Great Things Going On Now
Congratulations to Brian Ullery and the Center Viking wrestling team for their fine showing this weekend at the Colorado State Wrestling Tournament. I understand Jose Angel Chavez placed 5th and a wonderful article about CHS Senior Diego Pons appeared in the Denver Post on Saturday. You can view the article at this link: http://m.denverpost.com/denverpost/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=v81hVWhW&full=true#display
While at the National Conference on Education this past week I had the opportunity to see some “heavy hitters” in the world of education and because of this I would like to reflect throughout this week’s issue of Keeping Our Focus about what was reinforced for me while I was there.
While at the National Conference on Education this past week I had the opportunity to see some “heavy hitters” in the world of education and because of this I would like to reflect throughout this week’s issue of Keeping Our Focus about what was reinforced for me while I was there.
Rick DuFour, one of the inventors of the Professional Learning Communities process, was a keynote speaker on Friday. As many of you know we in Center Schools have been working hard to utilize the Professional Learning Community approach. It was great to hear him once again and to have him re-explain the definition of a PLC as a “process for collaboration and collective inquiry aimed at getting improved learning results for ALL students.” This sounds like it could be a Center Schools Core Belief! DuFour also explained that he believes common formative assessments are the crux of the work of PLC’s. He said teachers who discuss results of common formative assessments about students they share take on more responsibility for their students’ success and devise ways to achieve this. Upon reflecting on the work that our staff members have been doing in their PLCs by looking at students’ benchmark performance and identifying ways to increase their achievement, I can only arrive at a point where I have no doubt we are well on our way to doing what Rick DuFour believes is THE most important thing we can be doing to improve our academic achievement results.
While attending a session on Thursday presented by Charlotte Danielson, probably the foremost expert on actually correlating teacher evaluation processes with improved student performance, I discovered that Colorado’s SB 191 process (and the one we are currently implementing in Center Schools) is highly aligned to her work. Danielson believes that the place to begin regarding Teacher Evaluation is defining what teachers are actually supposed to do. In her work she has determined that teachers should focus their efforts in four realms: planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibilities. I won’t go into tremendous depth about Danielson’s theories but suffice it to say she does a great job communicating how the realms of planning and preparation, and professional responsibilities are extremely important work, but mostly done "in the shadows." I want our community to know Center Teachers ARE doing this work "in the shadows" (after school hours in the evening, on weekends and other days off as well as during professional learning community time).
While attending a session presented by Doug Reeves on Saturday I was struck by his claim that the NEXT frontier when it comes to evaluation of Superintendents needs to be related to the quality of collaboration that is present within their school system. This caused me to reflect on how our District Leadership Team consisting of Lori Cooper, Diane Parker, Shirley Atencio, LJ Garcia, Julio Paez, Kevin Jones, Kathy Kulp and Carrie Zimmerman has been working hard to guide our district toward setting the right academic improvement goals and steering us toward their achievement. I also reflected on how the Center High School-Skoglund Middle School Building Leadership Team currently consisting of Linda Donaldson, Alice Burch, Becky Reed, Kindra Rounds, Daniel Newmyer, Julie Weatherford, Kevin Jones, and Carrie Zimmerman has been recognized throughout the state of Colorado for being the avenue by which CHS and Skoglund have created a Center of Educational Excellence environment by generating such ideas as our Jump Start and Zeroes Are no longer Permitted (ZAP) programs and for guiding the purposeful work of the CHS-Skoglund PLC’s so encouraged by Rick DuFour. Finally, I also thought about the great work that is currently going on through the reconstituted Haskin Elementary School Building Leadership Team consisting of Chris Hintz, JoAnn Lopez, Meagan Long, Jessica Stevens, Jeri Trujillo, Sarah Vance and Kathy Kulp toward supporting positive student behavior within the school, supporting the good work of substitute teachers, and making Haskin PLC time more meaningful and purposeful for staff members.
The Past Week
On Monday and Tuesday I had the pleasure of escorting Colorado Association of School Executives Executive Director Bruce Caughey around the San Luis Valley to get in touch with the needs of rural school administrators. On these days we made stops in Alamosa, La Jara, Sanford, Del Norte, Sargent, Center, Moffat and Saguache. By making these visits I believe Bruce learned a ton about the challenges rural school districts and their administrative leaders face on a daily basis.
Bruce attended Center's District Accountability meeting on Monday night and offered an outstanding legislative update for the committee. He was also struck as to how unusual it was to be reporting about the progress of the Lobato v Colorado lawsuit while Denise Lobato, one of our District Accountability Committee members, was actually sitting in the room.
On Tuesday I participated in a CDE Senate Bill 191 input session in Alamosa. CDE is in the process of making appearances all around the state to gather feedback about school and district needs as we proceed toward implementation of the new Teacher Effectiveness law.
Also on Tuesday at the San Luis Valley Superintendent’s Advisory Council meeting 12 of the school districts in the SLV agreed to pool their Race to the Top Round 3 dollars to work toward a uniform San Luis Valley Curriculum, improved fundamentals of teacher planning and instruction, improved building leadership training and support, and improved superintendent skills to guide these efforts. This will be a very exciting process and is an excellent way to spend the dollars we have been allocated to implement SB 191 and updated standards.
Of course I also travelled to Houston on Wednesday to attend the National Conference on Education in my role as CASE President. The conference continued through Sunday but while there I processed payroll, supported the writing of a 21st Century Community Learning Center’s grant, and kept up on other general paperwork to help keep our school district moving forward.
Bruce attended Center's District Accountability meeting on Monday night and offered an outstanding legislative update for the committee. He was also struck as to how unusual it was to be reporting about the progress of the Lobato v Colorado lawsuit while Denise Lobato, one of our District Accountability Committee members, was actually sitting in the room.
On Tuesday I participated in a CDE Senate Bill 191 input session in Alamosa. CDE is in the process of making appearances all around the state to gather feedback about school and district needs as we proceed toward implementation of the new Teacher Effectiveness law.
Also on Tuesday at the San Luis Valley Superintendent’s Advisory Council meeting 12 of the school districts in the SLV agreed to pool their Race to the Top Round 3 dollars to work toward a uniform San Luis Valley Curriculum, improved fundamentals of teacher planning and instruction, improved building leadership training and support, and improved superintendent skills to guide these efforts. This will be a very exciting process and is an excellent way to spend the dollars we have been allocated to implement SB 191 and updated standards.
Of course I also travelled to Houston on Wednesday to attend the National Conference on Education in my role as CASE President. The conference continued through Sunday but while there I processed payroll, supported the writing of a 21st Century Community Learning Center’s grant, and kept up on other general paperwork to help keep our school district moving forward.
Big Things We Are Working On
On Monday evening the Center Schools Board of Education conducted my annual performance evaluation before taking action on my contract. This was accomplished by soliciting multiple staff member input regarding what folks feel I do well and what they would like to see me improve on. Board Secretary Yuri Cendejas took the lead in sorting through and packaging feedback items and then the Board of Education filtered these recommendations by looking to a document we recently created regarding what my responsibilities as Superintendent of Schools should actually be.
To the best of our ability the Board and I agree that I should be focused on the following responsibilities:
· supporting the board of education in its governance of the school district, establishing and operating a district level collaborative leadership system to guide the district’s vision and academic improvement processes
· guiding the establishment of a district vision, mission and set of core beliefs, and communicating and promoting these purposes to the entire educational community
· ensuring every teacher in every subject at every grade level has access to a quality curriculum aligned to current Colorado standards
· ensuring every teacher in every subject at every grade level has access to the resources they need to teach the curriculum
· ensuring that student learning of the curriculum is measured summatively on a periodic basis and that these learning results are used to drive future instructional improvement
· ensuring that all teachers are guided by a building administrator who supports their professional growth and instructional improvement
· supporting building administrators in their efforts to lead school improvement processes through the provision of quality building leadership development and effective evaluative feedback
· supporting building administrators in requiring teachers to teach the curriculum in a way that continually measures student learning and engages all students
· establishing processes to effectively allocate district resources and align their use to support the district’s academic improvement processes
· ensuring there is effective supervision and operation of business, facilities, transportation, food service and technology departments
· advocating for the greater political interests of the school district at the county, state and national level
· developing a trusting collaborative relationship with local, state and national teacher associations
In summary, the Board communicated a feeling that I am doing an acceptable job and that the areas I need to be most focused on for improvement include doing better at communicating about building and district collaborative leadership processes (such as DLT, BLTs and our District Accountability Committee), finishing the job of securing a quality curriculum for every teacher at every grade level in every subject area, and communicating more about what I do to ensure the supervision of the business, facilities, transportation, food service and technology departments.
During the meeting my contract was renewed for the 2012-13 school year at my current level of salary.
I would like to add that it was very rewarding to read the many kind comments people wrote about what they thought I do well. Center is a great place in which to commit one’s career efforts!
To the best of our ability the Board and I agree that I should be focused on the following responsibilities:
· supporting the board of education in its governance of the school district, establishing and operating a district level collaborative leadership system to guide the district’s vision and academic improvement processes
· guiding the establishment of a district vision, mission and set of core beliefs, and communicating and promoting these purposes to the entire educational community
· ensuring every teacher in every subject at every grade level has access to a quality curriculum aligned to current Colorado standards
· ensuring every teacher in every subject at every grade level has access to the resources they need to teach the curriculum
· ensuring that student learning of the curriculum is measured summatively on a periodic basis and that these learning results are used to drive future instructional improvement
· ensuring that all teachers are guided by a building administrator who supports their professional growth and instructional improvement
· supporting building administrators in their efforts to lead school improvement processes through the provision of quality building leadership development and effective evaluative feedback
· supporting building administrators in requiring teachers to teach the curriculum in a way that continually measures student learning and engages all students
· establishing processes to effectively allocate district resources and align their use to support the district’s academic improvement processes
· ensuring there is effective supervision and operation of business, facilities, transportation, food service and technology departments
· advocating for the greater political interests of the school district at the county, state and national level
· developing a trusting collaborative relationship with local, state and national teacher associations
In summary, the Board communicated a feeling that I am doing an acceptable job and that the areas I need to be most focused on for improvement include doing better at communicating about building and district collaborative leadership processes (such as DLT, BLTs and our District Accountability Committee), finishing the job of securing a quality curriculum for every teacher at every grade level in every subject area, and communicating more about what I do to ensure the supervision of the business, facilities, transportation, food service and technology departments.
During the meeting my contract was renewed for the 2012-13 school year at my current level of salary.
I would like to add that it was very rewarding to read the many kind comments people wrote about what they thought I do well. Center is a great place in which to commit one’s career efforts!
Construction News
Steps are currently being taken to sell items we will not be able to use in our new school and preparing for the actual move that will take place this summer. We will soon have a link on our website to post the items we will be selling through an open bid process. Between selling no longer needed portable buildings, heavy equipment, and other items we hope to bring in more than $100,000 to support our transition to the new building.
Our Core Beliefs
Center Schools Core Belief Number 5 states, “we are preparing ALL our students to be successful in life.” This means we must approach our work from the standpoint that the purpose of school is no longer to weed out the high achievers from the rest of the students. Rather, our purpose must be to help each child discover what it is they like to do and are good at and then to prepare them to take that interest or skill and apply it to their pursuit of happiness and the “good life.” Doing this means we must operate in a way in which each individual student’s learning and opportunities for high achievement are important and, most importantly, when we discover students are not experiencing success at school we must intervene to ensure their trajectory changes.
The Week Ahead
We have no school on Monday in honor of President’s Day. However, please don’t forget the Kiwanis Club of Center will be holding its annual Pancake Dinner fundraiser in our cafeteria.
I will be in the district on Tuesday but will also be attending the Creede School District Board of Education meeting that evening to help communicate our Valley Race to the Top initiative to them. I will be in the district until noon on Wednesday but need to then travel to Denver for an evening University of Northern Colorado graduate level class at which I will be making a guest presentation regarding the Lobato lawsuit. On Thursday the Center Administrative Team will be meeting with the Monte Vista Administrative Team in PLC format to do work aimed at supporting our teachers in engaging more students in learning. Also on Thursday afternoon I believe Keith Owen, Associate Commissioner at the Colorado Department of Education will be visiting Center regarding our district accreditation status. On Friday I will be on the road once again, this time to Durango to attend the quarterly CDE Rural Education Council meeting.
I will be in the district on Tuesday but will also be attending the Creede School District Board of Education meeting that evening to help communicate our Valley Race to the Top initiative to them. I will be in the district until noon on Wednesday but need to then travel to Denver for an evening University of Northern Colorado graduate level class at which I will be making a guest presentation regarding the Lobato lawsuit. On Thursday the Center Administrative Team will be meeting with the Monte Vista Administrative Team in PLC format to do work aimed at supporting our teachers in engaging more students in learning. Also on Thursday afternoon I believe Keith Owen, Associate Commissioner at the Colorado Department of Education will be visiting Center regarding our district accreditation status. On Friday I will be on the road once again, this time to Durango to attend the quarterly CDE Rural Education Council meeting.
Extra Points
One other major speaker I got to see this past week at NEC is a gentleman by the name of Jamie Vollmer. I first saw Mr. Vollmer at a Colorado Association of School Boards event several years ago. I had the pleasure of seeing him once again at last summer’s Colorado Association of School Executives annual convention.
Mr. Vollmer’s main message is that school communities, meaning board members, staff members and administrators, must work hard to create an understanding of the challenges they face for the greater community. Vollmer believes that by doing so schools can regain the trust they need in the community. He also believes that upon regaining trust, schools must continue to communicate with their constituents to win permission to do the things they need to do to improve learning conditions for children. Finally, Mr. Vollmer believes that by doing these things schools can ultimately win the support of community members to face the many challenges that confront them.
If this general concept sounds familiar, it is just what Center Schools has been trying to do through its many efforts to communicate with staff, parents, and community members about the things we are doing. The weekly effort I make through Keeping Our Focus is just a part of this process. It was great to hear Mr. Vollmer once again speak about the importance of doing this kind of work as we know that without the support of the Center community we could not continue to do the good work we have already begun.
I want to remind everyone that I am not the only person trying to spread the news about the hard work we are doing in Center Schools. Skoglund Middle School Principal Carrie Zimmerman, Center High School Principal Kevin Jones and Haskin Elementary School Principal Kathy Kulp produce a weekly communication for staff members and parents as well.
Mr. Vollmer’s main message is that school communities, meaning board members, staff members and administrators, must work hard to create an understanding of the challenges they face for the greater community. Vollmer believes that by doing so schools can regain the trust they need in the community. He also believes that upon regaining trust, schools must continue to communicate with their constituents to win permission to do the things they need to do to improve learning conditions for children. Finally, Mr. Vollmer believes that by doing these things schools can ultimately win the support of community members to face the many challenges that confront them.
If this general concept sounds familiar, it is just what Center Schools has been trying to do through its many efforts to communicate with staff, parents, and community members about the things we are doing. The weekly effort I make through Keeping Our Focus is just a part of this process. It was great to hear Mr. Vollmer once again speak about the importance of doing this kind of work as we know that without the support of the Center community we could not continue to do the good work we have already begun.
I want to remind everyone that I am not the only person trying to spread the news about the hard work we are doing in Center Schools. Skoglund Middle School Principal Carrie Zimmerman, Center High School Principal Kevin Jones and Haskin Elementary School Principal Kathy Kulp produce a weekly communication for staff members and parents as well.
Video of the Week
This week’s video was produced by Center High School graduate Stefan Welsh in conjunction with the recent Lobato v Colorado lawsuit. In the spring of 2011 Stefan travelled around the state in an effort to “bring the conditions of many of Colorado’s schools to court” to show the Lobato v Colorado presiding judge. Through this video the plaintiffs were able to do an effective job of helping Judge Rappaport see the many inequities in Colorado school facilities and this contributed to the victory in the case.
You can view the video at this link: http://keepingourfocus.weebly.com/videos.html
Thanks for once again listening and have another great week.
George
You can view the video at this link: http://keepingourfocus.weebly.com/videos.html
Thanks for once again listening and have another great week.
George