WEBVTT
00:00:09.679 -->
00:00:14.160Welcome to Treanor Talks, a podcast about architecture planning and design.
00:00:14.160 -->
00:00:15.599Today we're here with Dr.
00:00:15.599 -->
00:00:31.039Leslie Nichols as part of our Ed Talks series to talk about the Gunnison Watershed School District 2022 Bond Program, their approach to community engagement, and integrating security and safety into their schools.
00:00:31.039 -->
00:00:33.280My name is Patrick Johnson.
00:00:33.280 -->
00:00:34.799I'm a principal at Treanor.
00:00:34.799 -->
00:00:35.439Dr.
00:00:35.439 -->
00:00:37.200Nichols, tell us a little bit about yourself.
00:00:37.679 -->
00:00:38.560Thanks, Patrick.
00:00:38.560 -->
00:00:46.640My name is Leslie Nichols, and this is my 28th year in education, 13th year as a superintendent.
00:00:46.640 -->
00:00:52.960I started in the classroom for 15 years as a secondary teacher of English and then math.
00:00:52.960 -->
00:01:07.519My journey into leadership started in the tiny town of Lake City, Colorado, and my entire career has been on the west slope of Colorado in some of the most rural and wild spaces that Colorado gets to boast about.
00:01:08.000 -->
00:01:10.560You certainly live and work in a beautiful place.
00:01:10.560 -->
00:01:13.280So what got you into education to start with?
00:01:13.840 -->
00:01:22.159I uh think even as a child growing up, working with kids was always something that I was drawn to.
00:01:22.159 -->
00:01:29.519I really felt called and continue to feel called to the bigger picture of public education.
00:01:29.519 -->
00:01:32.480I think it is a foundation of our democracy.
00:01:32.480 -->
00:01:45.840I think uh it matters so much in this grand experiment we have in America about seeing if we can have a representative government that listens to everybody and values all voices.
00:01:45.840 -->
00:01:53.359And the role of public education in that I find incredibly motivating and rewarding and compelling.
00:01:53.359 -->
00:01:55.040And I love what I do.
00:01:55.519 -->
00:01:56.239Fantastic.
00:01:56.239 -->
00:02:06.319Well, we're honored to be in the Pathways Center today, recently completed addition and renovation for the district's career and technical education program.
00:02:06.319 -->
00:02:09.599Uh, this is, you have five total schools.
00:02:09.599 -->
00:02:16.719We've finished four of the five in the Gunnison area and still doing work in the Crestabutte project.
00:02:16.719 -->
00:02:20.080It's obviously been a long time coming to this point.
00:02:20.080 -->
00:02:21.680It was a 2022 bond.
00:02:21.680 -->
00:02:30.719Can you tell us a little bit about that history and what you did to really get the community engaged in and hearing what they had to say and what they were looking for?
00:02:31.199 -->
00:02:31.680Absolutely.
00:02:31.680 -->
00:02:38.080I was lucky to start in the Gunnison and Crest of Butte schools in the Gunnison Watershed School District in 2018.
00:02:38.080 -->
00:02:58.560And it was actually the year before that the districts had started a really more formal master planning process for facilities, and that process really included just a host of community meetings trying to get stakeholder engagement from parents, community leaders, our own staff of teachers and administrators.
00:02:58.560 -->
00:03:09.280Our school board was really critical in weighing in on this is the direction we need to go based on the needs of the changing pressures in this valley.
00:03:09.280 -->
00:03:14.240Um, the Gunnison Valley with Crested Butte has an really experienced incredible growth.
00:03:14.240 -->
00:03:24.240Uh we've had over the past 25 years, our school district um has grown consistently at 2.5%.
00:03:24.240 -->
00:03:35.840The the story behind that story is that our crested Butte school over those past 25 years has increased over 100% in enrollment.
00:03:35.840 -->
00:03:49.759And so the the shift um to the north end of our valley for families with kids in school has been palpable, and that resulted in some obvious pressures on facilities at the north end of the valley.
00:03:49.759 -->
00:04:16.480Our schools across the valley um were largely designed just before Columbine, and that reality when we started this planning process in '17 and moving forward from there became clear that we're really proud of the facilities that we have in this iteration of the 21st century for Gunnison watershed.
00:04:16.480 -->
00:04:22.560And we realized that we were at a moment hearing the voices come to the table that it's time.
00:04:22.560 -->
00:04:32.240Um we have space needs, that's very fundamental, but other needs in maintenance, never the most exciting, were very real.
00:04:32.240 -->
00:04:42.879Um, and then really safety and security was one of the major driving factors that we heard from our community when we started really asking and listening to what are the needs that you sense.
00:04:43.360 -->
00:04:48.639Was there anything that surprised you that came out of the community feedback that you weren't expecting?
00:04:50.240 -->
00:05:00.240I think our community's understanding of the importance of our campuses broadly was, I don't know if it was so surprising, but it was very affirming.
00:05:00.240 -->
00:05:08.720This community, uh north, south, everywhere in between is very connected to and proud of our school district.
00:05:08.720 -->
00:05:32.480And there are generations of families who live across the valley who identify with this school system as what launched them into adulthood, and now they're kids, and now they're grandkids, and that sense of family, of ownership was very inspiring.
00:05:32.480 -->
00:05:44.959Um and just the amount of caring that resulted from the conversations that we had with stakeholders left an impression.
00:05:46.000 -->
00:05:53.600I know as we worked through the projects with you, um maintaining and keeping bond promises was top top priority.
00:05:53.600 -->
00:06:01.279And anyone who's watched a home improvement TV show knows that things don't always go smoothly on construction projects.
00:06:01.279 -->
00:06:10.079Umfortunately, I think the district did a great job managing risk and was able to actually bring some additional things that were beyond really the bond promises to the schools.
00:06:10.079 -->
00:06:18.319Are there anything that is top of mind that that stands out that you were we were able to get done unexpectedly almost?
00:06:18.720 -->
00:06:34.000Yeah, I think we had some pretty clear priorities in the main promises that we made, in the promises that we made in the bond program, um, which our voters supported in that 2022 election, and that was in safety and security.
00:06:34.000 -->
00:06:38.879We promised to improve the safety and security of all of our buildings in maintenance.
00:06:38.879 -->
00:06:52.160We promised to upgrade our systems and to, in the end, have far more efficient systems that saved money, important money that goes back into our general funds so we can support our teachers and our staff as best we can.
00:06:52.160 -->
00:06:54.319That that can't be understated.
00:06:54.319 -->
00:07:05.120It's all the behind-the-scenes maintenance work that nobody's gonna see it, but we're saving so many pennies and dollars with better um heating and cooling.
00:07:05.120 -->
00:07:16.319We had a huge conversation in this community about are we gonna go with a ground source heat system for Gunnison Community School or highly efficient, more traditional boiler systems?
00:07:16.319 -->
00:07:23.040And that conversation and the result is saving so much energy.
00:07:23.040 -->
00:07:29.439It's saving so much money, and it allowed us to um keep the building that we have.
00:07:29.439 -->
00:07:45.519It's a wonderful building, and we couldn't just start over and still hit the mark of incredible improvements in efficiency and comfort and good learning environment for kids to you know have that in the background.
00:07:45.519 -->
00:07:49.680They're not thinking about the temperature or what it feels like, they're just able to learn.
00:07:49.839 -->
00:07:57.199So making our buildings catch up to building science of the you know, the 21st century.
00:07:57.199 -->
00:08:07.519Here we are in 2025, and our buildings are as a result of this project becoming um, or they are far smarter than they were a couple of years ago.
00:08:07.519 -->
00:08:17.839The systems that we are integrating to how we do business are not top of mind on the for the everyday user as you walk through our buildings.
00:08:17.839 -->
00:08:24.560You're you're not going to be aware of the HVAC improvements that we've made, but that was the second main promise that we made to our community.
00:08:24.560 -->
00:08:27.680And then the third one was to improve our learning spaces.
00:08:27.680 -->
00:08:51.440We're a preschool through 12th grade educational organization and being sure that when kids show up for school, that they have facilities that support the most engaging, the most student-centered, the most impactful and exciting and powerful learning that we can provide as the adults in the room, that the facility support that was our third big bucket of promise.
00:08:51.440 -->
00:08:58.320And hitting all of those has been top of mind for the whole program.
00:08:58.320 -->
00:09:16.559And then, as you mentioned, because of um grant writing, because of effective risk management, because of some good fortune, you know, I know that in the construction world, you you really don't know what you're going to find as you start to dig in the ground or get behind walls that already exist.
00:09:16.559 -->
00:09:27.440And while I I am proud of our teams for managing that risk as best they can, I do recognize that we just did not have massive issues that impacted this project.
00:09:27.440 -->
00:09:29.440Uh, and that was good fortune.
00:09:29.679 -->
00:09:40.720We took advantage of that good fortune, though, and put those dollars that were being held for contingency to say, we don't know, as things unfold, we'll see what we have to do in the risk management department.
00:09:40.720 -->
00:10:00.240And when those funds became available and we got past some of the risk moments, we said, well, one of our wish list items um was to really uh do more on our campuses than those three big buckets of safety and maintenance and learning spaces prioritized.
00:10:00.240 -->
00:10:12.320And that included, again, with grant dollars and a local partner through the Metropolitan Recreation District, the Metrec, with a sizable donation.
00:10:12.320 -->
00:10:24.320We were able to go to a synthetic uh turf athletic field in Crested Butte, and we were also able to realize what I thought was a total pipe dream.
00:10:24.320 -->
00:10:31.120Um, but we were able to realize a nine-lane rubber surface track at our Gunnison Community School.
00:10:31.120 -->
00:10:35.200And those two amenities are such community assets.
00:10:35.200 -->
00:10:49.919Um they contribute to the health of our students, but also we're we're very much a community facility mindset in the school district, and that track will be used as much by the community as it is our students.
00:10:49.919 -->
00:11:13.919Our synthetic turf field will allow more days of use uh in our challenging mountain climate in Crested Butte, and that will be taken advantage of, yes, by students and by other community organizations, and so that we could bring that value to our taxpayers, and everybody who lives here felt really good on top of the big three buckets of promise that we are also realizing in the program.
00:11:14.799 -->
00:11:15.840Yeah, fantastic.
00:11:15.840 -->
00:11:19.279Yeah, I'm uh just to just to dig on that a little bit more.
00:11:19.279 -->
00:11:35.919I do think, you know, my sense is um obviously Gunnison and Crestabute are a little smaller communities than than a lot of the you know metro or or suburban areas, and and I think inherently um you know safer and more tight-knit.
00:11:35.919 -->
00:11:49.679And and can you talk a little bit about uh obviously a lot of improvements were done on your sites and on your campuses, playgrounds and the fields and the track that you mentioned, and and and they are really community assets, they're almost you know community parks, if you will.
00:11:49.679 -->
00:12:13.039Can you talk a little bit about um I don't know if tension is the right word, but but being welcoming to the community, but also um given the need for safety and security, um how how do you have safeguards around those those campuses and and what are the boundaries or or how do you communicate um that again, tension is not the right word, but but need for both.
00:12:13.039 -->
00:12:17.519Need for to be welcoming and also a need to really protect your staff and students.
00:12:17.840 -->
00:12:18.320Absolutely.
00:12:18.320 -->
00:12:26.000There's a lot of competing pressures to what we bring to the community and to our operations as schools.
00:12:26.000 -->
00:12:37.200And I I love talking about school safety because it really is at the foundation level, it's at the beginning point of everything that we do.
00:12:37.200 -->
00:12:43.440Kids only learn when they feel safe, when they're walking into buildings and they know, yeah, this is my place.
00:12:43.440 -->
00:12:44.639I belong here.
00:12:44.639 -->
00:12:46.240People here know me.
00:12:46.240 -->
00:12:54.960Um, people know my parents, they know my friends, and uh, and we feel like this is our space, this is our campus.
00:12:54.960 -->
00:13:12.559And those feelings of belonging really do start with uh not just functional facilities, but what this project has brought is really beautiful facilities where our students and our families and our community feel the pride that we hold in how we do school.
00:13:12.559 -->
00:13:40.960And we did do a lot of careful planning with uh families, with student voices, and really with our staff about how do we how do we build the safest schools that we can without feeling like we're operating in a prison, because that is not a way to build that sense of belonging and calm, and I can't wait to go to school.
00:13:40.960 -->
00:13:46.240Um, I'm gonna see all my friends, and we're gonna have a great time, and I'm gonna learn a lot, and there's adults who care about me.
00:13:46.240 -->
00:13:56.320All of that has to happen in physical spaces that say, please come in, and this is where we want you to be.
00:13:56.320 -->
00:14:06.799I think we've achieved that with the improvement to the learning spaces that this project has brought, the upgrades, the 21st century, quarterway through that century.
00:14:06.799 -->
00:14:12.240These are the educational practices that we know work well when it comes to designing spaces.
00:14:12.480 -->
00:14:33.279Our entry sequences in all of our campuses for how we enter our school buildings was a really thoughtful design process with experts in the room, users in the room, and um this sense of how do we how do we build an entire container that feels safe, not just how do the doors work.
00:14:33.279 -->
00:14:40.000Um, but we landed on features that uh allow easy entry.
00:14:40.000 -->
00:14:48.799This is your space, but also have locked doors that are only controlled and opened when the circumstances are right.
00:14:48.799 -->
00:14:51.360Um and and that feels great too.
00:14:51.360 -->
00:15:03.759We have door latch detection systems that will let us know centrally in our in our main offices and all of our sites if there is an exterior door that's far away from the main office and if it's gotten propped open.
00:15:03.759 -->
00:15:12.799And we can address that and get someone over there to close it because we do operate with closed locked doors throughout the school day here in 2025.
00:15:12.799 -->
00:15:27.519When it comes to our overall campus security, we've really had deep discussions with your design team and again with community and staff about um we don't want to build fences all around everything.
00:15:27.519 -->
00:15:29.919That's not how we do it in Gunnison and Crested Butte.
00:15:29.919 -->
00:15:33.440We are able to invite our community into our spaces.
00:15:33.440 -->
00:15:37.600We've gotten more clear about during school hours, this is the kids' space.
00:15:37.600 -->
00:15:55.519And community, you're welcome during non-school hours, and signage has done a lot for us that way, but also design elements that defines the boundaries that we need to define without being, you know, six to eight foot chain link fence all over everywhere.
00:15:55.519 -->
00:15:57.759But it says, hey, this you're entering our space now.
00:15:57.759 -->
00:15:58.480Welcome.
00:15:58.480 -->
00:16:04.960And here's when you're allowed to be here, uh, and and here's how we would like you to behave when you are here.
00:16:05.200 -->
00:16:23.360So it's it's the suggestions through design that say, you've entered a school campus now, um and communicating here's the behaviors that we that we want you to have while you're on our sp in our space, on our campuses.
00:16:23.360 -->
00:16:41.840When we all know each other and we are in a smaller environment than the Denver metro area, we do tend to have that feeling of recognizing several people when we show up at a school event.
00:16:41.840 -->
00:16:44.000When we know each other, we're safer.
00:16:44.000 -->
00:16:46.320When we feel connected to each other, we're safer.
00:16:46.320 -->
00:16:50.720And the way we've designed our schools to have that, please come in.
00:16:50.720 -->
00:16:55.519And we've got this second set of doors that is very carefully controlled.
00:16:55.519 -->
00:16:58.639Um, if you're supposed to be here, please come all the way in.
00:16:58.639 -->
00:17:03.600And then once you're all the way in, these spaces support what we want to be doing here.
00:17:03.600 -->
00:17:05.359You do belong here.
00:17:05.359 -->
00:17:06.960This is your space.
00:17:06.960 -->
00:17:09.680Um, we I think we found that balance.
00:17:09.680 -->
00:17:36.559And it was only with the expertise of your design team and knowing how to create that feeling both on our sites, on our campuses, and in our buildings, that I I'm just so excited about that part of the process that we went through and the conversations we had about how do we find this balance among all these competing pressures.
00:17:36.960 -->
00:17:38.640Well, yeah, thank you for saying that.
00:17:38.640 -->
00:17:53.279I I do think um your district and community, like like all have to find that balance um with culture and and the feelings of security and uh a lot of the systems obviously you you don't see or you might see a little bit, right?
00:17:53.279 -->
00:18:10.000Door locking and uh security cameras and um all all all sorts of things that are um you know preventative, but but we do know, you know, we hope that we don't have a safety and security event, but we have to be ready just in case.
00:18:10.000 -->
00:18:15.759But we do know that every day these spaces are used for education, and so they've got to support that.
00:18:15.759 -->
00:18:26.559So finding that that culture, and I think you guys did a great job where it's it's safe and and you're prepared, you have the right protocols, um, but you really it's still a space for education.
00:18:26.559 -->
00:18:27.039That's right.
00:18:27.039 -->
00:18:30.640And and uh a space a space for the community.
00:18:30.640 -->
00:18:32.960So so I'm curious, what have you noticed so far?
00:18:32.960 -->
00:18:36.559I know you've only been open uh a few weeks.
00:18:36.559 -->
00:18:45.440Um has has there been any um community comments or have you noticed anything educationally that that um Absolutely are or changes?
00:18:45.920 -->
00:18:57.279I'll mention the the building we're in now, our Pathway Center, uh one of the items we called out in the bond language that was that we want to improve our career in technical education programming.
00:18:57.279 -->
00:19:05.599And the focus for that wasn't only on this building, but this was kind of the I don't know, cornerstone of of the work we were doing there.
00:19:05.599 -->
00:19:29.599And our director here, Chad Terry and I, in talking about building the courses and the program that we were envisioning in healthcare, in outdoor industry and tourism, including culinary arts, um, in our hairstyling program, in building those programs, we felt like, well, the first year will be kind of a soft launch.
00:19:29.599 -->
00:19:36.319We'll have small classes with just, you know, a handful of kids in in most classes is a great way to start.
00:19:36.319 -->
00:19:39.039Um and we'll go from there.
00:19:39.039 -->
00:19:40.160We'll build slowly.
00:19:40.160 -->
00:19:43.119And enrollment in the spring was slow.
00:19:43.119 -->
00:19:46.559A lot of schedule juggling happens as kids come back to school.
00:19:46.559 -->
00:19:47.920Classes are full.
00:19:47.920 -->
00:19:57.440We have classes of 15 to 20 in three introductory culinary arts programs, two that are slightly more advanced with programming that we started last year.
00:19:57.440 -->
00:20:03.519Um the healthcare program has, I think, doubled in size this year.
00:20:03.519 -->
00:20:05.759I that's our certified nurse aid.
00:20:05.759 -->
00:20:13.119Our outdoor industry and tourism, our outdoor leadership program had, you know, single-digit enrollment to start.
00:20:13.119 -->
00:20:14.799And those are full classes now.
00:20:14.799 -->
00:20:21.519We're we're not even a quarter of the way into our school year, and and kids are thrilled.
00:20:21.519 -->
00:20:26.079They hear about the spaces, they get to come over here and see what's going on, and they want to be involved.
00:20:26.079 -->
00:20:33.680And I can't say enough about how exciting that feels that wow, we built it and they're coming and it's working.
00:20:33.680 -->
00:20:46.240And I think our um culinary arts instructional facility here is not just like the pride of this valley, or even just this kind of region, West Central region, it's the entire western slope.
00:20:46.240 -->
00:20:53.279Like there's just not a facility like this that exists for teaching kids that part of our tourist economy.
00:20:53.440 -->
00:21:08.160Um, and that was a lot of the conversation that we had really early in the facility planning process, too, was to talk to our business leaders up and down Valley through our chambers of commerce and um realtors and small business owners.
00:21:08.160 -->
00:21:10.319What do you what do you want from your school district?
00:21:10.319 -->
00:21:28.400And being sure that we were providing programming that allowed kids who want to stay here and be here and be part of this incredible place to have not just entry-level skills to get by, but to really build a career that um they can sustain with.
00:21:28.400 -->
00:21:31.599And that's what we're that's what we're doing in this building.
00:21:31.599 -->
00:21:58.559And then also in our high school building and our crested Butte school building, and even at our middle school, one of the projects here in Gunnison, one of the parts of the project was to renovate our um life skills and construction sciences and uh science, technology, engineering, art, and math, our STEAM program, and all of that kind of falls under the umbrella of career and technical education, and it feeds into these programs as well.
00:21:58.559 -->
00:22:05.839So that That entire feel, even early in the year, has been very rewarding.
00:22:06.079 -->
00:22:39.519I will say too, even though our crested Butte School still has another full year to go in getting to the finish line, the spaces that were renovated over the summer in that building and also at our Gunnison Community School at the elementary and middle school levels, one of the features that I hear so much about from teachers are the spill-out spaces, the flexible spaces just outside of classrooms that allow for small group work or a different type of gathering of maybe two classes to participate in a display of learning event of some kind.
00:22:39.519 -->
00:22:47.920They are these spaces that are kind of outside the classroom, the typical classroom, but intended to be instructional, are working.
00:22:47.920 -->
00:22:49.920And teachers are thrilled.
00:22:49.920 -->
00:23:04.160They have instructional walls and projection capabilities and comfortable seating for kids to spill out and do the work that they need to do or participate in a learning event of whatever description, tons of flexibility.
00:23:04.160 -->
00:23:06.000And I keep hearing that.
00:23:06.000 -->
00:23:09.039Oh, we don't have lockers blocking all this space anymore.
00:23:09.039 -->
00:23:11.519We're doing storage of stuff in a different way.
00:23:11.519 -->
00:23:15.200And now we can actually do things with kids here.
00:23:15.200 -->
00:23:19.759And kids are engaging socially here in ways that they haven't before at our Gunnison Middle School.
00:23:19.759 -->
00:23:31.920And those are some of the kind of the early returns that we're hearing as we're still kind of getting through the final parts of the Gunnison Project and then in the middle of things in Crested Butte.
00:23:32.400 -->
00:23:34.000Well, I'm so glad to hear that.
00:23:34.000 -->
00:23:41.519Yeah, having attractive spaces and programs that students actually want to be at and want to learn.
00:23:41.759 -->
00:23:41.920Yeah.
00:23:42.319 -->
00:23:50.480I actually wish I could come back and have some of these opportunities because they they didn't exist back when I was going to school.
00:23:50.480 -->
00:23:55.119I I'm just going back to the community engagement.
00:23:55.119 -->
00:24:05.119I mean, you're you're really, I think, the envy of um a lot of uh districts and other schools that that haven't been able to get here, at least maybe not yet.
00:24:05.119 -->
00:24:07.440And so, and obviously it's been a long time coming.
00:24:07.440 -->
00:24:17.200You said you you started in 2018, and that's when the district was really starting to look at kind of master planning and really starting to begin that community engagement for the next set of needs.
00:24:17.200 -->
00:24:22.720So here we are seven years later, we still have some work to get done in Crest Butte.
00:24:22.720 -->
00:24:43.200What would you say to those other school districts that are kind of at that point and it's like, oh, I can't wait that long, but I've um what would you say, or what would lessons learned or encouragement about um, you know, just just continue to stay engaged and try and move them along that path that that their community needs?
00:24:43.599 -->
00:24:44.720Absolutely.
00:24:44.720 -->
00:24:56.400I think that was one of the biggest learnings of my entire career in educational leadership so far has been that things take time and the urgency is so real.
00:24:56.400 -->
00:25:02.160We have kids today who need good spaces and so many other things.
00:25:02.160 -->
00:25:08.000And keep your eye on the long game, is my biggest piece of advice.
00:25:08.000 -->
00:25:09.599Don't feel defeated.
00:25:09.599 -->
00:25:15.680I've I failed a bond measure in my previous district in Hinsdale County and felt like, I guess it's over.
00:25:15.680 -->
00:25:17.119I guess we're not doing this.
00:25:17.119 -->
00:25:29.519And um, that can be very much part of a process in educating your community, in listening better to your community about what the needs actually are, so that you're aligned with what they want to support.
00:25:29.519 -->
00:25:34.400Here in the Gunnison Watershed School District, there were no guarantees.
00:25:34.400 -->
00:25:47.440This is like any rural area, like any school district, this there's no guarantee that your people are going to come together and voluntarily spend more tax dollars, raise their own taxes to support their schools.
00:25:47.440 -->
00:26:15.920And when you dig deep into the listening process, when you are responsive to what you're hearing, and when you, as an organization with your team of leaders, can recognize it's not linear, like it's a very recursive process, and there's failures, what feels like failures along the way, are actually just part of how it goes.
00:26:15.920 -->
00:26:19.119And and don't lose sight of that bigger goal.
00:26:19.119 -->
00:26:21.279And it might not even be you.
00:26:21.279 -->
00:26:29.200If you're in a position where you're trying to get this done, it might be the next person, but the work that you're doing to lay the groundwork matters.
00:26:29.200 -->
00:26:35.440And uh keep listening, stay the course.
00:26:35.440 -->
00:26:39.039It's a long game, keep your eye on that longer term goal.
00:26:39.759 -->
00:26:52.319Just to dig on that a little bit more, it it seems like sometimes when you you bring change or need a change, you know, and and start to make that more public, the loudest voices are the negative voices.
00:26:52.319 -->
00:26:57.759Um how how do you go about and and everyone has busy lives, right?
00:26:57.759 -->
00:27:03.599And so how how do you go about getting that engagement, trying to get people to show up and share?
00:27:03.599 -->
00:27:08.799Because you know they care, um but it's also you know, one more event.
00:27:08.799 -->
00:27:19.759Are there any things that that that you've learned along the way that that help to get more people engaged early, or is it just varied by community?
00:27:20.400 -->
00:27:28.400I think a couple of takeaways I have from this work is you're right, we hear the negative voices.
00:27:28.400 -->
00:27:34.240People, when they're motivated by negative feelings that they have about something, are more likely to speak up.
00:27:34.240 -->
00:27:42.240And one of my biggest takeaways is move closer to those negative voices, the people who are struggling, the people who disagree.
00:27:42.240 -->
00:28:02.559Like instead of putting up a wall or saying, I can't talk to that person, they're so rude, or whatever the feeling that you're having is, actually step closer physically if they're at a meeting or really in communication, whether it's by email or make a phone call or whatever, and invite more of what's on their mind.
00:28:02.559 -->
00:28:08.319Because it's the people who maybe are starting negative, they care a lot.
00:28:08.319 -->
00:28:14.559And if we can find that common ground by just listening more and asking, I hear that you're upset about this.
00:28:14.559 -->
00:28:17.039Like, what's so upsetting about that?
00:28:17.039 -->
00:28:21.279Talk to me and then pick up on the next thing that they say and say, Well, how could we make that better?
00:28:21.279 -->
00:28:27.920Like, what would it look like for you if we were doing this right for your family?
00:28:27.920 -->
00:28:33.519And then you get so many good ideas, um, and then you build on those.
00:28:33.519 -->
00:28:54.880And I think too, as far as community engagement goes, it's often the one-on-one conversations I have found that end up with those people talk to their friends and talk to their friends, and that can end up building um support and understanding of the position that the district is coming from.
00:28:54.880 -->
00:28:58.960Because really, nine times out of 10, we are all on the same team.
00:28:58.960 -->
00:29:04.559We all really want what's best for our kids and our community and our future collectively together.
00:29:04.799 -->
00:29:14.400And sometimes it can feel a lot like conflict, but the longer we listen and ask for more information, the more we can get to a place of, oh yeah, we actually agree.
00:29:14.400 -->
00:29:18.240Oh, you really want like this particular kind of program for your kid in high school.
00:29:18.240 -->
00:29:19.200We can get there.
00:29:19.200 -->
00:29:21.599Like, let's talk about what that might look like.
00:29:21.599 -->
00:29:25.279Or you're really concerned about school safety.
00:29:25.279 -->
00:29:26.319I am too.
00:29:26.319 -->
00:29:29.200Here's like, what does it look like to you?
00:29:29.200 -->
00:29:30.240Perfect.
00:29:30.240 -->
00:29:32.799Here's how we're building towards that.
00:29:32.799 -->
00:29:47.200Um I I can get frustrated when we go to efforts to have an event to invite people to talk about, you know, a design process or a stakeholder engagement event.
00:29:47.200 -->
00:29:49.440Like we're gonna talk about our facility plans.
00:29:49.440 -->
00:29:50.640Please come and share with us.
00:29:50.640 -->
00:29:54.400And maybe it's not well attended, and that can feel defeating.
00:29:54.400 -->
00:30:02.640But I try to take, you know, if I have a positive contact and a good conversation with three people tonight, that's a win.
00:30:02.640 -->
00:30:12.559And yeah, we'll go lick our wounds that we didn't communicate it well enough or revisit with our team and debrief and say, What how did we miss the mark here that we didn't get what we thought we were gonna get?
00:30:12.559 -->
00:30:13.519Let's try again.
00:30:13.519 -->
00:30:14.880It's iterative.
00:30:14.880 -->
00:30:16.240That's your whole world.
00:30:16.240 -->
00:30:36.960It's our world too, and communication of really figuring out how to meet people where they are so that they have the time, or we meet them at the coffee shop during, you know, a moment that's better for them, whatever it is, uh to be that listening ear as we are the public's school district.
00:30:37.440 -->
00:30:45.759Boy, Leslie, that that harkens back to where you started about the school district being such an important part of our democracy.
00:30:45.759 -->
00:30:54.000And and it and it feels like in today's society you talked about listening and moving closer to those that are um in disagreement.
00:30:54.000 -->
00:30:59.119And and it feels like right now we listen to be ready to argue back.
00:30:59.119 -->
00:31:04.640I I listen to try and put you in a box so that I can try and convince you otherwise.
00:31:04.640 -->
00:31:15.279Um and and really it's about kind of letting go of some of our own biases and really listening with a listening heart to try and understand and find those common grounds.
00:31:15.279 -->
00:31:28.559I just think um that is such great advice for any bond program, building program, but just in life and and where we are right now, because there's a lot of things that um, you know, the negative voices or the people that disagree.
00:31:28.559 -->
00:31:35.039Um I think we're too quick to write them off, you know, and and it's and it's really sad and difficult.
00:31:35.039 -->
00:31:36.400So I really appreciate that.
00:31:36.400 -->
00:31:39.839That's really um good advice for life, quite quite frankly.
00:31:40.160 -->
00:31:40.400I agree.
00:31:40.400 -->
00:31:50.799I'll just jump in real quick too and say I really felt like the trainer design team when we were going through the process of getting to the plans for this project.
00:31:50.799 -->
00:32:10.160I was repeatedly impressed by your team's ability to take hard comments or pushback or anything negative and just calmly listen and validate and listen and not not be planning the well, I hear what you're saying, but here's why you know what we know is right.
00:32:10.160 -->
00:32:13.279Like that's not your approach, that's not your team's approach.
00:32:13.279 -->
00:32:15.599It's very much we have a lot to learn here.
00:32:15.599 -->
00:32:19.599Um, thank you for being here tonight because we need to know what matters to you.
00:32:19.599 -->
00:32:24.640And then our job is to go back to the studio and and put it into action.
00:32:24.640 -->
00:32:26.960So I've I really always appreciate that.
00:32:27.119 -->
00:32:27.599Yeah, thank you.
00:32:27.920 -->
00:32:30.799Appreciated that about the process that we went through with your team.
00:32:31.039 -->
00:32:32.319Yeah, thank you.
00:32:32.319 -->
00:32:40.079Uh is there a word or a phrase that would sum up um for you what this experience has been about?
00:32:40.079 -->
00:32:45.039And maybe it's maybe it's not fair to try and get it down to a word or a phrase, but just curious.
00:32:45.440 -->
00:32:52.880No, I I talk to my team and my staff a lot about the work we do is really hard and we're zoomed in to the nitty-gritty.
00:32:52.880 -->
00:33:02.720But when I zoom out on this project, which is something I encourage people to do a lot in the in the business of education that we're in, because it is rocket science.
00:33:02.720 -->
00:33:04.400It is so hard.
00:33:04.400 -->
00:33:10.160When I zoom out on this project, I just feel gratitude.
00:33:10.160 -->
00:33:17.519I feel so overwhelmingly grateful to this community.
00:33:17.519 -->
00:33:19.920It was a close vote in 2022.
00:33:19.920 -->
00:33:21.839We barely got it across the finish line.
00:33:21.839 -->
00:33:28.720There were many people who woke up the day after the election who did not want their taxes to go up, who did not believe in this project.
00:33:28.720 -->
00:33:58.559I feel such gratitude, especially to those folks who are paying taxes that they didn't vote for, that they are doing that with the responsibility that owning property holds in our country, in this state, the way we do facilities for our school districts, that their money is supporting generations of impact with the spaces that we've managed to build these few years.
00:33:58.559 -->
00:34:06.319Kids and their families and our community will benefit for decades from this work.
00:34:06.319 -->
00:34:10.400It will be upgraded again in another 20 years, whatever it is.
00:34:10.400 -->
00:34:30.480But the groundwork that's been laid right now will carry the vision that we've put into bricks and mortar will bring students into safe, warm, connected spaces where their brains can get turned on to all the opportunities that are out there in the world just waiting for them.
00:34:30.480 -->
00:34:41.920Their curiosity can be piqued, their uh connections with friends, which is so important, can be supported and engendered because they have good spaces to do that.
00:34:41.920 -->
00:35:00.559We are so grateful to our community for that opportunity and to put into physical space this value that as a public school district we hold for the future of Gunnison, the future of Crested Butte, the future of this valley, this state, this country.
00:35:00.559 -->
00:35:07.440Uh, when we do education well, it's the future that that benefits.
00:35:07.440 -->
00:35:17.760And all of us get to feel that wow, this matters and this is good stuff, and these spaces are making the magic happen.
00:35:18.639 -->
00:35:20.079That is so good.
00:35:20.079 -->
00:35:21.519Thank you very much.
00:35:21.519 -->
00:35:24.880Well, thank you so much for your time today.
00:35:24.880 -->
00:35:30.400And with that, we'll close out, but I do want to encourage others to join our next Ed Talks.
00:35:30.960 -->
00:35:34.000Thank you for joining us on this episode of Treanor Talks.
00:35:34.000 -->
00:35:39.039Treanor is a national architecture, planning, and design firm located in the United States.
00:35:39.039 -->
00:35:47.920We hold a firm belief in sharing resources and insights with professionals, clients, communities, and building users to shape the spaces we use every day.
00:35:47.920 -->
00:35:52.000For more information, visit our website at treanor.design.
00:35:52.000 -->
00:35:59.039That's T R E A N O R dot D E S I G N.
00:35:59.039 -->
00:36:00.559See you next time.
