Over the past 20 years, as an educator and administrator with the Este Park Schools, Ruby Superintendent Bode has seen a lot of change.
When she arrived in Estes in 2005, student enrollment was 1,400. Today, there are 955 full- and part-time students, according to the official October count, and 60 students fewer than a year ago.
Bode was on board as the school weathered the flood of 2013, and she helped navigate the challenges of the COVID pandemic, which fundamentally altered how teachers and students interacted by forcing classes to take place virtually.
No sooner did the students return to the classroom in the fall of 2020, than the East Troublesome Fire forced the evacuation of the Town.
The disruptions took a toll and required course corrections.
One of the challenges teachers faced because of COVID was a change in the way students and parents viewed school attendance. Attendance levels dropped to 88% during the 2021-2022 school year. The staff needed to proactively work to get students and parents to understand that missing even a day of school puts students behind and impacts individual student achievement. Attendance this past year improved to 91%.
Educators also saw behavioral problems that had not been a concern before the pandemic, a situation that demanded a new focus on deportment.
The disruptions and detours have demanded flexibility, creativity, and a can-do spirit. Bode brings those qualities and more to the table.
As the new year kicked off, many in the community were concerned that the Estes Park School could face the terror of immigration raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. In an interview with the Estes Valley Voice, Bode assured that such a scenario was unlikely.
Only 3% of students in the Estes Park Schools are immigrants and there are no migrant students enrolled. Bode says that if law enforcement officers show up with a warrant signed by a judge, the school must comply, but an indiscriminate sweep by ICE agents would not happen.
For anyone to enter the school during the school day, they must present themselves to the office and be screened through Securly, an online security system that validates the identities of guests, and they must have a legitimate educational reason to be on the school grounds.
In her third year as superintendent, Bode oversees an annual budget of about $20 million, 88% of which comes from local funds including property and ownership taxes, grants, donations, fundraising, and earnings on investments. The remaining 12% comes from a split of state and federal sources.
The school’s declining enrollment poses a significant challenge because school funding is linked to enrollment, and a decline of some 50 students from last year to this year is a decrease of nearly $700,000 in state funding. Other funding sources come from the Department of Education at the federal level and local property taxes. In 2017, voters in the school district approved a mill levy override, which provided additional financial help.
As enrollment numbers have declined, schools must address aging buildings that require maintenance and meet the needs of a diverse student population. Many students come from low to moderate income families, and many are from English as a second language homes.
To help plan for the future, last year the School Board, three dozen community members, the school’s executive team, and teachers mapped out a three-year strategic plan focusing on academic achievement and growth, real world learning, and wellness.
This year, Bode has begun a long-range planning process. Margaret Crespo, a former superintendent in Wyoming, was hired as the facilitator. Three initial meetings were held to map out the long-range, more extensive process to address facilities, operations, and budget.
The schools have aging buildings that require maintenance, and with finite resources, they have to be creative in spending their dollars wisely for everything from heating fuel to roofing needs, to replacing playground equipment. This past year, the stadium, which was crumbling, had to be replaced. Bode wants the planning process to be data driven with an eye on the next 25 years to 2050.
At the same time, Bode must address the current needs of students and staff. While she can pay her staff more than they might earn working at schools down valley – a starting salary in Estes is $48,000 and the average teacher salary here is $63,500 a year – it is still difficult for a teacher to afford housing in Estes Park, said Bode.
“It’s been hard to find affordable housing for this particular group of employees in our community,” said Bode, especially for teachers who do not have a partner.
“Everybody has a dream of home ownership, right, and we can typically find a space to rent, but when I’m up against other school districts, and I have a teacher who’s looking for a job and housing, and they can fulfill their dream of being a homeowner, even maybe make a little less in that school district. They might make more here, but not be able to become a homeowner and make less somewhere else, but be able to own a home,” said Bode.
And while the enrollment numbers have declined, Bode says the school district still needs a full complement of teachers. Many students have special educational or emotional needs that require additional staff support to ensure student success.
After graduating from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Secondary Education, Bode began her teaching career in Iowa. Bode worked in Des Moines for a few years, then moved to Colorado because “the mountains were calling.” She earned a master’s degree in educational leadership at the University of Northern Colorado and is working on a doctorate. She and her husband Zachery, a wildland firefighter and air tanker pilot, were married in 2017. Bode was named superintendent on July 1, 2022.