Great Things Going On Now
I would like to take a moment to show my appreciation to Kim Martinez and Adde David for the fine work they have done this year with the Center High School Cheerleading squad. I think Kim and Adde have developed the best cheer section in the San Luis Valley and easily the best squad I have seen in my sixteen years in Center. Their hard work and dedication, and especially the effort all the cheer squad members have put forth, certainly lives up to the Center Schools core belief that “EVERYONE must be committed to the pursuit of excellence.” Thanks ladies!
A big thank you also goes out to Kathy and Ed Kulp for the wonderful effort they put into providing a tasty spaghetti meal for the Haskin Elementary School staff during this week’s parent teacher conferences. The extended work hours caused by our effort to meet with parents in the late afternoon and evening (when they are most available) makes for an extremely hectic day for instructional staff. Having a great meal available for staff members at their convenience no doubt made them feel appreciated and supported. Plus, Ed Kulp probably makes the best spaghetti sauce in the world!
A big thank you also goes out to Kathy and Ed Kulp for the wonderful effort they put into providing a tasty spaghetti meal for the Haskin Elementary School staff during this week’s parent teacher conferences. The extended work hours caused by our effort to meet with parents in the late afternoon and evening (when they are most available) makes for an extremely hectic day for instructional staff. Having a great meal available for staff members at their convenience no doubt made them feel appreciated and supported. Plus, Ed Kulp probably makes the best spaghetti sauce in the world!
This week I would also like to highlight appreciation for Cafeteria Cook Jeannette Garcia. Jeannette has been a loyal and hard working Center Schools employee for many years. What makes Jeannette extra special is her positive work attitude and her strong focus on personal wellness. Recently Jeannette has taken to walking or riding a bike to work each day. In addition to this, Jeannette often advocates for ways that our classified employees, including her cafeteria coworkers, can participate in school wellness activities. I think this focus on personal wellness shows in Jeannette’s improved health and great outlook on life. This could sure be seen on the ski slopes during the January Ski Club trip, as I could not keep up with her!.
Speaking of Ski Club, when I was on the Center Ski Club trip on Friday I caught Amy Halbach and Ashley Maez doing double duty. They kindly volunteered to supervise our children on the trip, but they also spent quite a bit of time working on their upcoming week’s lesson plans while they were in the Wolf Creek Base Camp. Thank you Amy and Ashley for living our core belief that quality planning, instruction, and assessments lead to high student achievement for ALL our children!
Speaking of Ski Club, when I was on the Center Ski Club trip on Friday I caught Amy Halbach and Ashley Maez doing double duty. They kindly volunteered to supervise our children on the trip, but they also spent quite a bit of time working on their upcoming week’s lesson plans while they were in the Wolf Creek Base Camp. Thank you Amy and Ashley for living our core belief that quality planning, instruction, and assessments lead to high student achievement for ALL our children!
Finally, thanks also go out to Middle/High School Counselor Adele Alfson for her hard work preparing and organizing college night during parent teacher conferences. Each spring semester Adele arranges for postsecondary education representatives to be present when parents visit campus to check on their kid’s progress. She also accentuates the experience by preparing a spread of food to die for. The tender loving care Adele offers attracts our postsecondary partners back each year and serves as a special treat to parents and staff members who are in the midst of a long work day. Thank you Adele for helping us live up to our core belief that we are preparing ALL our students to be successful in life!
The Past Week
Last week was another hectic one which unfortunately started with a New England Patriot loss in the Super Bowl. However, Becky and I enjoyed the company of our current slate of Americorps workers who agreed with us that, though it was a great game, this year’s Super Bowl advertisements were among the least memorable ever.
On Monday we had a full day session with our Transformation partners from Focal Point. This allowed us to become reeducated on the importance of aligning our efforts and finances toward our district goals for educational improvement. We also began building preliminary plans for the next steps we’ll take toward these efforts.
On Monday we had a full day session with our Transformation partners from Focal Point. This allowed us to become reeducated on the importance of aligning our efforts and finances toward our district goals for educational improvement. We also began building preliminary plans for the next steps we’ll take toward these efforts.
On Tuesday and Wednesday I spent some time in Denver. First I chaired the Colorado School Safety Resource Center bi-monthly advisory board meeting. At this meeting I had the pleasure of viewing a well-produced video by students from Lewis Palmer High School that was aimed at teaching their instructional staff how to handle emergency lockdown and evacuation procedures. The CSSRC eventually hopes to make the video available to schools all around the state.
While in Denver I also testified against HB 1043 in the House Education Committee meeting. 1043 would place more restrictive local requirements on school concurrent enrollment policies and, quite frankly, Center Schools already does everything the bill would require. However, my personal feeling, and based on much input received by many Colorado Association of School Executives members, the determination came forth that this bill will require many schools and districts to put in place practices that could cost them significantly more dollars to implement than what they are currently doing. The bill, of course, comes with no dollars attached to enact the requirements. We took a stand against it because it is an unfunded mandate coming at a time when school districts will be asked next year again to operate with less money than they had this year. It must be noted that the bill passed through the committee on a 7-4 vote, so apparently I wasn’t very convincing.
While in Denver I also testified against HB 1043 in the House Education Committee meeting. 1043 would place more restrictive local requirements on school concurrent enrollment policies and, quite frankly, Center Schools already does everything the bill would require. However, my personal feeling, and based on much input received by many Colorado Association of School Executives members, the determination came forth that this bill will require many schools and districts to put in place practices that could cost them significantly more dollars to implement than what they are currently doing. The bill, of course, comes with no dollars attached to enact the requirements. We took a stand against it because it is an unfunded mandate coming at a time when school districts will be asked next year again to operate with less money than they had this year. It must be noted that the bill passed through the committee on a 7-4 vote, so apparently I wasn’t very convincing.
My long day on Wednesday included attending our weekly construction core committee meeting by phone and ended with a dinner meeting featuring lead Lobato v Colorado Attorney Kathy Gebhardt and Adams State College President Dr. David Svaldi. This meeting was conducted in an effort to encourage Adams State College to write an Amicus Brief in support of the Lobato decision as it is being appealed at the Colorado Supreme Court level.
On Thursday I attended a Teacher Quality Grant planning meeting at Adams State College and on Friday my focus turned to work on the San Luis Valley Education Collaborative where we began the work of establishing a structure by which the fourteen school districts in the SLV can work together to leverage their resources in the effort to educate kids.
On Thursday I attended a Teacher Quality Grant planning meeting at Adams State College and on Friday my focus turned to work on the San Luis Valley Education Collaborative where we began the work of establishing a structure by which the fourteen school districts in the SLV can work together to leverage their resources in the effort to educate kids.
Big Things We Are Working On
One of the major issues that arose during our improvement planning meeting held last Monday with administrators and District Leadership Team members was the concept that it is probably time to for us to shift the requirement of lesson plan submission by teachers from Monday morning as it currently stands to some point earlier in the week prior to when instruction is being planned for; perhaps the end of the day Thursday. The reason for this possible shift in due date is to allow for time to have all plans reviewed by the weekend so teachers can make needed adjustments BEFORE they actually start teaching to the plans. Currently we often don’t get plan reviews back to teachers until Tuesday or Wednesday and this means that plans needing to be improved are already being implemented before feedback gets to the teachers and they can make necessary adjustments.
As I point out this possible change I want to make it clear how we recognize that Center Schools Teachers are already among the best lesson planners in the Valley, if not the state of Colorado. They have graciously exposed themselves to weekly lesson plan reviews by administrators and peers and this process has improved planning and instruction immensely. Keeping in mind our core belief that “quality planning, instruction, and assessments lead to high student achievement for ALL,” it only makes sense that we shift our timeline to when feedback can be applied to lessons BEFORE they are delivered.
We are thinking of making this shift during the week of Spring Break in order to allow teachers the time to submit plans as normal on the Monday before the break, then have them submit their following week plans by Thursday during Spring Break and every Thursday afterward. Building Principals will be engaging with staff members at a greater level about this issue during the next several weeks.
As I point out this possible change I want to make it clear how we recognize that Center Schools Teachers are already among the best lesson planners in the Valley, if not the state of Colorado. They have graciously exposed themselves to weekly lesson plan reviews by administrators and peers and this process has improved planning and instruction immensely. Keeping in mind our core belief that “quality planning, instruction, and assessments lead to high student achievement for ALL,” it only makes sense that we shift our timeline to when feedback can be applied to lessons BEFORE they are delivered.
We are thinking of making this shift during the week of Spring Break in order to allow teachers the time to submit plans as normal on the Monday before the break, then have them submit their following week plans by Thursday during Spring Break and every Thursday afterward. Building Principals will be engaging with staff members at a greater level about this issue during the next several weeks.
Construction News
On Wednesday I attended our weekly construction core committee meeting via phone from Kristin Lortie’s office at the Colorado Department of Education. Kristin is our CDE Capital Construction Department representative who monitored our BEST application process and has been guiding us through our actual building process. She is a hard driving task-master and the community of Center can be truly grateful to Kristin because she pushed us to produce an excellent grant application and was instrumental in helping us win our appeal with the Colorado Historical Society regarding the removal of our current buildings. Her guidance and support during our construction process has led us to securing an excellent Owner’s Representative and Design Build Team and she continually stays engaged to make sure we, and the taxpayers of Colorado, are getting the best product for our dollars spent. I have included a picture of Kristin in front of a thank you poster Center kids dropped off at her office last spring.
Key issues that arose in this week’s construction meeting included concerns that there is currently too much humidity in our slabs to lay carpet and tile and that our heating system has not yet been approved for a LEED Gold rating. We will be working through these issues during the next several weeks.
Our Core Beliefs
Center Schools Core Belief Number 4 states, “there is NO excuse for poor quality instruction.” This belief means we all will do everything we can to be completely prepared to teach the children in our care, every day. One of our recent iterations of this core belief is that when regular staff members can’t fulfill their instructional roles we pursue the highest quality replacements. An example of this has been our effort to secure high quality substitute teachers by offering incentives to recently retired educators to work in Center. This has allowed us to put licensed and experienced teachers in front of our children when their regular teacher can’t be in attendance. Haskin Elementary is living up to this core belief by recently securing the services of Center’s own Jerry LeBlanc to teach the children in Honey Stecken’s 5th grade class while she is on maternity leave. We are truly lucky to have an educator of Mr. LeBlanc’s quality working for our kids!
The Week Ahead
This week will include a visit to the San Luis Valley by Colorado Association of School Executives Executive Director Bruce Caughey. I will be taking him on visits to several Valley schools on Monday and Tuesday.
We have District Accountability and Board of Education meetings on Monday evening. These were moved to Monday so families can spend Valentines evening together. I will then be in Alamosa attending the monthly SLV Superintendents Advisory Council meeting on Tuesday, followed by a Senate Bill 191 Teacher Effectiveness rules feedback meeting hosted by the Colorado Department of Education.
I will be in Houston, Texas from Wednesday through Friday attending the National Conference on Education in my role as Colorado Association of School Executives President.
We have District Accountability and Board of Education meetings on Monday evening. These were moved to Monday so families can spend Valentines evening together. I will then be in Alamosa attending the monthly SLV Superintendents Advisory Council meeting on Tuesday, followed by a Senate Bill 191 Teacher Effectiveness rules feedback meeting hosted by the Colorado Department of Education.
I will be in Houston, Texas from Wednesday through Friday attending the National Conference on Education in my role as Colorado Association of School Executives President.
Extra Points
I want to thank the Center High School Student Council and their sponsors, high school language arts teachers Diane Parker and Kindra Rounds, for the great job they did conducting the week long festival we called “The Last Hurrah.” This was done to honor the memories surrounding the Center High School Varsity Gymnasium which will be the first major school facility to formally close and be demolished in conjunction with our new PK-12 school project. The festival included fun school day events, a pep assembly, and game day festivities during the last contests played in the gym. Attendees had the opportunity to sign their names on the gym wall and Center graduates were invited to share their memories of competition in the gym. A major highlight of the night included when Bob Felmlee, a member of the 1950 Center High School State Championship Basketball Team, addressed the halftime crowd (pictured below).
On a final note, I want to comment on the fine sportsmanship shown by the Del Norte Tigers and their coach when their team arranged with CHS coach Mark Jones to allow Isaiah Sanchez, one of our most special and wonderful student athletes, to take an uncontested shot at the end of the game. I thought the opportunity afforded to Isaiah by the Del Norte team was quite classy.
Video of the Week
This week's featured video is compliments of Center High School science and math teacher Daniel Newmyer. It describes the scientific research program he has made available to all Center High School students who choose to participate. This class has been instrumental in increasing the opportunity of CHS students to pursue their passion in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math. A result of this great work has been that Center High School students have won the San Luis Valley Science Fair Small School Award during each of the last two years. Additionally, numerous research program students have qualified for state, national and international science competitions. You can view this video at http://keepingourfocus.weebly.com/videos.html
Thanks for once again listening and have another great week!
George
Thanks for once again listening and have another great week!
George