Lori Smith says it hurts. The longtime Alamosa educator won’t return as principal of Alamosa Online and Alternative High School for the 2025-26 school year – that position instead going to Rebekah Johnson who was hired from Monte Vista and will replace her.
Smith went before the Alamosa City Council in her position as principal of the alternative school settings and strongly advocated for the Alamosa School District’s acquisition of Main Street property that would also host the students from the school. She won’t be there in August when those students arrive downtown for the start of the new school year in their new home.
That hurts, too, she said.
“It stings, but what do you do?” she said of the fact the school district has moved on from her after her time as teacher, principal at Alamosa Elementary, and the past three years as principal of the alternative high schools.
Read the article: Lori Smith brings her compassionate leadership style to Alamosa Alternative and Alamosa Online School.
The school district opened up the position after releasing staff who were working on 140-day contracts at the end of the 2024-25 school year. Smith was one of those employees. She had retired from the school district following her time at Alamosa Elementary, but came back as a retired employee working on a 140-day school year contract and principal of the alternative schools.
She reapplied for the position along with 12 other applicants, including Johnson. The final hiring decision went to Johnson, who was principal of the Byron Syring Delta Center and Monte Vista On-line Academy, the alternative school for the Monte Vista School District.
“Lori has been a beacon of leadership and she’s impacted a lot of kids and a lot of families,” Assistant Superintendent Luis Murillo said of the decision to replace her. “She leaves a legacy of positive outcomes and she’s given this community results.”
When the school district saw an expansion of students taking courses online during and following the COVID period, it moved to combine the online and alternative school settings under one roof, with Smith selected to lead the new effort.
She organized the two cohorts of students at the old administrative office buildings of the school district, where classes and online student check-ins have occurred over the past three school years.
“She did phenomenal work when we needed her the most,” Murillo said.
For the next school year, the online students and alternative high students will join the school district administrative offices at the new location on Main Street and San Juan Avenue, the former headquarters of Friday Health. The city council put a 100-student cap on the downtown campus, which can be reviewed if attendance calls for it.
In Johnson, Alamosa is getting another veteran educator with a strong background in online and alternative school settings. She is also one the reviewers for the Colorado Department of Education on alternative school settings, said Murillo.
“We made the tough decision to make a change and go with Rebekah,” he said. “We’re very excited about having her join us. We believe she’ll take both schools and the students to the next level.”