Great Things Going On
I would like to thank Skoglund Middle School RTI Coordinator and Targeted Instruction Reading Teacher Susan Banning for having her middle school reading students participate in Read Across America by going to our kindergarten classes to read aloud to students. Read Across America is celebrated each year in conjunction with the birthday of Dr. Seuss to remind everyone of the importance of reading instruction and just how fun it is to read aloud to children, and Susan did a great job preparing her kids to share their love of reading with our kinders.
Congratulations go out to Haskin Elementary School, Skoglund Middle School and Center High School students and staff members for being named 2014 Colorado Legacy Foundation Healthy Schools Champions! All three schools are being honored this year for making the connection between student health and learning. Skoglund and CHS have won this award each of the past 2 years, and this is the first year Haskin has achieved such an honor. Healthy Schools Champion awards are given to schools that show high commitment to coordinated school health efforts, family and student involvement in health related activities, strong health education initiatives, strong health services initiatives, a high focus on student nutrition, comprehensive physical education programs, a focus on staff wellness, mental health support for students, and an overall safe school environment. A big thank you goes out to Katrina Ruggles and Marsha Felmlee for making the effort to complete the healthy schools scorecard, thereby allowing each of our schools to compete for these awards.
Congratulations go out to Haskin Elementary School, Skoglund Middle School and Center High School students and staff members for being named 2014 Colorado Legacy Foundation Healthy Schools Champions! All three schools are being honored this year for making the connection between student health and learning. Skoglund and CHS have won this award each of the past 2 years, and this is the first year Haskin has achieved such an honor. Healthy Schools Champion awards are given to schools that show high commitment to coordinated school health efforts, family and student involvement in health related activities, strong health education initiatives, strong health services initiatives, a high focus on student nutrition, comprehensive physical education programs, a focus on staff wellness, mental health support for students, and an overall safe school environment. A big thank you goes out to Katrina Ruggles and Marsha Felmlee for making the effort to complete the healthy schools scorecard, thereby allowing each of our schools to compete for these awards.
Congratulations go out to many Center Schools students who competed in the San Luis Valley Regional Science Fair. Many of our kids placed at multiple levels in the contest, several CHS students qualified for state and international fairs, and Center High School scientists won the small school award for the 4th consecutive year!
If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to view the “You Can Play” submission by our Center High School Video Productions class on the CHSAA web page I encourage you to do so. The concept behind the initiative is to encourage all types of students to become active in sports and school activities if they so choose. You can view our video at http://chsaanow.com/leadership/youcanplay/vote and after doing so you can view other submissions by other high schools and then vote on the one you think is best. Voting takes place through Wednesday February 12th. Great work Mr. Schoenfelder and Mr. Welsh!
If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to view the “You Can Play” submission by our Center High School Video Productions class on the CHSAA web page I encourage you to do so. The concept behind the initiative is to encourage all types of students to become active in sports and school activities if they so choose. You can view our video at http://chsaanow.com/leadership/youcanplay/vote and after doing so you can view other submissions by other high schools and then vote on the one you think is best. Voting takes place through Wednesday February 12th. Great work Mr. Schoenfelder and Mr. Welsh!
Big Things We Are Working On
At this week’s board of education meeting our governing body will consider contract recommendations for the principals of our traditional model schools (Haskin, Skoglund, and Center High School). Other board meeting topics including the revision of some policies related to student behavior and travel, and the consideration of a board resolution in support of asking the legislature to eliminate the one billion dollar negative factor currently plaguing K-12 school finance efforts.
The Past Week
On Monday I traveled to and from Denver to testify in front of the House Education Committee on the newly proposed Student Success Act. On Tuesday I met with each of our principals to conduct their mid-year evaluations. On Wednesday and Thursday I worked to catch up on a lot of office paperwork, including launching the process by which we will choose our Center Schools 2014 Teacher of the Year. On Friday I worked on Race to the top of the Valley tasks and then attended the San Luis Valley Regional Science Fair awards ceremony at Adams State College.
The Week Ahead
This week in Center we will continue administering Colorado TCAP tests to our grades 3, 4 and 5 students in reading, writing, and math; next week our middle and high school students will begin testing. These assessments are important because they guide us in our district improvement work and they provide data for the Colorado Department of Education to determine our accreditation status.
On Monday I will be doing work to prepare for several of the meetings I will attend on Tuesday. Those meetings include the San Luis Valley Superintendent Advisory Council, our monthly district accountability meeting, and our monthly board of education meeting. On Wednesday I will be in Cherry Creek to attend a statewide superintendent legislative meeting. I will be back in Center on Thursday and Friday to conduct regular office duties.
On Monday I will be doing work to prepare for several of the meetings I will attend on Tuesday. Those meetings include the San Luis Valley Superintendent Advisory Council, our monthly district accountability meeting, and our monthly board of education meeting. On Wednesday I will be in Cherry Creek to attend a statewide superintendent legislative meeting. I will be back in Center on Thursday and Friday to conduct regular office duties.
Extra Points
On a final note this week I would like to congratulate the Center High School Boys Basketball team on an excellent 2013-14 season. This year they fell just 4 points short of qualifying to represent us in the state tournament for the first time in more than 30 years. At this past week’s regional tournament in Colorado Springs Mr. Mark Jones and his Vikings won a thrilling late night game over defending state champion Denver Christian on a last second shot by Jonathon Moreno, then played their hearts out on Saturday afternoon losing by only 4 points to a Simla squad with a season record of 22-2. Preparing kids to be successful in life is what we do at Center schools. We do this mainly by supplying them with college level and career skills in reading, writing, math and science, and by helping them to explore their areas of interest through the ICAP process. But we also do this by teaching them that hard work and collaboration pays off. One of the ways we do this is through our interscholastic athletics programs. Many great lessons can be learned on the track, the field, the course, and the court as well in the classroom, and this particular group of boys made us all so very proud this year.
Thanks for listening once again.
George
Thanks for listening once again.
George