater and more), and she serves on the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council. I can’t wait to see what she goes on to accomplish in life … it will be amazing. It has been several years since MSSD has had a National Merit Semifinalist. (Editor’s note: See more about Elanor on page 9.) October is Arts Month in the Pikes Peak region. We have several events this fall that we hope you and your family will attend.

Here are some of the events:

MSHS Fall Play — Friday, Oct. 21, and Saturday, Oct. 22

MSMS/MSHS Choir Concert

— Thursday, Oct. 27 Tri-Peaks League Band — Tuesday, Nov. 8

MSES Veterans Day Concert

— Friday, Nov. 18

MSHS Orchestra Concert

— Wednesday, Nov. 30 MSHS Band Concert — Thursday, Dec. 1 UPES Music Concert (kindergarten, second and fourth grades) — Tuesday, Dec. 6 UPES Music Concert (first, third and fifth grades) — Wednesday, Dec. 7

MSMS Orchestra Concert

— Wednesday, Dec. 7 UPES Music Concert (sixth grade) — Thursday, Dec. 8 MSMS Band Concert — Thursday, Dec. 8

MSMS/MSHS Choir Concert

— Friday, Dec. 9

We hope that you will join us for the upcoming Homecoming and 150th Anniversary festivities. Please see our district ad on Page 2 of this issue.

These will be fantastic celebrations of our district’s traditions, strong culture and core values of Relationships, Deep Learning and Opportunity.

I am so thankful for each and every one of our employees.

May, June, July sales taxes show some decreases

By Rhonda Van Pelt

The city’s Finance Department has released sales tax information for May, June and July. Vendors report and submit tax collections to the state in the month after the reporting period closes, and the city receives them the month after that.

In May, Manitou Springs saw $13,606,395 in taxable sales, a slight increase from the $13,459,882 of May 2021.

When looking at vendor types, May 2022 sales compared to May 2021: • Amusements/bars increased by 3.3 percent; • Stores (food, gas) dropped by 4.7 percent; • Shops/gifts dropped by 6.3 percent; • Other in city (includes marijuana outlets, which are taxed at 11.4 percent) dropped by 6.7 percent; • Motels dropped by 4.5 percent; • Restaurants were up by 4.6 percent; and • Outside city increased by 27.3 percent.

In June, Manitou saw $17,884,893 in taxable sales, a drop from the $18,636,642 of June 2021.

Vendor types, June 2022 compared to June 2021: • Amusements/bars increased by 1.4 percent; • Stores (food, gas) dropped by 11.3 percent; • Shops/gifts dropped by 5 percent; • Other in city dropped by 6.1 percent; • Motels increased by 1 percent; • Restaurants dropped by 1.9 percent; and • Outside city dropped by 5.9 percent.

In July, Manitou saw $18,880,092 in taxable sales, compared with $19,667,887 in July 2021.

Vendor types, July 2022 compared to July 2021: • Amusements/bars dropped by 3.6 percent; • Stores (food, gas) dropped by 7 percent; • Shops/gifts dropped by 4.7 percent; • Other in city dropped by 8.7 percent; • Motels increased by 8.1 percent; • Restaurants increased by 0.1 percent; and • Outside city dropped by 10.5 percent.

As of July 31, Manitou has had $92,393,280 in taxable sales this year, compared with $91,552,850 in Jan. 1-July 31, 2021.

The collections include “quarterly reporting” and “annual reporting” vendors and payment of previous delinquencies, causing some distortion of monthly sales.

SURVEY/from page 1

Domangue, however, said she contacted the third-party firm that the group suggested conduct a survey, but did not hear back.

The results of that survey, which included 53 staff members who left during the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years, excluding bus drivers and kitchen staff, were shared last week. They show that respondents primarily left D14 over issues with leadership and culture — and multiple respondents specifically mentioned Domangue, who started as superintendent in July 2019.

The attrition and staff perspectives are troubling to parents in SUFM, as they worry the trusting and tight-knit culture that has defined their small school district for years is being lost, Holmes-Stanciu said.

“That’s one of the reasons that people have been so upset, is because many of them saw what was happening,” she said. “They knew what they had, they knew it wasn’t perfect. But they saw it slipping through the cracks.”

Pandemic-related exit?

Domangue has maintained that what’s happening in D14 is “not unique” among school districts.

The COVID pandemic caused upheaval for staffers and many decided to move on for personal reasons, or they could not afford to live in the Manitou-Colorado Springs area, which lacks affordable housing for anyone on an educator’s salary, she said.

But SUFM said this is not so, according to survey results from Newmeasures, the Colorado-based firm the group hired to formulate and analyze the survey. The firm produces employee surveys for various organizations, including some school boards, Newmeasures President Lee Stroud said.

Domangue questioned how accurately the survey represents the sentiments of former staff, since it captured responses from only about half of the people who left in those two years.

She said that the survey results were not “unusual or surprising” compared to what D14 has found in its own exit surveys, which it sends to staff when they leave. But she acknowledged that the 2019 change in leadership, her emphasis on “instructional leadership” and decisions during the pandemic could have produced a difficult environment for some. “I think that sometimes through the pandemic … there were lose/lose decisions — remote or hybrid, wearing a mask, not wearing a mask,” Domangue said.

“Oftentimes, when you made those decisions, you knew that one decision was going to be what one person wanted to hear, and another person did not want to hear. Unfortunately, that was the responsibility all of us in the superintendency had to carry.

“I fully understand how a lot of those decisions might have been hard to receive,” she added. “It was a difficult time.”

Domangue also said she could see how the district’s more hands-on, instructional leadership style — for which she said the D14 board hired her — could cause “a little bit of stress” among teachers.

“Our principals and our staff are in classrooms more, and I see that as positive,” she said. “I do think that was a shift for Manitou.”

SUFM said the former staffers who responded to the survey paint a more worrisome picture.

Only 15 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they “had a trusting relationship with district leadership” and 64 percent disagreed or strongly disagreed that D14 “inspired confidence in the future of the district.”

Twenty-one respondents selected “district leadership” as one of their top three reasons for leaving D14, and 14 selected “district culture,” over other options like “seeking improved work-life balance” (nine selections) and “higher compensation” (eight), according to an executive summary.

Other options related to the pandemic and economy, such as “burnout as a result of COVID restrictions” and “cost of living,” did not make it into the top 10 reasons.

“The data clearly support that there’s a clear lack of trust in district leadership and a lack of confidence in the future of the district,” said Stroud, of Newmeasures. “People didn’t feel that there was open, transparent communication and questioned whether the district was really doing right by employees. “When we look at the comments, to really provide context into the quantitative data, we really see that it’s this feeling of unilateral decision-making, and again, people are not feeling comfortable speaking up,” she added.

There’s a clear lack of trust in district leadership.

— Lee Stroud

Staffers appear split

One former building leader who participated in the survey said they left the district because of Domangue’s leadership.

The leader, who requested anonymity due to fear of losing future job prospects, said they started to see “red flags” that became more apparent during the pandemic, when the onus was put on teachers to figure out how to push through the health crisis.

“These are individuals who are excellent teachers, but [they were] being asked to solve problems that have never existed in a public school,” the building leader said. “What I saw was the stress and anxiety that was inducing in them — asking a sophomore world history teacher to figure out how we’re going to physically place students, balance remote and asynchronous instruction, things like that.

“That became more problematic when it was evident that we weren’t actually building or making any of these decisions; we were being told what would happen and then figuring out how we were going to make that happen,” they added. “I viewed it as far too onerous [on] teachers.”

But at least one current teacher, Cory Urban, who has taught sixth grade math at Manitou Springs Middle School for seven years, said she doesn’t trust the survey results and feels SUFM has an agenda.

Of the colleagues Urban knows left her school, “none of them left because of our leadership, district or school,” she said. That’s “one reason that I don’t necessarily trust this survey.”

“There was a lot of animosity at the end of our last school year, and a lot of division brought on by this particular group,” she said. “It kind of goes both ways — there’s a lack of trust from this group in the administration, and there’s a lack of trust from a large group of teachers in this organization.

“I happen to be of the opinion that we have some of the absolute hardest-working leadership in our state, really, and that high standards for our principals and high standards for our teachers is not a bad thing.”

The former building leader, however, doesn’t believe that Domangue’s assessment of the turnover — that it was primarily related to family issues and pandemic impacts — is accurate.

“Now seeing that these parents have collected data that is saying, yes, people are leaving because of family, pay, COVID, leaving the profession — that is accurate, but it’s not in the top three reasons why people are leaving,” the building leader said. “I think that is a telling narrative.

“Do I think the district is being dishonest? I’m reserving judgment on that,” they said. “However, by not formally collecting that data in that way, are they missing a major improvement strategy? Absolutely.”

SUFM would like to see data collection continue among D14’s current staff, to determine whether the issues brought up in the Newmeasures survey are prevailing. Domangue said the district is preparing to analyze the attrition issue in multiple ways.

D14’s District Accountability Committee will review retention and recruitment efforts, and the district is looking into procuring K12 Insight, an education-focused research and engagement firm, for culture, climate and exit surveys, Domangue said.

The goal is to “continue to see what we’re doing well, what we can do better and celebrate the great things in our school district,” she said. “And that’s the same for understanding why someone might decide to leave either Manitou or the profession. All of that’s important.”

The D14 board also received the survey; Holmes-Stanciu said it was presented to Board President Natalie Johnson and Vice President Jack Sharon on Sept. 12.

Johnson emailed that “We acknowledge the information,” noting that some of the survey respondents’ view of the district is from two years ago.

Board directors “recognize that the school district has been working through attrition (as I am sure all school districts are) and look forward to outcomes from the District Accountability Committee regarding retention and recruitment,” Johnson wrote.

Community Events

Saturday, Sept. 24

Heritage Brew Festival: More than 24 breweries offer samples of their wares, and if you find something you like, you can buy it right then and there. Live bands, fantastic food vendors and yard games. Proceeds support the Manitou

Springs Heritage Center. Soda Springs Park, 1016 Manitou

Ave. 1-5 p.m. $5-$47. Information: manitouspringsheritage center.org or 685-1454. .

Grand Opening of the Manitou Springs Pickleball Courts:

Enjoy the new court in Fields Park and check out free clinics hosted by the Pikes Peak Pickleball Association. 9-11 a.m. 114

El Paso Blvd. Information: pikespeakpickleball.com.

Sunday, Sept. 25

Fall Festival: Enjoy games, food, drinks and fun at Manitou

Community Church. Noon-2 p.m. 103 Pawnee Ave. Information: www.manitouchurch.org or 685-5255.

Wednesday, Sept. 28

The Packy Puppet Show: Join Packy of “Packy Climbs Pikes

Peak” on his journey to the summit of Pikes Peak with his mother, Neotoma. Learn about the habits of packrats with the accompaniment of cute puppets. Free. 10:30-11:30 a.m.

Manitou Springs Library, 515 Manitou Ave. Information: manitouspringsheritagecenter.org or 685-1454.

Friday, Sept. 30

Manitou Springs High School Homecoming Parade: Join

CountyWyde will perform at Saturday’s Heritage Brew Festival.

Courtesy photo

Manitou Springs’ Mustangs for the “welcome home Mustangs” homecoming parade. Parade travels up Manitou Avenue to the roundabout and back. 1 p.m. Information: manitousprings.org or 685-5089.

Saturday, Oct. 1

Nikola Tesla and Gilded-Age Science in Colorado

Springs: Learn about the advanced scientific work of Nikola

Tesla, wireless telegraphy, wireless power transmission, interplanetary communication and death rays. Many of Tesla’s experiments were conducted in Colorado Springs from 1899-1900. This exciting panel will discuss all these topics, including the advanced scientific work being done in Colorado Springs from its founding in 1871 until Tesla’s arrival in 1899. 11 a.m. Manitou Springs Heritage Center, 517 Manitou Ave. Information: manitouspringsheritagecenter.org or 685-1454.

To submit a calendar listing (at least 10 days before your event), email calendars@pikespeakbulletin.com or mail a typed announcement to: Pikes Peak Bulletin, attn. Calendars, 513 Manitou Ave., Manitou Springs 80829. No phone calls please.

Vote for winners among coffin race T-shirt designs

The community is invited to vote on designs for the official 28th anniversary Emma Crawford T-shirt. Go to tinyurl. com/2022EmmaTee or stop by the office, 354 Manitou Ave.

Voting ends Friday, Sept. 23. The winner will receive $50 in Manitou Money for participating local businesses and a 2022 coffin race T-shirt with the selected design.

The coffin races will take place Saturday, Oct. 29. Information: 685-5089.

Each team should have four pushers and one “Emma.” Only 70 racing teams are accepted, so don’t delay. Deadline for application is Friday, Oct. 21, and teams are confirmed once the entry fee ($100) is paid in full.

Fill out this form to race: manitousprings.org/enter-the-coffin-races. To march in the parade, fill out this form: manitousprings. org/coffin-race-parade-application.

Bulletin file photo