Great Things Going On
This week I begin by thanking Haskin Elementary music director Gabriel Swanson for all the work he did preparing our honor choir to perform several songs for a gathering sponsored by Aventa Credit Union that took place in the Center Schools' commons last Friday. Mr. Swanson’s students performed wonderful renditions of three popular songs and parents and visitors were extremely impressed by the talent the children displayed. I know this is a lot of extra work to do in the middle of the summer, but Mr. Swanson's effort, and that of the children, was greatly appreciated!
Center Schools is excited to announce it has received funding for additional all-day kindergarten and preschool slots for the 2014-15 school year through the Colorado Preschool Program. Thanks to the grant writing expertise of preschool director Nicole Rockey, more of the children we already provide all-day
Center Schools is excited to announce it has received funding for additional all-day kindergarten and preschool slots for the 2014-15 school year through the Colorado Preschool Program. Thanks to the grant writing expertise of preschool director Nicole Rockey, more of the children we already provide all-day
kindergarten services to will actually be paid for. Additionally, because of our expansion into an extra preschool classroom, and because of expanded community demand, we will now have more regularly funded preschool slots available for community children ages three to five.
Finally, last Friday our four-week summer school session ended. During the entire month of June Haskin Elementary students focused on reading and math improvement by attending intense intervention sessions in these subjects. At the same time Skoglund Middle School students invested their efforts in improving their reading, math, science and social studies skills. I want to thank this year’s summer school directors Sarah Vance and Susan Banning for doing a great job guiding their staff members and holding our kids accountable for attendance and effort. I have no doubt our entire summer school instructional staff had a tremendous impact on improving the achievement of the children who attended.
Though K-8 summer school just finished, our high school summer credit recovery program is just getting started. Once again Academic Resource Center director Joy Werner has put together a strong staff to support high school students from Center and many surrounding districts in recovering much needed credits to keep them on track toward graduation. This program will run through the beginning of September.
Finally, last Friday our four-week summer school session ended. During the entire month of June Haskin Elementary students focused on reading and math improvement by attending intense intervention sessions in these subjects. At the same time Skoglund Middle School students invested their efforts in improving their reading, math, science and social studies skills. I want to thank this year’s summer school directors Sarah Vance and Susan Banning for doing a great job guiding their staff members and holding our kids accountable for attendance and effort. I have no doubt our entire summer school instructional staff had a tremendous impact on improving the achievement of the children who attended.
Though K-8 summer school just finished, our high school summer credit recovery program is just getting started. Once again Academic Resource Center director Joy Werner has put together a strong staff to support high school students from Center and many surrounding districts in recovering much needed credits to keep them on track toward graduation. This program will run through the beginning of September.
Big Things We Are Working On
Center Schools director of transportation Mike Phillips is currently in the process of soliciting bids for the possible purchase of two trip buses and two fleet vehicles for the upcoming school year. If these come in at an acceptable price we will present them to the board of education at the July 8th meeting to execute a lease purchase agreement funded through Community Banks of Colorado.
With the end of summer school, our facilities department will be shifting its attention to downstairs summer maintenance, as well as to catching up on grounds-landscaping maintenance and community park repairs. With students no longer on campus for academic purposes many of our Americorps workers will be freed up to support these efforts as well.
The Center Schools technology department is hard at work refurbishing all current student learning devices and purchasing new devices for kindergarten, 3rd, 6th, and 9th graders. In addition to this, our board of education has included additional dollars in the 2014-15 budget to purchase laptops for our 10th graders to go along with the iPads they were assigned last year. After distributing used iPads to incoming 11th and 12th graders, this will mean all CHS students in grades 10-12 will actually have personal access to both a tablet and a laptop device to support their academics.
One other big thing we are working on in Center Schools is making sure our employees take some much needed personal time to "recharge their batteries" in preparation for the upcoming school year. Each year we purposefully focus our efforts in June on offering a high quality summer school program to children in grades K-8 so we can make sure as many folks as possible get the full month of July off. Additionally, July is the time of year when many district level employees such as custodians, and business and administration office personnel make use of their vacation time. Our offices will be open all month, but not all employees will be available each day.
With the end of summer school, our facilities department will be shifting its attention to downstairs summer maintenance, as well as to catching up on grounds-landscaping maintenance and community park repairs. With students no longer on campus for academic purposes many of our Americorps workers will be freed up to support these efforts as well.
The Center Schools technology department is hard at work refurbishing all current student learning devices and purchasing new devices for kindergarten, 3rd, 6th, and 9th graders. In addition to this, our board of education has included additional dollars in the 2014-15 budget to purchase laptops for our 10th graders to go along with the iPads they were assigned last year. After distributing used iPads to incoming 11th and 12th graders, this will mean all CHS students in grades 10-12 will actually have personal access to both a tablet and a laptop device to support their academics.
One other big thing we are working on in Center Schools is making sure our employees take some much needed personal time to "recharge their batteries" in preparation for the upcoming school year. Each year we purposefully focus our efforts in June on offering a high quality summer school program to children in grades K-8 so we can make sure as many folks as possible get the full month of July off. Additionally, July is the time of year when many district level employees such as custodians, and business and administration office personnel make use of their vacation time. Our offices will be open all month, but not all employees will be available each day.
The Past Week
On Sunday and Monday I worked on June payroll issues, and on Tuesday and Wednesday superintendents representing more than 50 school districts from around Colorado are met in Eagle County to coordinate and collaborate efforts aimed at improving education systems in the state. On Thursday and Friday we continued to work on end of fiscal year reporting tasks related to school safety, district accreditation, race to the top, and federal programs.
The Week Ahead
I am taking the week of June 30 through July 4th off to once again visit my father in Tucson. I’ll be back in the office on Monday July 7th.
Extra Points
Center Schools turnaround partner Lindamood-Bell is on the cutting edge when it comes to providing staff development and coaching services to schools in support of increased reading achievement for difficult to serve students. In fact, now they are even doing so by using robots! Because of this unique effort the district is in the process of engaging with several other school districts in the San Luis Valley to further share out the reading success that has occurred at Haskin Elementary School. I encourage you to view this video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW8FZL5GXQ4 to meet "Lucky," the Lindamood-Bell Instruction Robot! Because of this technology Lindamood-Bell's instruction teams can now visit multiple schools, around the world, in the same day, allowing for improved quality control with instruction and staff support at a tremendous reduction in cost. When viewing it, see if you can find any of our Center Schools staff members and students!
Thanks for listening once again and have a great week!
George
Thanks for listening once again and have a great week!
George