Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  Last week, the principals of Nederland school gathered with their families to meet the incoming Nederland Middle Senior High School principal and her family at Salto Restaurant. It was an opportunity for the community to welcome Carrie Yantzer who has been appointed the new principal of NMSHS.

Yantzer will be finishing up her responsibilities as the principal of Delta County School District, K-8 in the next couple of months. She plans to live in the Nederland area and the family has begun the search for a house in the mountains. Which has become a challenge.

Hiring Yantzer was the result of a process that included multiple steps and input from the community. She was among 20 highly qualified candidates who were part of 90 applicants competing for the position.

She began her educational career as a middle school english teacher, but moved into leadership roles, becoming a middle and high school assistant principal. She has been a principal for 15 years in the Delta school district. Yantze believes her passion for education is rooted in her three P’s: passion, purpose, and plan. Her purpose supports her passion and with those two P’s she is able to develop a plan.

For the next couple of months, Yantzer will work with Marc Schaffer, the Assistant Superintendent for School Leadership and NMSHS principal Adam Fels, in accomplishing a smooth transition.

Last  Wednesday at Salto, Fels and Nederland Elementary School principal Jeff Miller, their families, and Yantzer’s family chatted with parents and each other, the beginning of the educational bond that brings the community together.

Principal Fels also had a chance to say goodbye to people he has worked with in the last couple years. He knew when he became principal in the fall of 2014 that he wouldn’t be staying long. He was hired to prepare NMSHS to move forward, to catch up with the rest of the schools in the district in a number of areas. Although he didn’t do everything he set out to, check off all the items on his wish list, he did accomplish a good chunk of them.

Fels says the first thing he did was concentrate on the physical plan, how the school appeared. “It needed to be tidy and sharp, and we needed to replace the things that had deteriorated.” Every square inch was painted and 10,000 ceiling tiles were replaced.

The roof was redone and the holes in the walls were repaired. New carpet was laid. Fels says that through the generosity of a Boulder fundraising angel, the teachers all received new desks and chairs.

Making the school safe for the kids was next on the list. Juniors and seniors with a good academic standing were allowed to leave the school, which was enough of an incentive for struggling students to bring up their grades. Fels says the graduation rate went up to 100 percent. If you give them a reason to do better, they will.

Last year, all the freshmen and sophomores were required to take a full schedule, an action that has a ripple effect in the next few years. Fels says that he wants students who are on track to work early on to graduate and then seniors will have the flexibility for concurrent enrollment in college.

“We created a distance learning program in which students can enroll in one to two AP classes a year, such as calculus.”

The first NMSHS summer school camp, REACH, was created and Fels describes it as a CU outdoor hip experience in which students work with the CU research station. Up to 25 kids have two hours of math and language arts. The students must apply to go to the camp which takes place in June.

The Big-Little program was reignited and the Trick or Trunk program at NES was initiated: a cooperative venture between the elementary school and the high school’s National Honor Society.

In the past year, a Panther sign was installed at the town parking lot. It involved a year of work and planning and partnering with the Town of Nederland, and at last, NMSHS has a snarling black Panther mascot visible to all who drive through town.

The school has developed a partnership with the Eldora Mountain Resort, which allows the ski teams to train on its slopes. Twelve students have now been hired by the resort to act as mountain greeters, directing visitors to the ski school or rental center or just answering questions and offering information. The positions are open to junior and seniors who have a car. The students will undergo interviews with the resort’s human resources department.  “It is a starting spot,” says Fels. “It introduces them to helping people.” He says there is also a possibility of kids signing up to be trained as Junior Ski Patrol or to work with mountain operations.

New sports were added to the athletic program: mountain biking, middle level skiing, and middle level wrestling.

“We also now have a vibrant relationship with the community library, with students working there. They are offering homework help for kids on the weekends and after school.”

One of the most important proposed projects is the linking with Kayla Evans and her proposed affordable housing plans near the school. It is crucial that Nederland be able to offer its teachers and young professionals a place to live.

The school and the Nederland Police Department have worked out a Memorandum of Understanding, an agreement that first responders can now head to the school even though the facility is outside of its municipal coverage. The school and the department are working on a grant to hire a permanent school resource officer. Having a dedicated officer on the school premises is now a national norm, not designed for busting students but for ensuring their safety.

In the past year, the school has been blessed with two grant-funded positions: a school nurse who helps with the nutritional and medical needs of the students. This goes hand in hand with a partnership with Dr. Tom Simpson, the local dentist, who provides free dental services based on a recommendation from the school. Dr. Mike Camarata of Columbine Family Health offer free sports exams to those athletes who qualify.

Another grant paid for Kristen Wagner, the new full time counselor at the school, who is working on Project Success with drug and alcohol issues.

Students now have access to 120 Chrome Books, the SMART Board, with an interactive white board, and robotics kits for the middle school robotics course.

Fels is particularly proud of the positive behavior support of REACH, standing for responsibility, empathy, achievement, commitment and honor. He says it describes Ned’s fundamental mission of reaching for the best.

“But there is more to be done,” he says.

The bond money is on hold. “We need a bigger plan than what we have now,” says Fels. “We have $6.5 million in the bank and I hope we can find the resources and help to expand that bond. I will help the new principal bring in a bigger comprehensive plan. We are in the 1970s and we need to get to the 21st century. We need a beautiful theater for the community to enjoy. We need to think outside the box.”

Beginning next year, the school will offer concurrent enrollment of college credit.

What is the next step for Fels? He says his wife Kimberly has warned him that he’s not allowed to be at home. One option is working in the school district as a mentor to principals.

The for sure things is that he and his wife are going on a 30-day camping tour of the west with their bikes. It is his retirement present.

There is always a bitter-sweet element to leaving behind a project one believes in. Fels says he is melancholy, he didn’t know he’d fall in love with the school and the kids and the community.

He is eager for other opportunities to be a leader, but says he will miss the kids most of all.

“They made me crazy, and I love them.”