Great Things Going On Now
I want to thank the entire Haskin Elementary staff for the great progress they have been making in instituting a new comprehensive school discipline plan during the last several weeks. The Haskin Building Leadership Team did a great job of creating a clear action plan and each BLT member has been doing a great job of following through on their responsibility to enact it. I especially want to thank Chris Vance for the work he is doing in the building to streamline the process of communication regarding discipline matters.
I have recently been invited to attend numerous Response to Intervention (RTI) meetings regarding student behavior at Skoglund Middle School. In doing so I must compliment folks like Carrie Zimmerman, Susan Banning, Adele Alfson and Jaime Hurtado for taking the time to meet with students and parents to build behavior plans to ensure student success BEFORE we get to the point where we need to expel students.
I would also like to thank the administrative team for the tremendous mid-year teacher evaluation “marathon” session we conducted on Friday. It can be extremely difficult to work through a new evaluation process, and our day certainly began slowly as we completed various practice forms and checked our standards of expectation to one-another. At the end of the day we had finished about two-thirds of the evaluations as a team and our strategy moving forward is to write up the rest of them between now and December 16th when we will come back together for a “quality check” session before sharing the results with individual teachers before Winter Break. I have no doubt some of the evaluations will not be perfect, but I have to say that through this process we have gained a better handle on the strengths and weaknesses of our instructional staff than we have ever had in the past, and this has puts us in better position to support teachers in the areas they still need to improve.
I have recently been invited to attend numerous Response to Intervention (RTI) meetings regarding student behavior at Skoglund Middle School. In doing so I must compliment folks like Carrie Zimmerman, Susan Banning, Adele Alfson and Jaime Hurtado for taking the time to meet with students and parents to build behavior plans to ensure student success BEFORE we get to the point where we need to expel students.
I would also like to thank the administrative team for the tremendous mid-year teacher evaluation “marathon” session we conducted on Friday. It can be extremely difficult to work through a new evaluation process, and our day certainly began slowly as we completed various practice forms and checked our standards of expectation to one-another. At the end of the day we had finished about two-thirds of the evaluations as a team and our strategy moving forward is to write up the rest of them between now and December 16th when we will come back together for a “quality check” session before sharing the results with individual teachers before Winter Break. I have no doubt some of the evaluations will not be perfect, but I have to say that through this process we have gained a better handle on the strengths and weaknesses of our instructional staff than we have ever had in the past, and this has puts us in better position to support teachers in the areas they still need to improve.
The Past Week
During the past week we welcomed our newest board members, Yuri Cendejas and Ritchie Barela, at a noon meeting on Monday.
The middle of the week was filled with several student discipline RTI meetings, as we are getting to the point in the year where some of our kids are progressing to where they are at risk of expulsion. These meetings are conducted with parents present, and for the purpose of developing plans to help each child succeed at learning and behavior while at school.
I travelled to Denver on Wednesday afternoon to attend the retirement party of Linda Kanan, the first ever Executive Director of the Colorado School Safety Resource Center. I attended this in my role as the Center’s advisory board chairman. I will be in Denver later in the month to help hire her replacement.
I stayed in Denver on Thursday and I dropped in on our architects early in the day, then had the pleasure of meeting with Lindamood-Bell, CDE and US Department of Education representatives about possible significant changes in the way Colorado addresses the needs of special education students.
Of course on Friday I spent the entire day working with the administrative team on mid-year teacher evaluations.
The middle of the week was filled with several student discipline RTI meetings, as we are getting to the point in the year where some of our kids are progressing to where they are at risk of expulsion. These meetings are conducted with parents present, and for the purpose of developing plans to help each child succeed at learning and behavior while at school.
I travelled to Denver on Wednesday afternoon to attend the retirement party of Linda Kanan, the first ever Executive Director of the Colorado School Safety Resource Center. I attended this in my role as the Center’s advisory board chairman. I will be in Denver later in the month to help hire her replacement.
I stayed in Denver on Thursday and I dropped in on our architects early in the day, then had the pleasure of meeting with Lindamood-Bell, CDE and US Department of Education representatives about possible significant changes in the way Colorado addresses the needs of special education students.
Of course on Friday I spent the entire day working with the administrative team on mid-year teacher evaluations.
Big Things We Are Working On
One of the biggest things we have been working on for the past six years is likely to play out in the next several weeks. We expect there will be a decision rendered in the Lobato v Colorado lawsuit within the next month and a half.
Recently a lot of press has hit Colorado newsstands about “school building projects gone wrong” and this has caused us to reflect a great deal on where we are in our relationship with our construction team and the quality of our project. I must say we are working with an excellent team of architects and builders in Klipp and GE Johnson, and the support we receive from RLH (our Owner’s Representative), Kristin Lortie (our CDE Construction Representative) and Rich Brandt (our Facilities Director) has set our minds at ease. We know this will probably be the only time in our careers that we get to complete such a project so we are doing all we can to make sure it is done well.
Construction News
Speaking of construction, on Wednesday I got a chance to walk through the building site with our Owner’s Representative once again and it was very exciting to see inside walls being sheet rocked and windows being installed. As I moved around the building I could really begin to feel how the facility will flow and how certain spaces will be utilized by staff, students and community members.
At our weekly construction meeting we took a step closer to finalizing our floor logo design. I have attached a picture of it here. It is looking like the outer rings and lettering will be inlaid in the floor in brass. The viking logo will be created in a tile mosaic.
On Thursday I met directly with our Architects and gave final approval on many finish materials and color schemes. These color schemes were originally developed during focus group meetings that took place back in September. It is time to order many of these materials so final decisions had to be made.
Big things coming up include meetings to determine Furniture Fixture and Equipment purchases, and the completion of a classroom mock up that we can have staff members tour for the purpose of determining final tweaks to the design.
As I was leaving the building tour on Wednesday I thought how fortunate it has been for me to have extremely busy year while our school is being built. Every time go to the site I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve. I just have to say I am so excited about seeing what the final product will look like.
Recently a lot of press has hit Colorado newsstands about “school building projects gone wrong” and this has caused us to reflect a great deal on where we are in our relationship with our construction team and the quality of our project. I must say we are working with an excellent team of architects and builders in Klipp and GE Johnson, and the support we receive from RLH (our Owner’s Representative), Kristin Lortie (our CDE Construction Representative) and Rich Brandt (our Facilities Director) has set our minds at ease. We know this will probably be the only time in our careers that we get to complete such a project so we are doing all we can to make sure it is done well.
Construction News
Speaking of construction, on Wednesday I got a chance to walk through the building site with our Owner’s Representative once again and it was very exciting to see inside walls being sheet rocked and windows being installed. As I moved around the building I could really begin to feel how the facility will flow and how certain spaces will be utilized by staff, students and community members.
At our weekly construction meeting we took a step closer to finalizing our floor logo design. I have attached a picture of it here. It is looking like the outer rings and lettering will be inlaid in the floor in brass. The viking logo will be created in a tile mosaic.
On Thursday I met directly with our Architects and gave final approval on many finish materials and color schemes. These color schemes were originally developed during focus group meetings that took place back in September. It is time to order many of these materials so final decisions had to be made.
Big things coming up include meetings to determine Furniture Fixture and Equipment purchases, and the completion of a classroom mock up that we can have staff members tour for the purpose of determining final tweaks to the design.
As I was leaving the building tour on Wednesday I thought how fortunate it has been for me to have extremely busy year while our school is being built. Every time go to the site I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve. I just have to say I am so excited about seeing what the final product will look like.
Our Core Beliefs
This week I would like to talk about Center Schools’ core belief number 2, “With our support ALL children can achieve at high levels.”
Last week I wrote about our purpose in Center being to increase academic achievement for ALL students. Core belief number two is about the importance of our staff in this process.
After twenty-five years of experience in education I have come to believe that SOME kids will likely achieve at high levels no matter what we do. There is simply a portion of our population who are driven to do their best in everything they try.
We, no doubt, have an obligation to guide these “already motivated” students to greater success. However, the main reason adult human beings are needed in schools is to motivate, push, guide and cajole those kids who may not yet see the benefit of a quality education to do their best, as well.
In Center we work hard to hire and retain staff members who know it is ultimately their responsibility to see to it that all the students in their care reach their true potential. We know the difference between simply allowing students to go through the motions and pushing themselves to their greatest accomplishment is a quality educator.
Our students CAN do great things. It takes our support to get them there.
Last week I wrote about our purpose in Center being to increase academic achievement for ALL students. Core belief number two is about the importance of our staff in this process.
After twenty-five years of experience in education I have come to believe that SOME kids will likely achieve at high levels no matter what we do. There is simply a portion of our population who are driven to do their best in everything they try.
We, no doubt, have an obligation to guide these “already motivated” students to greater success. However, the main reason adult human beings are needed in schools is to motivate, push, guide and cajole those kids who may not yet see the benefit of a quality education to do their best, as well.
In Center we work hard to hire and retain staff members who know it is ultimately their responsibility to see to it that all the students in their care reach their true potential. We know the difference between simply allowing students to go through the motions and pushing themselves to their greatest accomplishment is a quality educator.
Our students CAN do great things. It takes our support to get them there.
The Week Ahead
As we progress toward Winter Break we’ll have quite a few busy weeks ahead of us.
This week will begin with a Focal Point on site visit on Monday for the purpose of conducting mid-year reviews of the performance of our building administrators. During this visit Focal Point consultants will conduct classroom walkthroughs to observe the quality of instruction being provided, then they will meet individually with our principals to review the quality and quantity of their classroom observations, staff communication efforts, and progress toward the achievement of school and district goals.
On Monday at Noon I have an Alternative-Virtual School PLC meeting as well.
I have to do a Denver and back trip on Tuesday. My day will begin with a one to one meeting with Senator Michael Johnston (author of SB 191) at 11 AM in his office at the capitol. My plan is to talk about his proposed changes to the school finance act with him. I will then chair the December Colorado School Safety Resource Center Advisory Board meeting from 1:30 PM until 3:30 PM before high tailing it back to Center in time to see the Haskin Elementary Winter Concert.
While I am in Denver the Haskin Elementary Building Leadership Team and our secondary administration staff will be meeting with representatives of the Flippen Group about a school climate process called “Capturing Kids Hearts.” We are looking into this process with the possibility of incorporating it into how we prepare kids for a successful future from the personal responsibility standpoint.
I’ll be back in Center on Wednesday to participate in some classroom walkthroughs, the health advisory committee meeting and our weekly construction team meeting.
I will be in Colorado Springs Thursday through Sunday for the annual convention of the Colorado Association of School Boards. All five board members are committed to attending this event where we’ll have to opportunity to network with school board members from around the state, get to meet with student leaders from Center, and get to participate in general and breakout sessions that educate our board directors about how to effectively govern a district. It is truly my belief that we have such a strong and cohesive board because of the benefits they receive through their association with CASB and the fine work the organization does.
This week will begin with a Focal Point on site visit on Monday for the purpose of conducting mid-year reviews of the performance of our building administrators. During this visit Focal Point consultants will conduct classroom walkthroughs to observe the quality of instruction being provided, then they will meet individually with our principals to review the quality and quantity of their classroom observations, staff communication efforts, and progress toward the achievement of school and district goals.
On Monday at Noon I have an Alternative-Virtual School PLC meeting as well.
I have to do a Denver and back trip on Tuesday. My day will begin with a one to one meeting with Senator Michael Johnston (author of SB 191) at 11 AM in his office at the capitol. My plan is to talk about his proposed changes to the school finance act with him. I will then chair the December Colorado School Safety Resource Center Advisory Board meeting from 1:30 PM until 3:30 PM before high tailing it back to Center in time to see the Haskin Elementary Winter Concert.
While I am in Denver the Haskin Elementary Building Leadership Team and our secondary administration staff will be meeting with representatives of the Flippen Group about a school climate process called “Capturing Kids Hearts.” We are looking into this process with the possibility of incorporating it into how we prepare kids for a successful future from the personal responsibility standpoint.
I’ll be back in Center on Wednesday to participate in some classroom walkthroughs, the health advisory committee meeting and our weekly construction team meeting.
I will be in Colorado Springs Thursday through Sunday for the annual convention of the Colorado Association of School Boards. All five board members are committed to attending this event where we’ll have to opportunity to network with school board members from around the state, get to meet with student leaders from Center, and get to participate in general and breakout sessions that educate our board directors about how to effectively govern a district. It is truly my belief that we have such a strong and cohesive board because of the benefits they receive through their association with CASB and the fine work the organization does.
George’s Excellent Adventure
My recent experience as an education leader has recently put me in some interesting situations. One of the most amazing ones to this point was when I had the opportunity on Thursday to dine with Paul Worthington (Lindamood-Bell’s Assistant Director), Ed Steinberg (CDE’s Director of Special Education) and Bob Pasternak (former Assistant Secretary of Education under George Bush). Pasternak, for those of you who don’t know him, is actually the inventor of the RTI process! As Assistant Secretary of Education he developed a belief that many students who are placed in Special Education really should not actually qualify for such services. In fact, research told him that the roughly 40% of children identified for Special Education services did not actually have a significant learning disability beyond a simple struggle to read.
At this dinner for four, Worthington, Pasternak and Steinberg expressed their desire to me to make sure three significant changes occur in education. First, that students who do not need Special Education services don’t ever get identified to the process. Second, that students who were wrongly identified and placed in Special Education simply because of a struggle to read receive the services they need to bolster their reading ability and are exited from the process. Third, that Special Education Teachers be removed from the burden of extensive paperwork and be left free to actually provide services to Special Education students.
All three of these men believe the Lindamood-Bell reading process is the key to achieving these goals. Why was I there? They think Haskin Elementary School is currently the best model in Colorado when it comes to implementation of the Lindammod-Bell process with complete fidelity. Because of this they want to conduct a study at Haskin that will indicate to what extent our work has been able to keep kids away from Special Education identification, and to what extent we have been able to exit students from Special Education services as well.
At this dinner for four, Worthington, Pasternak and Steinberg expressed their desire to me to make sure three significant changes occur in education. First, that students who do not need Special Education services don’t ever get identified to the process. Second, that students who were wrongly identified and placed in Special Education simply because of a struggle to read receive the services they need to bolster their reading ability and are exited from the process. Third, that Special Education Teachers be removed from the burden of extensive paperwork and be left free to actually provide services to Special Education students.
All three of these men believe the Lindamood-Bell reading process is the key to achieving these goals. Why was I there? They think Haskin Elementary School is currently the best model in Colorado when it comes to implementation of the Lindammod-Bell process with complete fidelity. Because of this they want to conduct a study at Haskin that will indicate to what extent our work has been able to keep kids away from Special Education identification, and to what extent we have been able to exit students from Special Education services as well.
Extra Points
Speaking of RTI, on last Wednesday morning I had the pleasure of attending a Response to Intervention meeting about a challenging student’s behavior; much time and effort has been invested in setting up structures to support this young man's success in school. The room was filled with our attendance lawyer, an administrator, a counselor, our RTI coordinator, the student, and his parent. The parent of this child attended Center High School during the early 90’s. After much work was done to create a plan for success the child’s parent blurted out, “When I was in school and acted like him (his child) nobody ever worked this hard to help me. I was just told to drop out!”
Receiving this message brought about mixed emotions for many of us in the room. On one hand we were extremely pleased to hear how happy he was that we were working so hard to keep his kid on a positive trajectory. On the other, it was troubling to be told that at one point in his schooling career the folks charged with his education verbalized that they had completely given up on him.
I know we still have to grow in many ways as a school system. However, this parent’s comment made me appreciate how far we have come in the past 20 years. We were truly living by our core belief that “With our support ALL children can achieve at high levels”. . . and this parent clearly recognized it.
Thanks for listening again and have a great week!
George
Receiving this message brought about mixed emotions for many of us in the room. On one hand we were extremely pleased to hear how happy he was that we were working so hard to keep his kid on a positive trajectory. On the other, it was troubling to be told that at one point in his schooling career the folks charged with his education verbalized that they had completely given up on him.
I know we still have to grow in many ways as a school system. However, this parent’s comment made me appreciate how far we have come in the past 20 years. We were truly living by our core belief that “With our support ALL children can achieve at high levels”. . . and this parent clearly recognized it.
Thanks for listening again and have a great week!
George