MONUMENT • Chris Taylor, president of the Lewis-Palmer School District 38 Board of Education has resigned.
At the Feb. 21 regular board meeting, held at the district learning center in Monument, Taylor submitted his resignation.
Four days prior, superintendent Dr. KC Somers announced in an email to the D-38 community Taylor was resigning from his post effective at the conclusion of the board’s Feb. 21 regular meeting.
Taylor said with the graduation of his youngest child from Palmer Ridge High School in December, he and his wife Holly plan to relocate to Salt Lake City, Utah, where they have already purchased a home. They are in the process of selling their Monument home, he said.
Taylor and his family have lived in Monument for 23 years. His present board term representing District 1 was set to expire in November 2025.
“It is a bit difficult to leave,” Taylor said in his letter to the board. “But at the same time we are more than excited to begin our new adventure in Salt Lake City.”
At the Feb. 21 meeting, each board member took time their appreciation for Taylor’s six years of board service.
Board Vice President Theresa Phillips, who has served on the board for the duration of Taylor’s service, said she appreciated the energy and effort Taylor has put into his leadership and representation of his community. She also thanked Holly Taylor, who was present at the meeting, for her support over the years.
“We wouldn’t be here without our families,” Phillips said.
Board Secretary Tiffiney Upchurch said Taylor has led by example from the heart and his passion for the district’s students over the years.
“You have left this district in a better place than you found it and you certainly inspire,” Upchurch said to Taylor at the meeting. “You advocate. You’ve asked the hard questions. You’ve encouraged all of us to look beyond and listen and learn, and indeed, dream.”
Ron Schwartz, board treasurer, noted Taylor was a driving force for the creation and development of the district’s strategic plan.
“It’s really our roadmap for success. Every large organization has got to have that because what we do, how we do it and what we achieve should be far bigger than the folks sitting at this table. It has to transcend us,” he said. “You’ve donated your personal time, your passion and energy for the benefit of our community and our country and that service matters greatly.”
Board Director Matthew Clawson, a prior board president, also acknowledged Taylor for providing the framework for the D-38 strategic plan, which he said will serve the district for many years to come.
“I’ve been on this board for a long time, and I’d like to think that I did a decent job as a board president, but quite frankly, you did an incredible job as a board president,” Clawson said. “You have been an example to me of professionalism, kindness and integrity and you were the epitome of what every school-board member should be.”
Somers said working alongside Taylor has been a pleasure.
“You are certainly going to be missed,” Somers said.
Taylor grew up in the small town of Blackfoot, Idaho.
“I had no clue that any of my life would be the way it has turned out when I was in the Blackfoot School System,” Taylor said. “I believe with all my heart that the best thing we can do for our students is to teach them to learn to love learning, because learning didn’t end when I graduated high school. It didn’t end when I graduated college. It hasn’t ended to date, and I love learning. … It’s important for us to continue to learn to embrace the concept of asking questions. We have to seek to understand one another, and we find common ground, and I mean that in a global sense, not just our home or in our neighborhood or in our school district.
“I am grateful for these six years and I’ve learned so much about public-school systems. I feel like now I’m ready to start, and yet our urban adventure awaits us.”
Taylor concluded his comments by acknowledging his wife’s support.
“Holly is a person who has no guile. She is the pure deal, and I have been influenced in ways beyond measure because of our relationship and her support,” he said. “I don’t know that I would’ve ever served on the school board without having her as my spouse, my true friend.”
Taylor later said he decided to resign from the board now rather than later as he felt it was in the board’s best interest to find a replacement expediently to allow the next person who serves time for “the learning curve” and the board as a whole to reconstitute.
Later in the meeting, after Taylor officially stepped down, Phillips announced the board officially accepted his resignation and announced a vacancy on the board for Director of District 1 by ordinance, including a vacancy for president of the board. Both positions will need to be filled within 60 days, by April 22.
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