Great Things Going On
Recently the singular focus of the Center School District has been preparing for our first day of kids for the 2013-14 school year. In considering what it takes to do so I would like the community to understand that Center Schools employees spend the entire summer preparing to teach kids. The custodial staff, led by director of facilities Richard Brandt, has ensured that our wonderful facility looks brand new once again. Julio Paez, director of technology, and his staff of adult and student workers have made sure all district technology has been serviced and devices that will be in the hands of our kids have been refurbished or replaced. Mike Phillips, director of transportation, and his staff have been working hard to service all our vehicles, and even spent part of the summer replacing a bus engine in order to free up dollars to be spent on instruction of kids. The business office staff led by Betty Casanova, director of finance, established a 2013-14 budget, turned over the fiscal year, and are now ensuring all equipment, supplies, and materials are being ordered that will be needed to educate our students. Our cafeteria staff, led by Dianna Valenzuela director of food service, ran a world class summer program and have been preparing to meet revised meal standards so they can ensure our kids are well fed and ready to learn. Finally, many of our instructional staff members invested hundreds of hours of their personal time preparing to teach our kids by exploring the new Colorado Sample Curriculum and aligning their lessons to it, by attending staff development opportunities in reading intervention, evaluation of students, use of technology with students, and many other areas of need and interest.
Meanwhile, Center Schools kids have been preparing to learn as well. How many of you know that most of our students in grades 6-12 give up several days of their summer vacation to take NWEA tests to ensure we have the most current data we can get our ands on to guide our teaching? Additionally, by doing this we save hours and hours of instruction time once we get rolling by not having to give up class time to administer these tests!
Big Things We Are Working On
Now that school has opened the Center School District will be focusing on teaching the new Colorado Sample Curriculum. In doing so we will work with teachers from all over the San Luis Valley to develop common tests to measure student achievement of the curriculum and to share the best instructional strategies and resources for doing so. This work will begin this coming Thursday and Friday, August 15 and 16, when we’ll get together with the rest of the Valley at Sangre De Cristo School District. Because of this important work we school will not be in session on these days.
The Past Week
This past week we had the pleasure of welcoming new teachers to the district and training them in how to use curriculum and how to effectively plan to deliver lessons.
On Tuesday I travelled to Denver to chair the Colorado Safe Schools Resource Center advisory board meeting.
Thursday and Friday were all staff inservice and work days, as our staff gathered together to review student achievement results that will be released by CDE later this week, and to prepare their classrooms and work spaces for kids. As an aside, the good folks from the Center United Methodist Church once again welcomed our staff back with a grand luncheon in their building. I am not sure how long this tradition has been in place in Center. However, I have now not failed to miss one for the past 18 years!
Additionally, on Thursday education leaders from all over the San Luis Valley gathered in Alamosa to prepare for the work that will take place on August 15 and 16. Many of the faces saw around the table were our very own Center School District teachers who have been asked to guide their colleagues in this work this year.
On Tuesday I travelled to Denver to chair the Colorado Safe Schools Resource Center advisory board meeting.
Thursday and Friday were all staff inservice and work days, as our staff gathered together to review student achievement results that will be released by CDE later this week, and to prepare their classrooms and work spaces for kids. As an aside, the good folks from the Center United Methodist Church once again welcomed our staff back with a grand luncheon in their building. I am not sure how long this tradition has been in place in Center. However, I have now not failed to miss one for the past 18 years!
Additionally, on Thursday education leaders from all over the San Luis Valley gathered in Alamosa to prepare for the work that will take place on August 15 and 16. Many of the faces saw around the table were our very own Center School District teachers who have been asked to guide their colleagues in this work this year.
The Coming Week
Of course the first day of school at Haskin Elementary is Monday the 12th. Skoglund and CHS students required to attend Jump Start begin that day as well.
On Tuesday I have my monthly triathlon of meetings including the San Luis valley Superintendent Advisory Council meeting in Alamosa in the morning, our District Accountability Committee meeting in the afternoon, and our August Board of Education meeting in the evening. I will also be making my way to Saguache around 11 AM to attend the Board of County Commissioners meeting to learn more about the status of Secure Rural Schools funding.
As stated above, I will spend my time at Sangre Schools on Thursday and Friday at the Race to the top of the Valley PLC gathering.
On Tuesday I have my monthly triathlon of meetings including the San Luis valley Superintendent Advisory Council meeting in Alamosa in the morning, our District Accountability Committee meeting in the afternoon, and our August Board of Education meeting in the evening. I will also be making my way to Saguache around 11 AM to attend the Board of County Commissioners meeting to learn more about the status of Secure Rural Schools funding.
As stated above, I will spend my time at Sangre Schools on Thursday and Friday at the Race to the top of the Valley PLC gathering.
Our Mission and Core Beliefs
As stated last week the mission of Center Schools is to seek to develop independent, self-motivated, adventurous, learners armed with the skills necessary to meet the challenges they will face in their future.
This means we fully understand we are preparing our children for jobs that may not yet have been invented? How do we do that? We do so by making sure our kids are confident and skilled in the basics of reading, writing, and calculating numbers. However, we also teach our kids to take positive risks, to value the process of learning, to adapt to fast paced change, to work collaboratively, and to become effective problem solvers so they will leave our school armed with college level and work world skills.
Center Schools is making great progress toward the achievement of this mission and I believe we have just the staff to do so. The Center community is very fortunate because of this.
George
This means we fully understand we are preparing our children for jobs that may not yet have been invented? How do we do that? We do so by making sure our kids are confident and skilled in the basics of reading, writing, and calculating numbers. However, we also teach our kids to take positive risks, to value the process of learning, to adapt to fast paced change, to work collaboratively, and to become effective problem solvers so they will leave our school armed with college level and work world skills.
Center Schools is making great progress toward the achievement of this mission and I believe we have just the staff to do so. The Center community is very fortunate because of this.
George