Great Things Going On Now
A much deserved thank you goes out to our Director of Instruction Lori Cooper for the great work she did organizing our district holiday party. The setting at Calvillos in Alamosa was wonderful and the games and door prizes that Mrs. Cooper organized made the evening extremely fun and unforgettable. Lori’s work on curriculum, assessment, and data are of extreme value to the district and its students, as well as her wonderful ability to bring us all together for a little fun.
I also want to thank our employees and students who participated in the Center Christmas Parade on December 22nd. Though we experienced blizzard conditions our Band marched under the leadership of Director Kate Newmyer and our Ski Club float took 3rd place with Third Grade Teacher and Ski Club Sponsor Meagan Long, PE and Health Teacher Lee Flood, and Instructional Paraprofessional Brandon Selby leading the festivities. Wayne Phillips, our retired Transportation Director and occasional Bus Driver, and his wife Alice were honored as Grand Marshals of the event. Thanks to everyone who contributed to Center’s community spirit!
I also want to thank our employees and students who participated in the Center Christmas Parade on December 22nd. Though we experienced blizzard conditions our Band marched under the leadership of Director Kate Newmyer and our Ski Club float took 3rd place with Third Grade Teacher and Ski Club Sponsor Meagan Long, PE and Health Teacher Lee Flood, and Instructional Paraprofessional Brandon Selby leading the festivities. Wayne Phillips, our retired Transportation Director and occasional Bus Driver, and his wife Alice were honored as Grand Marshals of the event. Thanks to everyone who contributed to Center’s community spirit!
The Past Week
During the week of December 19th I had the pleasure of catching up on a lot of office work on Monday and Tuesday, as well as attending various meetings regarding planning and personnel matters.
I then travelled to Denver for Colorado School Safety Resource Center Executive Director interviews on Wednesday. This experience was fascinating as State of Colorado procedures for hiring are very rigid and prescribed. In addition to participating in CSSRC interviews I found some time to prepare December payroll files for Human Resources Director Betty Casanova to process payments on the 27th.
Thursday was a truly pleasant day begun by a heavy snowfall in Center and continuing with the sending of staff holiday messages, participation in an all staff pot luck breakfast, watching the Christmas Parade, and then attending our staff holiday party.
As Friday approached I, like everyone else, was looking forward to Winter Break and a little rest and relaxation with family and friends.
I then travelled to Denver for Colorado School Safety Resource Center Executive Director interviews on Wednesday. This experience was fascinating as State of Colorado procedures for hiring are very rigid and prescribed. In addition to participating in CSSRC interviews I found some time to prepare December payroll files for Human Resources Director Betty Casanova to process payments on the 27th.
Thursday was a truly pleasant day begun by a heavy snowfall in Center and continuing with the sending of staff holiday messages, participation in an all staff pot luck breakfast, watching the Christmas Parade, and then attending our staff holiday party.
As Friday approached I, like everyone else, was looking forward to Winter Break and a little rest and relaxation with family and friends.
Big Things We Are Working On
There has been a lot of post Lobato v Colorado decision action taking place in the last week or so. On December 20th Governor Hickenlooper announced that he was directing the Colorado’s executive branch to appeal the trial decision. Follow this link for more information.
On December 26th the State Board of Education voted 4-3 to appeal the decision as well. This link has an accurate story of what happened at that meeting.
Finally, this link shares a dissenting opinion of one of the state board members regarding the State Board’s decision to appeal.
Some fairly good school finance news was actually released on December 20th when the fourth quarter 2011 state revenue forecasts were shared with Colorado’s Joint Budget Committee and it was determined that the originally proposed 90 million dollar K-12 education budget cut could now be taken off the table. This means that it is very likely that for the first time in four years we could actually be planning to budget as much funding as we had this year, next year. Read more about this development here.
Our annual District Unified Improvement Plan is due to CDE on January 17th and, though much of the work of improvement planning has already been done by our District Leadership Team, the extensive job of correctly filling out the state forms still needs to be completed. A difficult aspect of this improvement planning process is the need to anticipate budget revenues and expenditures for improvement activities, in spite of not knowing for sure what our funding will be next year from various sources.
On December 26th the State Board of Education voted 4-3 to appeal the decision as well. This link has an accurate story of what happened at that meeting.
Finally, this link shares a dissenting opinion of one of the state board members regarding the State Board’s decision to appeal.
Some fairly good school finance news was actually released on December 20th when the fourth quarter 2011 state revenue forecasts were shared with Colorado’s Joint Budget Committee and it was determined that the originally proposed 90 million dollar K-12 education budget cut could now be taken off the table. This means that it is very likely that for the first time in four years we could actually be planning to budget as much funding as we had this year, next year. Read more about this development here.
Our annual District Unified Improvement Plan is due to CDE on January 17th and, though much of the work of improvement planning has already been done by our District Leadership Team, the extensive job of correctly filling out the state forms still needs to be completed. A difficult aspect of this improvement planning process is the need to anticipate budget revenues and expenditures for improvement activities, in spite of not knowing for sure what our funding will be next year from various sources.
Construction News
Contrax has created a website where the district can now review potential furnishing purchases before final decisions are made. The web page allows us to review product, quantity and cost for all our new building furniture, fixtures and equipment. Core construction team members will review this information extensively during the month of January and will seek staff input regarding purchasing decisions.
On January 4th, employees of RLH Engineering will do an extensive final review and location of asbestos related materials throughout our buildings in attempt to plan for removal of those materials before demolition takes place in early June.
A construction related shut down of power to the administration building will take place on either January 3rd or 4th as well.
Planning the removal of the current varsity gym beginning as early as mid February is now under way. This project will cause us to be down to one gym for the remainder of the school year. Plans for fencing off the area and accessing it with construction vehicles are being considered. Our new field house will be constructed on this site and it is due to be completed in October 2012.
If you would like to read a well-done story regarding the current status of our construction project you can follow this link to a story in the Center Post Dispatch.
On January 4th, employees of RLH Engineering will do an extensive final review and location of asbestos related materials throughout our buildings in attempt to plan for removal of those materials before demolition takes place in early June.
A construction related shut down of power to the administration building will take place on either January 3rd or 4th as well.
Planning the removal of the current varsity gym beginning as early as mid February is now under way. This project will cause us to be down to one gym for the remainder of the school year. Plans for fencing off the area and accessing it with construction vehicles are being considered. Our new field house will be constructed on this site and it is due to be completed in October 2012.
If you would like to read a well-done story regarding the current status of our construction project you can follow this link to a story in the Center Post Dispatch.
Our Core Beliefs
Our core belief number 5 states, “we are preparing ALL our students to be successful in life.”
There was once a time when schools were only designed to make education available for students who chose to take advantage of it. With the coming of the age of education accountability, learning standards, and comprehensive state assessments, schools are now expected to guarantee success for all students.
In Center Schools we don’t work to do this simply because the state requires it; we seek to do this because it is the right thing to do.
The way we achieve this is by making sure we have a clearly communicated curriculum for all teachers and students, by making sure teachers teach the curriculum in a way that engages all students, and by periodically measuring how well our students are learning the curriculum so interventions can be offered to students who may be falling behind.
There was once a time when schools were only designed to make education available for students who chose to take advantage of it. With the coming of the age of education accountability, learning standards, and comprehensive state assessments, schools are now expected to guarantee success for all students.
In Center Schools we don’t work to do this simply because the state requires it; we seek to do this because it is the right thing to do.
The way we achieve this is by making sure we have a clearly communicated curriculum for all teachers and students, by making sure teachers teach the curriculum in a way that engages all students, and by periodically measuring how well our students are learning the curriculum so interventions can be offered to students who may be falling behind.
The Week Ahead
While on break my plans are to sleep in a little every day, spend lots of time with my family, rest a bit, and focus some work on the following projects: Completion of mid year administrator evaluations, completion of the district Unified Improvement Plan, creation of updated walkthrough forms for all building administrators, and the creation of a process by which I can disseminate this communication to more community members and other folks interested in the happenings of Center Schools.
I’ll be attending a Monte Vista Rotary Club meeting on January 4th to report on the happenings of the Lobato lawsuit and I also intend to participate in the Ski Club trip to Wolf Creek on January 6th.
I’ll be attending a Monte Vista Rotary Club meeting on January 4th to report on the happenings of the Lobato lawsuit and I also intend to participate in the Ski Club trip to Wolf Creek on January 6th.
Extra Points
As a parting shot this week I would like to thank Center High School Principal Kevin Jones, Skoglund Middle School Principal Carrie Zimmerman, and Haskin Elementary School Principal Kathy Kulp for their hard work in administering our new teacher evaluation process through the administration of our first mid-year reviews. We know the process will need to be tweaked, but it is my opinion that the improvement feedback offered to teachers is the best we have ever done, especially considering we are only half way through the school year.
The kind of work Kevin, Carrie and Kathy are doing in regard to teacher development and evaluation is exactly the work a building principal should be doing in the second decade of the 21st century. Just as we as a district need to tweak the process, each of them needs to work to improve how they apply it, and I look forward to supporting them toward this endeavor as the winter turns to spring.
Thanks for once again listening and have a great week.
George
The kind of work Kevin, Carrie and Kathy are doing in regard to teacher development and evaluation is exactly the work a building principal should be doing in the second decade of the 21st century. Just as we as a district need to tweak the process, each of them needs to work to improve how they apply it, and I look forward to supporting them toward this endeavor as the winter turns to spring.
Thanks for once again listening and have a great week.
George
