Roaring Fork Superintendent Details Two-Year Progress on Strategic Plan

Glenwood Springs —The air in the Roaring Fork Valley has a particular quality these days, crisp and thin with altitude, carrying the scent of pine needles and the low hum of a community trying to figure out its next move. It’s the kind of atmosphere that settles over Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, and Eagle when a district leader steps into the public square to account for the last two years of work. In a column published in the Post Independent, Roaring Fork School District Superintendent Feinsinger offered a candid look at the district’s 2024-29 strategic plan, a five-year roadmap built to eliminate achievement gaps and strengthen academic outcomes for every student in the valley.

Feinsinger wrote that the plan was born from a three-year collaboration with students, families, staff, and community members. It rests on five pillars: Students First, Rigorous Learning for All, Student-Centered Partnerships, Thriving Team, and Operational Excellence. Two years in, the superintendent’s assessment is neither a victory lap nor a retreat. It is a measured acknowledgment that while measurable improvements are visible in academic achievement, student belonging, and attendance, the work is far from finished. There’s a warmth to that honesty, a recognition that progress on this scale isn’t linear, and it hits close to home for anyone who has sat in a school board meeting or watched their child struggle with attendance.

The numbers tell a story of movement, if not yet arrival. High school students reporting a sense of belonging on the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey have climbed from 68% to 73%. Chronic absenteeism, a stubborn issue that has plagued districts across Colorado, has dropped from 36% in 2022 to 26% in 2025. Out-of-school suspensions have declined so significantly that the district has already surpassed its five-year reduction goal. These are not small victories. They represent thousands of students who feel safer, more present, and more connected to their schools.

But if you look closely at the data Feinsinger shared, there are rough edges that demand attention. Average daily attendance hasn’t improved as much as the district would like, and younger students aren’t reporting the same gains in belonging as their older peers. This is a critical distinction. A high schooler might feel they belong, but what about the third-grader in Carbondale who is missing school three times a week? Feinsinger noted that this year, the district is strengthening attendance strategies and developing a more consistent approach to social-emotional learning across grade levels. The goal is to ensure that the sense of safety and connection isn’t something students have to earn by reaching adolescence.

On the academic front, the district maintained its Accredited status for the second consecutive year. Twelve of the 13 traditional schools earned the state’s highest rating, Performance. Glenwood Springs Elementary School moved up 6% from Priority Improvement to Improvement, a significant shift that reflects sustained effort. Feinsinger highlighted strong math growth among historically underserved student groups and improvements in English language arts. The district is also preparing to adopt a new literacy curriculum for implementation in 2027-28, a move that signals a long-term commitment to reading proficiency rather than a quick fix.

Operationally, the district is working on a financial excellence plan, optimizing HR and finance systems, and exploring new budgeting platforms. For neighbors who have watched property taxes rise year over year, the push for operational efficiency is not just an administrative detail; it’s a direct line to their wallets. The superintendent’s emphasis on stakeholder engagement in financial planning suggests an effort to make those decisions more transparent, though the specifics of how that will play out in the next budget cycle remain to be seen.

The strategic plan is a framework, but it’s also a promise. Two years in, the Roaring Fork School District is delivering on some of that promise while grappling with the complexity of others. The air in the valley still smells like pine, but the conversation has shifted from what went wrong to how we fix it. And in a community this small, where the school is often the center of social life, that shift matters.