“Ms. Sylvia!”

It doesn’t take long to hear her name while walking the halls of Wamsley Elementary with Sylvia Sanchez.

Students call out to her as she passes. Some stop to say hello. Others run up for a hug before continuing on their way.

For more than 20 years, Sanchez has served the Garfield Re-2 community and is currently the custodian at Wamsley Elementary, a role that can mean wearing many different hats.

Four years after Garfield Re-2 turned to its community to help chart a path forward, the district continues to see steady academic progress.

Garfield Re-2 earned its highest overall score on record on the preliminary Colorado 2026 District Performance Framework and received an Accredited rating for the second consecutive year.

The district earned 59.7% of the points available on the preliminary 2026 framework, up from 56.9% last year and 8.7 points higher than in 2022.

RIFLE, Colo. — Following months of community conversations and long-range planning, the Garfield Re-2 Board of Education voted unanimously at their regular August 26, 2026 school board meeting to place a bond measure and mill levy override before voters in the November 3, 2026 election.

The two measures address different needs facing the district. The mill levy override would provide additional local funding for staff salaries. The bond would extend the district’s current bond, without imposing a new tax, to address school facilities, learning spaces, staff housing, early childhood education and technology infrastructure.

Board member Cassie Haskell summed up the distinction during Wednesday’s discussion.

“I just wanted it to be very clear: the mill levy override is for salaries. The bond is for buildings and infrastructure,” Haskell said. “We can’t use the bond for salaries.”

The Board’s action places both questions before voters. Voters will decide each measure separately in November.

RIFLE, Colo. - Garfield Re-2 School District has been named one of Colorado's 18 Attendance Challenge Champions after reducing chronic absenteeism by 55.6% over four years.

The district's chronic absenteeism rate fell from 40.1% in the 2021-22 school year to 17.8% in 2025-26. That 22.3 percentage-point decline puts Garfield Re-2 well ahead of the Colorado Department of Education's goal to reduce chronic absenteeism by more than 50% by 2028.

Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing at least 10% of the school year. In 2025-26, Garfield Re-2's chronic absenteeism rate was nearly 10 percentage points below Colorado's statewide rate of 27.5%.

There are some stories that stay on the page.

And then there are stories that come to life, put on costumes, dance under stage lights, and make an elementary student whisper, “Whoa… that’s mine.”

That was the magic behind Stories That Soar! at Garfield Re-2 School District this spring, as students from Wamsley Elementary School partnered with drama students from Rifle High School to transform children’s writing into live theater.