Great Things Going On
I would like to begin this week by complimenting our grade 6-12 math instructors for the great work they have been doing aligning our curriculum to state standards. Several weeks ago new Center Schools math teacher Stuart Church noticed that we were not teaching what is supposed to be assessed in our middle school targeted instruction classes, so he asked our principals to bring the staff together to better communicate what is being taught at each level. Because of this the group met and collaborated on instructional content, placement of students, and what will be tested. I want to thank Mr. Church for noticing this problem and quickly pulling folks together to address it!
I am also excited to announce Center Schools will participate in the Save the Children Foundation’s After School Program this coming spring semester. This program will operate four days per week, from mid-January through early May. It is being funded through a federal Innovative Approaches to Literacy grant.
I am also excited to announce Center Schools will participate in the Save the Children Foundation’s After School Program this coming spring semester. This program will operate four days per week, from mid-January through early May. It is being funded through a federal Innovative Approaches to Literacy grant.
I also want to compliment our middle school student council on the wonderful dance they sponsored for our grade 6-8 students this past Friday. There was great attendance, there was good food available, a very popular photo booth was provided, and the kids behaved perfectly! Skoglund Middle School student council advisors Mimi Dolan and Rosa Ramos asked if we could thank staff members Soyla Guadiana, Gail Martinez, Diego Martinez, Cruzita DeHerrera, Tito Chavez, Gerald Hammer, and Skoglund Middle School Principal Luis Murillo for all their help! Thank you Mimi and Rosa for putting on such a fun event for our children!
On a final note, this year our Center Schools ESL teachers have been working hard at imparting knowledge to all of our teachers as to how to best meet the learning needs of our large English as Second Learners population. One of the techniques our teachers have recently learned is implementing the use of stem sentences to support ESL students in understanding core subject area concepts. Of course all of our teachers have immediately begun to implement this instructional approach in their classrooms and Haskin Elementary School physical education teacher Andrew Hawkins was kind enough to share a picture of one of his efforts immediately after the training. I want to thank all of our teachers for being so willing to take this next step of utilizing best practice instructional approaches for supporting ESL students, and especially Andy for being willing to share his effort with us! Great job folks!
On a final note, this year our Center Schools ESL teachers have been working hard at imparting knowledge to all of our teachers as to how to best meet the learning needs of our large English as Second Learners population. One of the techniques our teachers have recently learned is implementing the use of stem sentences to support ESL students in understanding core subject area concepts. Of course all of our teachers have immediately begun to implement this instructional approach in their classrooms and Haskin Elementary School physical education teacher Andrew Hawkins was kind enough to share a picture of one of his efforts immediately after the training. I want to thank all of our teachers for being so willing to take this next step of utilizing best practice instructional approaches for supporting ESL students, and especially Andy for being willing to share his effort with us! Great job folks!
Big Things We Are Working On
From Wednesday through Friday our good friends from the Wall, Smith, and Bateman Company were on site to conduct our annual financial audit. This can be a big task for our administration office staff as they find themselves having to drop everything they are doing to seek out documents the auditors need to connect the dots between annual revenue receipts and authorized expenditures. It appeared to me the process went very smoothly and we hope to share our audit results with the board of education at our regular December meeting. I want to take a moment to thank Center Schools’ director of finance Betty Casanova, our business office assistant J.J. Beiriger, and our administrative office assistant Jessica Ornelas for the great job they did providing information needed by our auditors this year!
The Past Week
On Monday and Tuesday our Center High School seniors took the new Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) test. Also on Monday I met with director of instruction Lori Cooper and director of technology Julio Paez about the additional technology resources we need in order to make sure we are ready for additional CMAS and PARCC testing later in the year. On Tuesday I met with Durango Schools superintendent Dan Snowberger about arranging a visit by some of his building leaders to Haskin Elementary School. He is asking us to open our doors to his administrators to learn about the success we are having with our at-risk student populations. On Wednesday I began the day by meeting with our auditors and then attended a superintendent PLC in Alamosa School District that included classroom walkthroughs at Alamosa Elementary School, Ortega Middle School, and Alamosa High School. On Thursday I met with Center Education Association leaders to negotiate salary increases for the 2014-15 school year. On Friday my major task was working with Sarah Vance to budget our new Save the Children after school reading program grant.
The Week Ahead
Though we don’t have school this coming week, director of finance Betty Casanova will be working extra hours on Sunday and Monday finalizing our November payroll process. I want to offer her a special thank you for doing all this work despite also being faced with having Wall, Smith, and Bateman auditors on site all week. Meanwhile our custodial staff will also be completing some major fall maintenance projects. I spent time writing this weekly communication on Sunday and Monday, will commit some hours to writing a nomination for Center High School to possibly receive a Schools of Opportunity award, and will also be meeting virtually with our old friend Ben Kern, now a PhD candidate at the University of Illinois, who is working on refining a walkthrough evaluation process for PE teachers.
Thanks for listening once again and have a great Thanksgiving!
George
Thanks for listening once again and have a great Thanksgiving!
George