CRESTONE — Nestled at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Saguache County is the Crestone Charter School which serves 91 K-12 students. The school will transition to a four-day week starting in August for the 2024-2025 academic year.

The school was founded in 1996 and in 2012 moved into its current facility and is part of the Moffat Consolidated School District No. 2.

Charter schools are tuition-free, public schools that have the flexibility to be innovative, entrepreneurial, self-governing, and yet are held accountable for student and operational performance.

The schools are independent public schools with rigorous curriculum programs. Each charter school is different, thus offering parents a variety of choices so they can select the school that best fits their child's unique learning style.

In a welcome statement to the community, Thomas Cleary, Director of the school states, "It takes a village to raise a child. At the Crestone Charter School, our devoted community and staff nurture students to develop at the level of the whole person. A proficiency-based learning model provides students with a strong academic base, yet true education encompasses more. From its inception, the Crestone Charter School has sought out staff with diverse teaching experiences, but who are also dedicated to thinking outside the box and paying attention. We have thus created unique educational programs, such as our travel and ski initiatives, without losing the commitment to academics that gave our school the John Irwin Award for Excellence."

The school has experiential learning programs that include swimming at the Hooper pool and a ski program at Monarch. This last winter the ski program included 49 students, 12 mentors, and six vans and busses. A new aspect of the ski program this school year was students mentoring students, where beginners are paired with more experienced skiers. According to Cleary, "This meets so many aspects of our school's mission such as creatively structured experiential programming developing character, self-esteem, critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, responsibility for self and others, and so much more."

"With Alamosa shifting over [to a four-day week] my understanding is we were the last school to have more than a four-day week. When it comes to parents and families there was a mix of interest. From the staff's perspective, it was highly appealing. When it comes to staff retention, there is value in the shorter week. If two schools are offering the same dollar amount and one of them has a four-day week and the other does not, I know which one I would choose, said Cleary." The Alamosa School District began a four-day week beginning in the 2023-2024 academic year.

Cleary said he first proposed the idea of a shorter week to parents about two years ago, and they were split evenly in favor and against it. Many parents were concerned about the loss of Friday activities, "particularly the Monarch ski and snowboard program that we run for the upper grades fourth through twelfth grade. We do swim programs for the younger students. Parents were also concerned about the length of the day. Our Friday had been a four-hour day. There were concerns about the overall length of the school day and the start time.

"The compromise I came up with was to add a half an hour to the end of Monday through Thursday and to retain ten Fridays of experiential learning." Cleary said that the compromise has overwhelming staff and parent support. The governing council of the school approved the change to a four-day week.

According to a 2023 study conducted by Oregon State University, over 1,600 schools in 24 states are using the Four-Day School Week.

The school is currently working with the Boys and Girls Clubs of the San Luis Valley to provide programs at the school.

On May 17, the school will hold the Class of 2024 Graduation at 2:30 p.m.

The school is growing and has several positions open including in the greenhouse, experiential education and instructional support. For more information, see the website at www.crestone-charter-school.org Interviews are scheduled for April 19.