Great Things Going On
This past week much of the Center Schools administrative team attended the Colorado Association of School Executives summer conference. While there Center Virtual Academy director, and part time Colorado Department of Education employee Chris Vance and his wife Haskin Elementary School 3-5 principal Sarah presented to others about the great work we are doing at Center Schools. Their talk related to the implementation of Senate Bill 191 style teacher evaluations, especially as it relates to applying measures of student learning to teacher evaluation.
While at the conference I had the opportunity to meet with Centennial Schools K-12 principal and part time Colorado Education Initiative employee Curtis Garcia, as well as Moffat School District superintendent Kirk Banghart, about preparations being made for 2014-15 all San Luis Valley teacher PLC work. Curtis is helping us design a process by which our regional teachers will validate and improve common quarterly assessments already created, and Kirk is organizing tests and ensuring that teachers can easily access all of them during the coming year.
While at the conference I had the opportunity to meet with Centennial Schools K-12 principal and part time Colorado Education Initiative employee Curtis Garcia, as well as Moffat School District superintendent Kirk Banghart, about preparations being made for 2014-15 all San Luis Valley teacher PLC work. Curtis is helping us design a process by which our regional teachers will validate and improve common quarterly assessments already created, and Kirk is organizing tests and ensuring that teachers can easily access all of them during the coming year.
Speaking of All Valley PLC work, Center Schools is proud of its many staff members who continually volunteer to guide this important process by leading their grade level-subject area cohort. Of the 24 PLC committees that meet, fourteen are guided in whole or part by Center educators. These folks will soon be engaged in a lot of work to prepare for leading their four common All Valley PLC sessions that will take place during the coming school year. They are Kathy Garcia, Ashley Lane, Jessica Stevens, Colleen Hurst, Linda Donaldson, Gail Martinez, Mimi Dolan, Diego Martinez, Scott Poole, Andy Hawkins, Lori Cooper, Melissa Garcia, Rebecca Reed, and Lauren McEvoy.
One of the more enjoyable parts of my job as superintendent of schools each summer is getting the opportunity to meet with and take many of our alumni on class reunion tours of our facilities. Nowadays these tours are a little different than they used to be, as the buildings these folks once attended no longer exist. However, I have found that each reunion gathering is very interested in the make-up of our new school facilities and how Center’s students are performing at this point in time. Last Friday I had the enjoyable task of taking members of the Center High School classes of 1964 and 1974 on such tours, and must say I truly appreciated the opportunity to meet them and learn about their experiences as Center Schools students.
One of the more enjoyable parts of my job as superintendent of schools each summer is getting the opportunity to meet with and take many of our alumni on class reunion tours of our facilities. Nowadays these tours are a little different than they used to be, as the buildings these folks once attended no longer exist. However, I have found that each reunion gathering is very interested in the make-up of our new school facilities and how Center’s students are performing at this point in time. Last Friday I had the enjoyable task of taking members of the Center High School classes of 1964 and 1974 on such tours, and must say I truly appreciated the opportunity to meet them and learn about their experiences as Center Schools students.
Big Things We Are Working On
Our major focus at the moment is getting our classrooms and grounds ready for the 2014-15 school year. I want to thank the Center Schools facilities staff for the great work they have done tackling the weeds on our grounds, and carefully tending to the wonderful trees and shrubs that are sprinkled all over the site. In all my years in education I have never seen a school look so welcoming to students and community members just from the outside. While tending to these issues we are also working with our friends at GE Johnson to complete two year warranty items and am pleased to say we have seen a lot of action on campus related to these matters.
While working hard to get the school site ready for students we are also quite focused on preparing our people for the coming academic year. School offices will reopen on Monday July 28th. During the next two weeks we will welcome new teachers to campus and orient them to our instructional, technology, healthcare, facilities, business office, and transportation routines. We then look forward to the rest of our teachers returning to work on Thursday August 7th, and students kicking off the new year on Monday August 11th.
While working hard to get the school site ready for students we are also quite focused on preparing our people for the coming academic year. School offices will reopen on Monday July 28th. During the next two weeks we will welcome new teachers to campus and orient them to our instructional, technology, healthcare, facilities, business office, and transportation routines. We then look forward to the rest of our teachers returning to work on Thursday August 7th, and students kicking off the new year on Monday August 11th.
The Past Week
Last week I attended the Colorado Association of School Executives convention along with six other Center Schools administrators. At this event we got to share with others what we have learned about increasing student achievement, and we had the opportunity to learn from others about what they are doing to improve learning opportunities for their kids. During the convention I had the opportunity to explore the process of setting up competency based learning systems by learning from a contingent of leaders from the state of Maine, and board of education directors and administrators from the Adams 50 School District right here in Colorado. I also attended the Colorado Department of Education Rural Education Council meeting, a rural educators workshop, a luncheon where Commissioner Robert Hammond shared information about the Colorado Department of Education’s efforts to enact the many education reforms the state has been charged with, a work session related to the San Luis Valley Race to the Top collaborative, the Commissioners Superintendent Advisory Council meeting, the Colorado Association of Senior School Administrators department meeting, several general sessions, and various breakout sessions. Also, during a Thursday breakout session I presented the work we have accomplished through our Haskin Elementary School turnaround project and our partnership with Focal Point. However, one of the best parts of our convention attendance was the opportunity we all got to do administrative team building, specifically getting to know our new Skoglund Middle School principal Luis Murillo better.
The Week Ahead
New staff member orientation will take place beginning on Thursday July 31st with our new teachers learning about building operations processes, getting set up with technology accounts, getting oriented to our district health services, learning how to access our transportation services, and learning how to navigate our purchasing processes. I appreciate the work our building principals, Lori Cooper, Chris Vance, Linda Donaldson, Jessica Stevens, Mike Phillips, Alice Burch, Rich Brandt, Julio Paez, and Betty Casanova are doing to support our new folks on this front.
Extra Points
This weekend in the San Francisco Bay area, my 24 year-old son Adam will marry an extraordinarily intelligent Sargent High School graduate and beautiful young lady with Center roots, Ashlee DeHerrera. Because of this I will be trekking to California during the coming week to prepare for, and even officiate, the wedding ceremony. Ashlee is the granddaughter of two wonderful families with Center roots, Steve and Judy DeHerrera, and Lynn and Pam Bogle. We are proud and excited to add Ashlee to our family and thrilled to expand our family connections with such wonderful people from the Center area.
Thanks for listening once again and have a great week!
George
Thanks for listening once again and have a great week!
George