For the second time this month, the Re-1 school board postponed signing a contract with REANET, a Durango-based telecommunications company that is offering to bring distance learning to Cortez.

The board hesitated to sign the agreement at its Sept. 5, meeting, citing the risks involved with a seven-year contract, but seemed prepare to make a decision based on a year-to-year contract Tuesday night.

However, a second contract, sent by the REANET lawyers and containing conflicting wording, arrived late Tuesday afternoon — forcing the Re-1 school board to delay the decision once again.

"I just can’t justify signing a contract like this when there are still so many question marks," said school board member Sue Baacke. Working out a contract like this should have taken at least nine months of back-and-forth dialogue, she said.

Through the STAR Schools project, REANET would connect Dolores, Cortez, Mancos and Dove Creek schools with a fiber-optic network which the schools could then use to implement distance learning.

Utilizing the network, students would be able to take classes from different teachers at different schools.

The program is expected to be especially beneficial to students with unique interests and special needs.

"The more flexibility that we can add to the schools, the more successful we are going to be at the high-school level," said board member Jacquelyn Fisher.

While the school-board members agreed that such a program would be useful at the schools, they added that rushing into a high-dollar decision such as this is not in the best interest of the district or taxpayers.

In addition to giving REANET the $300,000 federal grant, the school district would also have to purchase a $50,000 monitor for each school as well as commit to a $260-per-month contract for the distance-learning service fees.

"As I said when this was first presented to us, I have a hard time giving these large sums of money to people to put something in place that (the district) is going to struggle with financially to use," said Re-1 School Board President Steve Hinton.

It is estimated that, after the initial start-up expense, the system will cost $3,100 a year to maintain.

Knowing that a fiber-optics highway will be constructed through Cortez by next year as it goes from Albuquerque to Grand Junction is another factor to keep in mind, added Hinton.

The school board has until Sept. 30, the end of the federal government’s fiscal year, to decide if they will sign the REANET contract. If the district does not sign the contract by that time then it will be forced to return a $300,000 federal grant to the federal treasury.

While board members and administrators are hopeful that the contract can be worked out, many are doubtful that it can be done in such a short period of time. "It’s like trying to jam nine months’ worth of discussions into nine days," said Re-1 Superintendent Bill Thompson.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the school-board members agreed on the record to support the concept of distance learning — but did not agree to the contract.

Thompson said the next step will be to have the schools’ attorney, Reese Miller, look at the new contract and determine if an agreement can be arranged.