There are four main schools in the Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District, and in this coming year, all four are facing changes.
Both Mountain View Preparatory School and Oak Creek School are welcoming new principals — Kelli Rhoda and Naya Persaud, respectively. With the closing of Cottonwood Elementary School, both Dr. Daniel Bright Elementary School and the newly renamed Cottonwood Community School, formerly Cottonwood Middle School, are in transition as unified kindergarten through eighth-grade schools.
COCSD administrators have been working all summer to prepare for the changes, but they concede that no amount of hard work can handle everything.
“Right now, there’s no way to get around that there’s a sense of change,” said COCSD Superintendent Steve King. “It’s going to take a while, and we are under no illusions — this is going to be a difficult time, the next week or so.”
The first day at Cottonwood Community School still showed signs of ongoing change. Some of the signage at the school still read “Cottonwood Middle School.” Children walking around asked anyone who they saw where the office or the their classroom were located. A sign outside the office listed class assignments for the student body, along with a note: “If you don’t see your name, call the school.”
School administrators say the biggest concern on the first day was avoided — no students showed up to the wrong school. The district prepared for the possibility of having to shuttle students from one school to another to make up for mistakes, but found it was not necessary.
“We had a few during the open houses who realized they were going to the wrong school, but all in all it’s going smoothly at both CCS and Dr. Daniel Bright,” said David Snyder, COCSD director of business services.
“The first day was incredible,” wrote Jessica Vocca, principal of the newly K-8 Dr. Daniel Bright. “Everything went better than we were hoping. It also gave us insight on areas we could improve. However, nothing will ever beat watching the grade eight help kindergarteners during lunchtime. It melted everyone’s heart. That was when I knew, no matter what, we did the right thing with realignment.”
For Matt Schumacher, principal of the new CCS, the changes in the school district are an opportunity as much as they are a reason for stress.
“I look at this as one of those rare opportunities to redefine a school, a culture, a learning community. I’m seizing that for what it is,” Schumacher said. “… It’s easy just to kind of make those small adjustments to continue on the same trajectory, doing things a little better here and there. But I think this is an opportunity to reinvent everything we do, so that’s the way I’m approaching this.”
“With a K-8 school, you’re able to have a continuity of seeing that kid grow from kindergarten through grade eight,” said COCSD board member Eric Marcus. “We keep families together.”
Change is not always easy for parents.
“We didn’t know where he was going for class. It’s chaos,” said Jennifer Rogers, a CCS parent, on the first day. With her son having special needs, she said she has been finding it difficult to help him figure out the change. “They’ve been helpful, but I hope my kid doesn’t get lost.”
Schumacher said he hopes the four staff members at CCS who focus on students with special needs will assist in smoothing out the changes.
“While they may not have consistency in their day and in their routine yet, what they do have is a strong structure of adults who are going to work hard to make them feel safe, develop routines and relationships that will allow them to thrive,” Schumacher said.
Even the schools not directly impacted by the realignment process are seeing changes this year, with new principals taking the helm, as well as a new athletic structure among the four schools that allows students to compete with other schools within the district.
“It’s a brand-new crew and new students, and we want to focus on building our common culture,” said Persaud, taking over this year at Oak Creek School. The school has many new students, due in part to SedonaOak Creek School District’s closure of Big Park Community School.
“The biggest challenge is going to be being patient with one another because we are growing, and I want to make the changes as easy as possible for all of our stakeholders,” Persaud said. “All of us are going to feel out of place, so that’s why I’m focusing on community culture.”
Rhoda, starting this year as principal at Mountain View Preparatory, said she sees her role as preserving as much continuity as possible.
“As a new principal I am making myself visible,” Rhoda wrote in an email. “I am outside at morning duty greeting the parents and students. I am in the cafeteria visiting with the students as they eat lunch. I am on the playground during their recess. I am in the classrooms observing and admiring the outstanding work of our teachers. I am letting the students know that I am here for them whenever they need me.”
Beyond the realignment, King said he looks forward to other new changes in the school district. The closing of Cottonwood Elementary School has allowed the Bright Bears preschool, formerly at Dr. Daniel Bright, to take over its old buildings, expanding its enrollment. And King said he looks forward to a future partnership with Americorps to bring in volunteers from Cottonwood’s senior community to help out in classrooms.
Still, King accepts that the challenges for the district in adjusting to the new year are far from over.
“It’s the unknowns, and those are happening seemingly by the hour,” King said. But he said he feels confident that the staff at the school district is ready for whatever comes their way. “They get it. They understand it’s going to be challenging. You have to look at every problem that comes up as a challenge, and not as something that’s a make or break deal or insurmountable, as something that in the overall picture of things is the right thing to do. We just have to be patient with ourselves and we have to be patient with each other.”
Jon Hecht can be reached at 634-8551, or email jhecht@larsonnewspapers.com
