Great Things Going On
I want to begin this week by thanking our Haskin Elementary staff members for coming in early this past Monday to attend bullying prevention training. They are going through the same process that middle-high staff members did earlier in the year and I have no doubt this effort will be of great benefit to our younger children as well.
Center Schools principals spent most of this week conducting mid-year teacher evaluations. Skoglund Middle School principal Luis Murillo, upon going through this process for the first time, had this to say. “I can honestly say it was an intense process from start to finish. This being my first year conducting these, and also considering the changes in the rubric from last year, I spent an average of at least one hour per staff member filling out their paperwork. In addition I had the pleasure of having very interesting hour-long conversations with 12 of our teachers in regard to how we can continue to work together to bring about improvements that will directly impact student learning.” He added that, “our teachers receive feedback well. Needless to say I also heard a lot of things I personally need to work on and I also want to thank them for that.”
Center Schools principals spent most of this week conducting mid-year teacher evaluations. Skoglund Middle School principal Luis Murillo, upon going through this process for the first time, had this to say. “I can honestly say it was an intense process from start to finish. This being my first year conducting these, and also considering the changes in the rubric from last year, I spent an average of at least one hour per staff member filling out their paperwork. In addition I had the pleasure of having very interesting hour-long conversations with 12 of our teachers in regard to how we can continue to work together to bring about improvements that will directly impact student learning.” He added that, “our teachers receive feedback well. Needless to say I also heard a lot of things I personally need to work on and I also want to thank them for that.”
Mr. Murillo was also asked to travel to Sargent Schools last week to present to their student body about culture, inclusion and racism. He said he felt very welcome and was quite appreciative of sharing some of his past experiences with students from a school with a different student body makeup than that in Center.
Last week Skoglund Middle School student Hunter Paiz represented Center Schools at the Adams State University History Fair. Hunter presented a research project called "Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party" and had a great learning experience while doing so. I would like to commend Hunter’s parents whom I have seen being very supportive of Hunter’s interest in history over the past several years. I think they are doing a super job of helping him to pursue his learning passion!
Finally, this week I want to offer a tremendous thank you to a whole slew of people who made this year’s Center High School Valley Classic Wrestling Tournament the best we have ever hosted! Beginning with Center High School principal and athletic director Kevin Jones who did an outstanding job with the overall coordination of the event, who magically attracted some of the best teams in the state of Colorado, and who did a great
Finally, this week I want to offer a tremendous thank you to a whole slew of people who made this year’s Center High School Valley Classic Wrestling Tournament the best we have ever hosted! Beginning with Center High School principal and athletic director Kevin Jones who did an outstanding job with the overall coordination of the event, who magically attracted some of the best teams in the state of Colorado, and who did a great
job securing help to run the whole thing! I also want to thank the Kiwanis Club of Center and the Center High School KEY Club who pitched in to hold a pancake breakfast to feed the wrestlers and many community members first thing in the morning. I also need to thank RTI coordinator Susan Banning and many of our Center Schools staff members for once again doing a great job hosting the coach’s and helper's hospitality room and pitching in with home made dishes to share with our many visitors. The CHS Cheerleaders and their coach Kimberly Duran also did a wonderful job cheering on our boys, putting on a great pre-finals dance performance, and coordinating the distribution of awards and medals. John Noriega, Chris Vance, and Sarah Vance ran the public address system, bracketing, scoring and bout establishment process. Their work, as always, went off without a hitch! I also want to thank our technology department (Julio Paez, Teddy Garcia, and Ascension Najera) for the great work they did setting up your technology and providing championship round photography services, and Stefan Welsh’s video productions class for live streaming both the preliminary and final rounds. This made it possible for folks to see the event even if they were not present. Our custodial staff once again did a great job with set-up, maintenance, and clean up of the entire event. Finally, I want to thank our wrestling team and their coaches for being great hosts, setting up and breaking down the mats, and wrestling with tremendous grit and courage! Thanks everyone for representing our schools and our community so well!
Big Things We Are Working On
Center High School made it through the first round of consideration for a possible Schools of Opportunity award and so now we must provide some follow up information regarding actual class offerings, student participation in advanced and college level coursework, and our use of technology in the classroom to support student learning. I am spending time on this work on Sunday and Monday because the end of the day February 2nd is the deadline by which this information needs to be submitted.
As you could tell from my descriptions above, Center Schools is in the midst of completing mid-year evaluations of all certified employees. Our K-12 principals have already been holding conferences with our teachers and I will soon be doing the same with those principals. It is exciting to see how serious we take this process because I think doing such effective evaluations of our folks at mid-year offers each employee the opportunity to grow and improve throughout the remainder of the year.
As you could tell from my descriptions above, Center Schools is in the midst of completing mid-year evaluations of all certified employees. Our K-12 principals have already been holding conferences with our teachers and I will soon be doing the same with those principals. It is exciting to see how serious we take this process because I think doing such effective evaluations of our folks at mid-year offers each employee the opportunity to grow and improve throughout the remainder of the year.
The Past Week
On Monday morning Haskin Elementary teachers received bullying prevention training. On that same day I attended a Healthy Eaters - Lifelong Movers steering committee meeting in Alamosa. On Tuesday Center School Board president Michael Lobato and I met with Del Norte School Board president Wendy Mellot and superintendent Nathan Smith about an effort being made to erase Colorado’s education funding negative factor by school board leaders throughout the state. On Tuesday evening Center High School students had an opportunity to take an ACT test preparation course. On Wednesday I had a nice communication meeting with our director of technology Julio Paez. On Thursday I attended a “community wealth-building” luncheon in Del Norte that is aimed at establishing a San Luis Valley wide community foundation. That evening I was also on hand to call the play by play for the Center vs. Custer County basketball games. On Saturday I pitched in to help out at the annual Valley Classic Wrestling Tournament just like so many of our staff and community members did.
The Week Ahead
On Sunday I worked on this publication and I worked on revising details related to our Schools of Opportunity award nomination. I have a meeting on Monday afternoon with Ray Abbot to work on matters related to how to transfer ownership of the old Masonic building to Center Schools. I’ll also be finalizing our Schools of Opportunity award revisions on Monday morning. On Tuesday I will be in Denver to chair the quarterly Colorado School Safety Resource Center advisory board meeting. On Wednesday I will work on mid-year principal evaluation documents. On Thursday and Friday I will be in Westminster along with Kevin Jones, Luis Murillo, and Lori Cooper to attend the Colorado Association of School Executives Winter Leadership Conference.
Extra Points
National School Counseling Week, sponsored by the American School Counselor Association, will be celebrated this week from Feb. 2–6, to focus public attention on the unique contribution of professional school counselors within U.S. school systems and how students lives are improved as a result of what school counselors do. National School Counseling Week highlights the tremendous impact school counselors can have in helping students achieve school success and plan for a career.
The special week honoring school counselors provides recognition for those who "implement comprehensive school counseling programs, a vital part of the educational process for all students as they meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
In honor of this week I want to recognize Adele Alfson, Katrina Ruggles and Lauren McEvoy for the wonderful work they do in support of our children here in Center.
"School counselors work with all students to remove barriers to learning by addressing students’ academic concerns, career awareness in post-secondary options and personal/social skills,” said Kwok-Sze Wong, Ed.D., ASCA executive director. “Comprehensive school counseling programs help to increase student achievement and provide a much-needed resource for students, parents, teachers and administrators. School counselors are integral to student success."
More than 32,000 school counselors nationwide will be participating in the week's festivities. Many school counselors will be hosting special events and activities to call attention to the myriad benefits of a comprehensive school counseling program.
Thanks for listening!
George
The special week honoring school counselors provides recognition for those who "implement comprehensive school counseling programs, a vital part of the educational process for all students as they meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
In honor of this week I want to recognize Adele Alfson, Katrina Ruggles and Lauren McEvoy for the wonderful work they do in support of our children here in Center.
"School counselors work with all students to remove barriers to learning by addressing students’ academic concerns, career awareness in post-secondary options and personal/social skills,” said Kwok-Sze Wong, Ed.D., ASCA executive director. “Comprehensive school counseling programs help to increase student achievement and provide a much-needed resource for students, parents, teachers and administrators. School counselors are integral to student success."
More than 32,000 school counselors nationwide will be participating in the week's festivities. Many school counselors will be hosting special events and activities to call attention to the myriad benefits of a comprehensive school counseling program.
Thanks for listening!
George