Battle Rock

"In the Four Corners region of rural southwest Colorado sits a one-room schoolhouse that holds the center of attention among the local residents of McElmo Canyon. Not so long ago, most of the children attending Battle Rock Charter School, first through sixth grade, were related. Most of their parents still earned a living either ranching or farming; many of their homes were still heated only by wood-burning stoves; they traveled to school on the single gravel road that stretched the length of the canyon; and absences were taken for granted during hunting season. But along came change. In the…