El Paso County School District news release Feb. 23
School District 49 is on a short list of organizations selected for Best Practice Spotlight recognition in its pursuit of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The honor acknowledges exemplary practices demonstrated by award applicants that can serve as role models for other organizations.
Baldrige examiners commend D49 for its 49 Voices system, an integrated approach that combines the Voice of the Student, Voice of the Parent and Voice of the Workforce to enhance communication, build trust, and inform strategic decision-making.
Peter Hilts, D49 Superintendent observed, “Our district’s improvement in school performance, choice enrollment, and stakeholder satisfaction is undeniable, and it is no coincidence that virtually all of our successful initiatives began with an idea expressed during one of hundreds of listening sessions. 49 Voices are driving stakeholder approval and helping us meet our commitment to make District 49 The Best Choice to Learn, Work, and Lead.
The 2025 Best Practice Spotlight honorees are:
School District 49 — Education
Mary Greeley Medical Center (IA)—Healthcare
Meritus Medical Center (MD)—Healthcare
Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas (TX)—Nonprofit
A small team from D49 will represent the district at the Quest for Excellence Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, in the spring of 2026. District leaders will also serve as presenters for the conference, where Baldrige Award recipients and other leading organizations share best practices and innovations that can help any organization improve.
Established in 1987, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award promotes the adoption of leadership-driven, customer-focused quality management systems to enhance organizational performance and sustainability.
Over the decades, the program has expanded to recognize organizations of all types that achieve excellence across their operations and commit to sharing their best practices to help others improve. NIST renewed the program in 2024 to focus on identifying and recognizing organizations that are role models of resilience and long-term success.
The program has fostered the adoption of proven leadership, management and operational best practices, and supported a global community that values people, organizational learning, continuous improvement and striving for sustained excellence.
Editor’s note: In February 2026, The New Falcon Herald published Part 1 of the charter school series, which included basic information about D 49’s charter schools and curriculum. This is a follow-up article describing the history of charter schools in Colorado and D 49.
