Great Things Going On Now
Congratulations are due to Center Schools Band Director Kate Newmyer and her students for their performance last week at the San Luis Valley Large Group Band Festival. Mrs. Newmyer reports that both bands offered their personal best performances. The 6th graders received rating of III-Good for their performance. The middle-high band received a rating of II-Excellent as their final score. The 6th graders were within only 7 points of a II. Mrs. Newmyer passed along thanks to Maria Villagomez for her classroom support and Julie Weatherford, Carrie Zimmerman, Kevin Jones, and AmeriCorps volunteers Montana and Jeff for helping out on the day of the trip. Nearly eighty Center students participated in this event!
Speaking of Americorps, Center Schools held a nice going away party for our current crew of workers this past Tuesday. This most recent group blessed the Center community by offering classroom instruction assistance, working at special district events, supporting the school-public library, and assisting with various community organizations. We are readying ourselves for another Americorps team that will arrive in Center within the next several weeks.
Speaking of Americorps, Center Schools held a nice going away party for our current crew of workers this past Tuesday. This most recent group blessed the Center community by offering classroom instruction assistance, working at special district events, supporting the school-public library, and assisting with various community organizations. We are readying ourselves for another Americorps team that will arrive in Center within the next several weeks.
A big thank you goes out to Jonathon Mack and his Center Recreation winter sports coaches and volunteers for a great winter season offering positive things to do for our community children. The Recreation Program held an end of season banquet and awards ceremony at the Center Schools cafeteria last Sunday and the turnout and parental support was tremendous.
I also want to take time to thank Sean Monroe for the six years of service he gave to the Center School District as our local, and then remote, Business Manager. During his time working for Center Sean did great work migrating our financial information to the Infinite Visions accounting system, producing transparent online financial statements for the community, completely digitizing our financial processes, helping us navigate our way through some very lean budget years that resulted in major budget cuts, and navigating the many information requests related to the Lobato v Colorado lawsuit. Sean resigned his position effective March 1st. At Tuesday’s special meeting the Center Schools Board of Education, at my request, appointed Betty Casanova to fill the position of Interim Business Manager. Betty is an experienced and outstanding accounting employee who has been in charge of our human resources processes and is well equipped to help us navigate through the remainder of the11-12 fiscal year. We will monitor our work in the business office for the next several months and make a decision regarding how to proceed into our accounting future by mid-summer. Thanks for your service Sean, and thank you Betty for being willing to step in on a moment’s notice!
Finally, Center High School and Skoglund Middle School students are in the midst of final preparations for this year’s San Luis Valley Science Fair. I want to thank Daniel Newmyer, Diego Martinez, Lisa Renner and all of the other supportive adults who have been working directly with our kids to help them to prepare for this big occasion. We are also encouraging the Center community to pack Plachy Hall at Adams State College on Friday March 9th at 7 PM in support of our kids to watch the awards ceremony. Projects can be viewed at Plachy from 5 to 7 PM. Forty-eight Center students will be competing this year for awards in grades 6-12.
I also want to take time to thank Sean Monroe for the six years of service he gave to the Center School District as our local, and then remote, Business Manager. During his time working for Center Sean did great work migrating our financial information to the Infinite Visions accounting system, producing transparent online financial statements for the community, completely digitizing our financial processes, helping us navigate our way through some very lean budget years that resulted in major budget cuts, and navigating the many information requests related to the Lobato v Colorado lawsuit. Sean resigned his position effective March 1st. At Tuesday’s special meeting the Center Schools Board of Education, at my request, appointed Betty Casanova to fill the position of Interim Business Manager. Betty is an experienced and outstanding accounting employee who has been in charge of our human resources processes and is well equipped to help us navigate through the remainder of the11-12 fiscal year. We will monitor our work in the business office for the next several months and make a decision regarding how to proceed into our accounting future by mid-summer. Thanks for your service Sean, and thank you Betty for being willing to step in on a moment’s notice!
Finally, Center High School and Skoglund Middle School students are in the midst of final preparations for this year’s San Luis Valley Science Fair. I want to thank Daniel Newmyer, Diego Martinez, Lisa Renner and all of the other supportive adults who have been working directly with our kids to help them to prepare for this big occasion. We are also encouraging the Center community to pack Plachy Hall at Adams State College on Friday March 9th at 7 PM in support of our kids to watch the awards ceremony. Projects can be viewed at Plachy from 5 to 7 PM. Forty-eight Center students will be competing this year for awards in grades 6-12.
The Past Week
I travelled to Denver and back on Monday for the monthly Colorado Education Association, Colorado Association of School Boards, Colorado Association of School Executives Anchor Group meeting. At this session we discussed what is currently happening in the legislature and how we can work together to communicate our needs regarding possible legislation.
On Monday evening I had the pleasure of attending the Sargent Schools Board of Education meeting to share information about our SLV Race to the Top Collaborative.
We had a formal Colorado Department of Education Turnaround Grant site visit at Haskin Elementary School on Tuesday during which CDE personnel interviewed district administrators, the Haskin Elementary School Building Leadership Team, parents of Haskin students, Haskin staff members, and actual Haskin students. This work was done in advance of a possible visit and on-site review by United States Department of Education officials.
On Tuesday evening we held a special Board of Education meeting-work session for the purpose of accepting our fiscal year 2011 audit and educating the Board on the requirements of SB 191.
Wednesday morning I attended a webinar with Middle-High RTI coordinator Susan Banning and Center High School principal Kevin Jones in order to explore the possibility of using a program called Live Mocha to deliver more option for foreign language instruction to our high school students. During that afternoon I met with Moffat Schools principal Kirk Banghart to begin designing the scope of work for our Valley Race to the Top Collaborative.
I continued Race to the Top Collaborative work on Thursday morning with Alamosa assistant superintendent Mark Meyer and SLV BOCES executive director Nita McAuliffe, then transitioned to attend an El Pomar awards luncheon where the Center School District was awarded $16,000 in grants for adult education, the Center Recreation Program, and the Center school-public library.
I took a personal day with my family on Friday.
On Monday evening I had the pleasure of attending the Sargent Schools Board of Education meeting to share information about our SLV Race to the Top Collaborative.
We had a formal Colorado Department of Education Turnaround Grant site visit at Haskin Elementary School on Tuesday during which CDE personnel interviewed district administrators, the Haskin Elementary School Building Leadership Team, parents of Haskin students, Haskin staff members, and actual Haskin students. This work was done in advance of a possible visit and on-site review by United States Department of Education officials.
On Tuesday evening we held a special Board of Education meeting-work session for the purpose of accepting our fiscal year 2011 audit and educating the Board on the requirements of SB 191.
Wednesday morning I attended a webinar with Middle-High RTI coordinator Susan Banning and Center High School principal Kevin Jones in order to explore the possibility of using a program called Live Mocha to deliver more option for foreign language instruction to our high school students. During that afternoon I met with Moffat Schools principal Kirk Banghart to begin designing the scope of work for our Valley Race to the Top Collaborative.
I continued Race to the Top Collaborative work on Thursday morning with Alamosa assistant superintendent Mark Meyer and SLV BOCES executive director Nita McAuliffe, then transitioned to attend an El Pomar awards luncheon where the Center School District was awarded $16,000 in grants for adult education, the Center Recreation Program, and the Center school-public library.
I took a personal day with my family on Friday.
Big Things We Are Working On
The finalization of our fiscal year 2011 audit on Tuesday showed we had $621,000 in reserves as of July 1, 2011. This is a bit more than the $550,000 we actually budgeted for, though $132,000 of this reserve is dedicated to our preschool program and will be soon be spent on aspects of the construction project related to it.
Unfortunately we had findings in our audit related to internal controls, specifically the timeliness of producing our financial statements and of some federal programs reporting. We have already developed an action plan to address these matters and expect to not have this occur in the future.
The Center Schools board of education recently conducted a work session about where the district is regarding required implementation of SB 191, Colorado’s new administrator and teacher effectiveness law. At this session the Board reviewed the progress Center has been making as a member of the Colorado Department of Education pilot program and reviewed current drafts of the documents that will be used to evaluate building administrators and teachers in the coming years.
Unfortunately we had findings in our audit related to internal controls, specifically the timeliness of producing our financial statements and of some federal programs reporting. We have already developed an action plan to address these matters and expect to not have this occur in the future.
The Center Schools board of education recently conducted a work session about where the district is regarding required implementation of SB 191, Colorado’s new administrator and teacher effectiveness law. At this session the Board reviewed the progress Center has been making as a member of the Colorado Department of Education pilot program and reviewed current drafts of the documents that will be used to evaluate building administrators and teachers in the coming years.
Construction News
We have finally begun the process of disposing of property that will no longer be needed when we move into the new PK-12 facility. In the next few months hundreds of items will be taken off the district’s inventory through a sealed bid process. Large ticket items including portable buildings, vehicles, and kitchen appliances will be sold as well as smaller things including playground equipment and furniture. You can view the items that come up for bid at the following Center Schools website link: http://www.center.k12.co.us/admin/bid_items/center.htm There are also documents at this link that describe the process people must go through to compete for each item.
In other exciting construction news, GE Johnson turned on our new in-floor heat system to test it for leaks and to possibly dry out our cement slabs in preparation for adhering flooring materials in the next several months.
This week there was an article in the Denver Post titled “Big campaign contributors land lucrative school building contracts” that talked about how sometimes construction companies and investment bankers get deeply involved in local bond elections by contributing to those campaigns that, in the end, can result in their gaining business with a school district.
You can see the article at http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20088045#ixzz1o0LJ3Rew
In other exciting construction news, GE Johnson turned on our new in-floor heat system to test it for leaks and to possibly dry out our cement slabs in preparation for adhering flooring materials in the next several months.
This week there was an article in the Denver Post titled “Big campaign contributors land lucrative school building contracts” that talked about how sometimes construction companies and investment bankers get deeply involved in local bond elections by contributing to those campaigns that, in the end, can result in their gaining business with a school district.
You can see the article at http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20088045#ixzz1o0LJ3Rew
Upon reading the article I reflected on our recent experience in Center where we had the folks at Neenan produce a master plan for the district, and our investment banker, RBC Capital Markets, supported us with legal help surrounding our bond election. The only contributions these two companies offered to the Center PA+SS committee were services. Neenan provided the drawings the support committee needed to put out accurate information about the project. RBC provided assistance in sharing information about the actual tax impact community members would experience if the election were successful. After the election was won RBC sold our bonds at a rate suggested by the Colorado Department of Education Capital Construction Unit and Neenan became one of three finalists to build our project, but was not chosen to do so in the end.
To me, the article reveals the high importance of having a Capital Construction support unit like the one we have at CDE. Nowhere in my personal preparation to become a superintendent of schools was I exposed to any coursework that prepared me to deal with an issue such as creating a master plan and running a bond election for a new building. Throughout our process in Center the CDE Capital Construction Unit offered advice regarding how best to proceed with such matters as competitively securing a master planner, an investment banker, an owner’s representative, and a design build team. This helped us to make decisions not based on who contributed most to winning our bond election, but rather based on who would give our kids and community the biggest value for the dollar spent.
To me, the article reveals the high importance of having a Capital Construction support unit like the one we have at CDE. Nowhere in my personal preparation to become a superintendent of schools was I exposed to any coursework that prepared me to deal with an issue such as creating a master plan and running a bond election for a new building. Throughout our process in Center the CDE Capital Construction Unit offered advice regarding how best to proceed with such matters as competitively securing a master planner, an investment banker, an owner’s representative, and a design build team. This helped us to make decisions not based on who contributed most to winning our bond election, but rather based on who would give our kids and community the biggest value for the dollar spent.
Our Core Beliefs
Core beliefs are the foundation of an organizations work. They are meant to be a guide for making tough decisions and taking daily action. Our core beliefs in Center Schools are as follows:
1. Our purpose is to increase academic achievement for ALL students
2. With our support ALL children can achieve at high levels
3. Quality planning, instruction, and assessments lead to high student achievement for ALL
4. There is NO excuse for poor quality instruction
5. We are preparing ALL our students to be successful in life
6. EVERYONE must be committed to the pursuit of excellence
These were adopted by our Board of Education a little more than a year ago and they focus on two major themes. First, the work we do is for ALL students. Second, we expect EVERYONE to strive to do this work.
Since we adopted these beliefs, Center Schools has hired and evaluated people based on their personal alignment to them. We continually educate our staff, students and community members about them as well.
1. Our purpose is to increase academic achievement for ALL students
2. With our support ALL children can achieve at high levels
3. Quality planning, instruction, and assessments lead to high student achievement for ALL
4. There is NO excuse for poor quality instruction
5. We are preparing ALL our students to be successful in life
6. EVERYONE must be committed to the pursuit of excellence
These were adopted by our Board of Education a little more than a year ago and they focus on two major themes. First, the work we do is for ALL students. Second, we expect EVERYONE to strive to do this work.
Since we adopted these beliefs, Center Schools has hired and evaluated people based on their personal alignment to them. We continually educate our staff, students and community members about them as well.
The Week Ahead
Our State Board of Education Representative Marcia Neal will be touring the San Luis Valley on Monday. She will begin her tour with a visit to Center Schools, including a look in on our operating schools and a walkthrough of our construction project. I will be following Marcia’s visit by attending the Adams State College Teacher Education Program review meeting and reception. ASC is in the process of having their program reviewed by the Colorado Department of Higher Education. This is done on a periodic basis and the review team requests local education agency participation in the process.
On Tuesday I will attend the monthly San Luis Valley Superintendent Advisory Council meeting. At the Professional Learning Community portion of this event Paul Worthington from Lindamood-Bell will be presenting an opportunity for Valley school districts to participate in a US Department of Education pilot program regarding intervening with struggling readers before they are identified with special education needs. At this meeting Valley superintendents will also be finalizing the scope of work that will be completed through our Race to the Top collaborative. After the SAC meeting I will be attending an information session to be presented by Enet Colorado about possible opportunities to increase online learning opportunities for Center Schools students. I will end my busy day on Tuesday evening by attending the Sierra Grande School District Board of Education meeting to support their superintendent Darren Edgar in presenting our Race to the Top Valley Collaborative concept to them.
On Wednesday I will be meeting with Music Teacher Kate Newmyer to plan details for the upcoming move of her program this summer. I’ll be back at Adams State College in the middle of the day for more work surrounding their Teacher Education Program review. I will end my day on Wednesday evening at the San Luis Valley BOCES Board meeting to once again communicate more information about our Race to the Top Valley Collaborative to Board members representing school districts from all over the Valley.
On Tuesday I will attend the monthly San Luis Valley Superintendent Advisory Council meeting. At the Professional Learning Community portion of this event Paul Worthington from Lindamood-Bell will be presenting an opportunity for Valley school districts to participate in a US Department of Education pilot program regarding intervening with struggling readers before they are identified with special education needs. At this meeting Valley superintendents will also be finalizing the scope of work that will be completed through our Race to the Top collaborative. After the SAC meeting I will be attending an information session to be presented by Enet Colorado about possible opportunities to increase online learning opportunities for Center Schools students. I will end my busy day on Tuesday evening by attending the Sierra Grande School District Board of Education meeting to support their superintendent Darren Edgar in presenting our Race to the Top Valley Collaborative concept to them.
On Wednesday I will be meeting with Music Teacher Kate Newmyer to plan details for the upcoming move of her program this summer. I’ll be back at Adams State College in the middle of the day for more work surrounding their Teacher Education Program review. I will end my day on Wednesday evening at the San Luis Valley BOCES Board meeting to once again communicate more information about our Race to the Top Valley Collaborative to Board members representing school districts from all over the Valley.
On Thursday Center Schools will have a press visit by Nancy Mitchell from Education News Colorado. Nancy is part of a cadre of reporters who are doing an in-depth investigative report on turnaround program results. Thursday also brings about the first day of competition at the San Luis Valley Science Fair
I’ll be in Denver on Friday to attend the quarterly Colorado Association of School Executives Executive Committee and Coordinating Council meetings. I am hoping to also stop in on our architects on Friday afternoon to work on the design of our new school Community Wall. I’ll be doing my best to make it back to Alamosa for the SLV Science Fair awards ceremony on Friday evening at 7.
I’ll be in Denver on Friday to attend the quarterly Colorado Association of School Executives Executive Committee and Coordinating Council meetings. I am hoping to also stop in on our architects on Friday afternoon to work on the design of our new school Community Wall. I’ll be doing my best to make it back to Alamosa for the SLV Science Fair awards ceremony on Friday evening at 7.
Extra Points
I have recently been writing a lot about work being done to set up a San Luis Valley Race to the Top Collaborative. This is in relation to funding Colorado received through a Race to the Top Round 3 grant award. Provisions of the grant require the state to distribute RTTT3 dollars to individual school districts based on their Title I funding formula. Because of varying size and at-risk population this means San Luis Valley districts have received dollar amounts ranging from as little as $1,097 in Creede to as much as $52,079 in Alamosa. Center’s allocation is $35,799 dollars.
A stipulation for accepting RTTT3 dollars is that school districts will spend them toward implementing our new state standards, preparing to put into practice the new administrator and teacher effectiveness law established through SB 191, and by focusing on science, technology, education and math achievement.
A cadre of San Luis Valley superintendents and school board members have realized that if we put our RTTT3 dollars together (amounting to a total of $209, 670 for the entire SLV) we can leverage them to get more accomplished on behalf of our children. As of right now nearly all of our Valley districts have come together to do this and the work we look to accomplish is as follows:
· Assessing and monitoring school and district capacity to determine their needs for services.
· Developing and refining a baseline San Luis Valley curriculum aligned to new state standards for all Valley schools.
· Creating Teacher Professional Learning Communities focusing on fundamentals of instruction such as planning quality objectives, engaging all students in lessons, measuring student outcomes on a daily basis, and using data to drive future instructional decisions.
· Creating Building Administrator Professional Learning Communities focusing on fundamentals of leadership including developing collaborative building leadership teams, supporting Teachers in delivering the curriculum, providing instructional feedback focused on improvement, and evaluating Teachers according to the provisions of SB 191.
· Creating District Level Administrator Professional Learning Communities focusing on fundamentals of district leadership including developing collaborative district leadership teams, communicating about change processes, aligning resources to improvement efforts and evaluating Building Administrators based on the provisions of SB 191.
The exciting part of creating this Valley RTTT3 collaborative is that by doing so San Luis Valley school districts will become a more attractive place for the Colorado Department of Education and grantors to invest dollars to support education improvement efforts for our students.
SLV Superintendents will attempt to agree on and finalize the scope of work to be completed through this collaborative at Tuesday’s Superintendent Advisory council meeting in Alamosa.
A stipulation for accepting RTTT3 dollars is that school districts will spend them toward implementing our new state standards, preparing to put into practice the new administrator and teacher effectiveness law established through SB 191, and by focusing on science, technology, education and math achievement.
A cadre of San Luis Valley superintendents and school board members have realized that if we put our RTTT3 dollars together (amounting to a total of $209, 670 for the entire SLV) we can leverage them to get more accomplished on behalf of our children. As of right now nearly all of our Valley districts have come together to do this and the work we look to accomplish is as follows:
· Assessing and monitoring school and district capacity to determine their needs for services.
· Developing and refining a baseline San Luis Valley curriculum aligned to new state standards for all Valley schools.
· Creating Teacher Professional Learning Communities focusing on fundamentals of instruction such as planning quality objectives, engaging all students in lessons, measuring student outcomes on a daily basis, and using data to drive future instructional decisions.
· Creating Building Administrator Professional Learning Communities focusing on fundamentals of leadership including developing collaborative building leadership teams, supporting Teachers in delivering the curriculum, providing instructional feedback focused on improvement, and evaluating Teachers according to the provisions of SB 191.
· Creating District Level Administrator Professional Learning Communities focusing on fundamentals of district leadership including developing collaborative district leadership teams, communicating about change processes, aligning resources to improvement efforts and evaluating Building Administrators based on the provisions of SB 191.
The exciting part of creating this Valley RTTT3 collaborative is that by doing so San Luis Valley school districts will become a more attractive place for the Colorado Department of Education and grantors to invest dollars to support education improvement efforts for our students.
SLV Superintendents will attempt to agree on and finalize the scope of work to be completed through this collaborative at Tuesday’s Superintendent Advisory council meeting in Alamosa.
Video of the Week
In honor of fine performances this past week by the Center Schools bands I am posting a video Kate Newmyer made a few years ago in promotion of the great student participants she has. You can see this video at:
http://keepingourfocus.weebly.com/videos.html
Thanks for listening again and have another great week.
George
http://keepingourfocus.weebly.com/videos.html
Thanks for listening again and have another great week.
George