NORTH FORK TIMES
SURFACE CREEK NEWS
CREATIVE THINKERS
SPORTS
ARTISTIC EXPRESSION
Nine Destination Imagination teams are headed to state, B5
High schoolers show, sell art at annual AppleShed exhibit, C1
DELTA COUNTY
RAISING THE BAR
Local athletes turn in record setting performances in track, 3B APRIL 6, 2016 VOL. 133, NO. 14
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INDEPENDENT
www.deltacountyindependent.com
Atheist handout goes smoothly BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor
Despite intense media scrutiny and a flurry of Facebook posts, the distribution of atheist and “freethinking” materials in Delta County schools last Friday was a remarkably quiet event. Some people even referred to it as a “nonevent.” Organizers from the Western Colorado Atheists and Freethinkers report school staff was “welcoming and respectful.” On their Facebook page, they noted the literature was readily available to middle and high school students. At Delta High School, all the literature had been picked up by the time they arrived on the premises. “All went well, the sky didn’t fall,” organizers noted. They’re now planning an “Ask an Atheist” pizza gathering at the Delta Middle School cafeteria April 14. “The idea of the program is to help support the beleaguered atheist kids at DMS, several of whom have been harassed and bullied, let them know we care, and to give other kids at the school a chance to find out more about atheism,” WCAF posted on Facebook. School superintendent Caryn Gibson agrees the distribution of the controversial literature went very smoothly, “Students, teachers, parents ... everyone was very respectful,” she said. Some parents had threatened to keep their kids home
on April 1, and attendance did seem a bit lower, particularly at Delta Middle School, said Gibson, who added she hadn’t seen any actual data. But that Friday also followed on the heels of state testing and led into spring break. Plus, some students were out of the building for activities and field trips. But the furor was clearly a distraction, so the school district’s “open door” policy is going to get another look. “Moving forward, this brought to our attention we need to look at this policy,” Gibson said. “We’re going to look at how other districts handle noncurricular materials.” One option is an electronic distribution system, where parents who opt in can receive eflyers on their computers or mobile devices. The flyers can also be made available to parents through the school district’s website. “We’re going to take our time and figure out what’s best for Delta County,” Gibson said. Policy revisions require three “readings,” or reviews, the first of which is administrative. A policy review committee oversees the second and third readings, before forwarding the policy, including any changes they’ve made, to the school board for formal approval. School district attorney Aaron Clay is part of all three reads, Gibson said. The entire process could take several months.
Bird’s eye view
A tree trimmer perched 50 feet in the air illustrates why some spring landscaping projects should be left to the professionals. Jeffrey Haswell and the crew from TLC Tree Services were spotted cleaning up some elms on Bluff Street early this week.
Broadband competition could benefit consumers BY HANK LOHMEYER Staff Writer
Not long ago, Delta County was said to be broadband deficient. Now, there are two
Budget committee supports raises for teachers, staff BY PAT SUNDERLAND Managing Editor
A budget advisory committee has recommended that the bulk of an anticipated 50J revenue increase go to salaries and benefits for school district employees. Between an increase in state funding and some carryovers, Delta County Joint School District #50 expects to have an additional $1.1 million available in the 2016-17 budget. To help determine how those revenues should be allocated, a budget committee was created with a representative group of administrators, teachers, classified staff members, parents and community members. They met several times before coming up with a list of recommendations for the school board to consider. “We started out with a number of different options and whittled them down,” committee spokesman Frederick Zimmer reported at the March 17 school board meeting. “There was a lot of give and take around how expenses should
INDEX
Accent ........................... A4 Activities ....................... A7 Back Page ................... D8 Business ........................ A5 Church ............................C4 Classifieds .................. D1-2 Editorial ......................... A2 Legals ......................... D3-4 North Fork Times ........B1-4 Obituaries ..................... A6 School Zone ............ B5, B8 Service Directory ........ D7 Sports ..........................C5-6 Surface Creek News ...C1-3 TV Listings ................. D5-6
be shared out.” Ultimately, committee members decided to recommend a “sizable bump” in certified and classified salaries. But after allocating what they felt appropriate for salaries — a total of $850,000 — there wasn’t much money left for anything else. The short list of recommended expenditures included professional development and curriculum resources. “When you can only do so much, supporting our staff seemed the place we’d get the most return for the kids in the district,” Zimmer said. Board president Tammy Smith asked if committee members considered the impact on next year’s budget, since salaries and benefits are ongoing expenses, rather than one-time purchases. Yes, Zimmer replied, declining enrollment and economic uncertainty were definitely considered. “Up until the last day, there was discussion that if we do this, are we potentially setting ourselves up to have to let people go next year? Maybe, but in the final analy-
Photo by Pat Sunderland
sis, it still felt this was the best way to apply that money. Next year we’re going to have to deal with next year.” He added that he found the process very enlightening, and was pleased to see the district working so hard to take the resources available and use them effectively. In April, the school board will go through a similar process. They will also hear a presentation about health insurance, and district business manager Jim Ventrello will have an update on state revenue projections. Those numbers have dropped since the budget committee met, Ventrello said, and will likely change again before they’re finalized later this spring. “Ultimately the school board is responsible for the budget,” said superintendent Caryn Gibson, “but the budget committee’s recommendation gives the board some guidance.” Board members have already identified other funding priorities, including building maintenance, technology and transportation.
Community meetings The Nature Connection/Great Outdoors Colorado will be hosting monthly meetings at the Delta Center. These meetings will focus on how the Delta County community can better assist getting our kids outside. Meetings are scheduled April 12, May 3 and June 7 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Delta Center, 822 Grand Avenue, Delta. All interested community members are invited to attend. The Nature Connection’s goal is to inspire our communities to connect to nature through educational opportunities in fun and energized outdoor experiences in order to promote healthy lifestyles.
broadband “middle mile” systems in planning or construction and consumers look to benefit as other Internet options become available. A middle mile system being built by DMEA aims eventually to bring fast Internet access service directly to “last mile” customers — individual homes and businesses. Another middle mile system proposed by non-profit Region 10 is in the planning stages. DMEA and Region 10, both Montrose-based organizations, are aiming to complete middle mile fiber optic cable networks would access broadband Internet content originating elsewhere. If the two networks are built, they will be competing with each other for customers. They would also compete, and sometimes do business with, private sector Internet service providers (ISPs) that currently operate in the county. Since the fall of 2014 when Region 10 first announced its broadband middle mile plans, it has wanted to form “partnerships” with private sector ISPs as its last mile Internet content providers. Region 10 is still trying to form those partnerships. It held a meeting for private sector ISPs in Montrose on March 31, hoping to enlist them in its planning effort. The Region 10 presentation at that meeting was essentially the same general overview of the plan that was made a year and a half before, with
one difference: With some $10 million of the public’s money pledged to the Region 10 plan, the presentation included pitches by high level personnel from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (the major Region 10 funder) and from the governor’s Office of Information Technology. There were more officials from state and local governments in the room than there were representatives of the private ISPs. The CEO of DMEA was also in the audience. Region 10 officials said at the meeting they will soon issue a “request for information,” or an RFI from private sector ISPs. Region 10 will use that information in final planning of its fiber optic cable routes, according to project officials at the meeting. One day after the Montrose meeting, DMEA issued a press release touting progress being made on its own middle mile project (see page A8). DMEA is already soliciting last mile customers that its officials have said will get a “pay up-to-sign up” offer for service. The competitive position for local private sector ISPs was also upgraded recently. A Denver-based company, Forethought.net, in a solicitation to local ISPs states, “We have established a dark fiber interconnection directly with Net-flix … We are the first and only transport provider lit into the Netflix facility...” The company promises to BROADBAND TO A3
Democrats field commissioner candidate A Democratic Party candidate has submitted necessary paperwork to the county and will appear on the primary and general election ballots as a candidate for Delta County Commissioner District 2, the elections department reports. Travis Mills, a resident of Cedaredge, was named by the local Democratic Party vacancy committee as the chosen District 2 candidate for the party at its assembly last month. The county elections department also reports that Nancy Hovde of
Cedaredge, a Repubican candidate for District 2 county commissioner, had not submitted petition signatures by Monday, the deadline to make the primary ballot. That means the primary ballot will have just one local contested race, between Mark Roeber and Roger Bentley in District 3. Don Suppes is the lone Republican candidate for the District 2 county commissioner seat; Mills and Jere Lowe are the Democratic candidates for District 2 and District 3, respectively. The primary will be held June 28.