After the resignation of a director in December and an uncertain financial future in January, Montezuma School to Farm Project has made a recovery, interim director Sarah Syverson told Cortez school board members at their meeting Tuesday.
“We have been able to turn the ship around,” Syverson said.
Director Zoë Nelsen resigned Dec. 12 after less than a year in the position, and Syverson took over. She said Mancos Conservation District board members are interviewing candidates for a permanent director, and more information would be available by next week.
School to Farm is a Mancos Conservation District program. Syverson served as its director for five years before Nelsen took over in 2016.
Throughout 2016, School to Farm was unable to develop strong funding streams, according to Syverson. Still, they raised about $95,000 in donations to fund the program through fall.
Programming and staffing has been restructured. Previously, the program had separate coordinators for school gardens in Mancos, Dolores and Cortez, but now two coordinators divide time among the three towns, she said. School to Farm also cut ties with two contract workers, she said.
Syverson said they will continue to offer new programs for students. School to Farm plans to build a garden at Manaugh Elementary this summer and replace the Dolores greenhouse.
School to Farm also is working with the Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project to install orchards at schools including Manaugh and possibly Montezuma-Cortez High School.
Re-1 school board member Pete Montano said School to Farm will be the beneficiary of this year’s Montezuma’s Table fundraiser. The event is an annual dinner in spring where chefs create dishes to benefit area nonprofits.
Syverson said School to Farm provides about $246,000 on programming for students in the Cortez school district each year. will ask the school board for a $22,000 contribution to the organization’s budget for the 2017 season.
Superintendent Lori Haukeness said the district budgeted for a $22,000 contribution in the 2016 year, so School to Farm would ask the district to continue that funding. The board has not voted on funding.