Great Things Going On
Center Schools is pleased to announce that Katrina Ruggles has been named its 2015 Teacher of the Year. Mrs. Ruggles is a contracted services counselor who also teaches middle school choices classes and our senior seminar course. She has been employed full time in the Center School District since 2005.
When not teaching these classes Katrina supports the emotional well being of students through the application of her counseling skills. However, she also has become an expert at collecting data to identify student climate, health, and safety needs and has leveraged this information to acquire numerous grants for the Center Consolidated School District. This has supported much work in the areas of student and staff health and wellness, Individual Career and Academic Planning, bully prevention training, At-Risk and Expelled Student Services, parent involvement, ACT prep, and numerous student enrichment opportunities.
Mrs. Ruggles has also been key to Center School's growth and success in that her work has brought many Americorps and Vista workers to our schools. These fine men and women have provided long term planning services, classroom instructional support, after school tutoring services, and many school year and summer enrichment opportunities for our children. All of this work has led to a significant increase in the number of Center High School students who go to college, earn scholarships, and successfully complete their studies. It has also led to a significant decrease in students demonstrating risky behaviors such as using illegal substances and engaging in unprotected sex. Because of her dedication, Center High School and Skoglund Middle School have been named Colorado Education Initiative Healthy Schools Champions 4 years in a row and Haskin Elementary School is receiving this honor for the first time this year!
Congratulations Katrina. Our students have so many more opportunities than they used to because of all of your hard work. You are truly worthy of this honor!
When not teaching these classes Katrina supports the emotional well being of students through the application of her counseling skills. However, she also has become an expert at collecting data to identify student climate, health, and safety needs and has leveraged this information to acquire numerous grants for the Center Consolidated School District. This has supported much work in the areas of student and staff health and wellness, Individual Career and Academic Planning, bully prevention training, At-Risk and Expelled Student Services, parent involvement, ACT prep, and numerous student enrichment opportunities.
Mrs. Ruggles has also been key to Center School's growth and success in that her work has brought many Americorps and Vista workers to our schools. These fine men and women have provided long term planning services, classroom instructional support, after school tutoring services, and many school year and summer enrichment opportunities for our children. All of this work has led to a significant increase in the number of Center High School students who go to college, earn scholarships, and successfully complete their studies. It has also led to a significant decrease in students demonstrating risky behaviors such as using illegal substances and engaging in unprotected sex. Because of her dedication, Center High School and Skoglund Middle School have been named Colorado Education Initiative Healthy Schools Champions 4 years in a row and Haskin Elementary School is receiving this honor for the first time this year!
Congratulations Katrina. Our students have so many more opportunities than they used to because of all of your hard work. You are truly worthy of this honor!
In other great news recently the CEO and the Chief Operations Officer from Care and Share conducted a site visit and the result was we were complemented on the success of our program as it relates to providing weekend food for our students who qualify for homeless services. As a result of the visit we were invited to apply for expanded services, including an after school snack and meal program. If we get this award we will be able to offer 200 snacks per week during our after school program.
I want to thank middle-high math teacher Stuart Church for promoting “Pi Day” by holding a celebration and challenging his students to memorize Pi to as many decimal places as possible. One of his students, Diego, actually accomplished this to the 50th decimal place. What a fun way to learn the irrationality of the formula by which the area of a circle can be measured!
Finally, I want to thank all who attended last week’s Culture and Diversity night. I want to especially thank our ESL staff consisting of Ana Bishop, JoAnn Lopez, Jerry LeBlanc, and Nate Koerber. In addition to them, I understand 3-5 principal Sarah Vance kept everyone on schedule and was a big help throughout the planning process, director of instruction Lori Cooper ordered books, board director Richie Barela attended all sessions and supported everyone throughout the night, save the Children after school tutoring coordinator Marcus Mortensen presented and supplied gift bags for children, and Haskin staff members Jessica Stevens and Gabe Swanson entertained the children while parents took in the presentations. Joyce Trujillo, Denise Martinez, Rebecca Ramos, Melissa Armenta, and Brenda Montoya also were a big help. Thanks for all your hard work!
I want to thank middle-high math teacher Stuart Church for promoting “Pi Day” by holding a celebration and challenging his students to memorize Pi to as many decimal places as possible. One of his students, Diego, actually accomplished this to the 50th decimal place. What a fun way to learn the irrationality of the formula by which the area of a circle can be measured!
Finally, I want to thank all who attended last week’s Culture and Diversity night. I want to especially thank our ESL staff consisting of Ana Bishop, JoAnn Lopez, Jerry LeBlanc, and Nate Koerber. In addition to them, I understand 3-5 principal Sarah Vance kept everyone on schedule and was a big help throughout the planning process, director of instruction Lori Cooper ordered books, board director Richie Barela attended all sessions and supported everyone throughout the night, save the Children after school tutoring coordinator Marcus Mortensen presented and supplied gift bags for children, and Haskin staff members Jessica Stevens and Gabe Swanson entertained the children while parents took in the presentations. Joyce Trujillo, Denise Martinez, Rebecca Ramos, Melissa Armenta, and Brenda Montoya also were a big help. Thanks for all your hard work!
Big Things We Are Working On
The Center Schools board of education recall election wraps up this coming Tuesday, March 17th. Saguache County Clerk and Recorder Carla Gomez says ballots will be counted that evening. A team of counters will come to her office at 2:00 PM that day and will start running ballots through the tabulating machine. Counting will continue through the afternoon. The polling center is set to close at 7PM after which no other ballots will be accepted. At that time the ballot drop box will be emptied and her staff will continue to count all ballots received. When all ballots have been counted unofficial totals will be posted in the lobby of the Saguache County Courthouse. Carla says as soon as she gets Rio Grande's numbers she will post them as well. Official totals won’t be announced until after the Canvass of the election has been completed on March 27th. If there are any changes to the school board, new members will be seated after that.
As many of you know, soon Center Schools will be naming its baseball field after long time coach Lloyd Garcia. The 2015 baseball team will be playing a double-header against Dolores Huerta on Saturday April 25th starting at 9:30 AM in the Center Community Park. An alumni softball game will then be held in conjunction with field naming ceremonies. Events will include distribution of commemorative t-shirts and a community barbeque. Former players who intend to participate need to contact Kevin Jones, LJ Garcia, or Melissa Garcia with their name, graduation year, and t-shirt size before April 10th.
Many of you have probably noticed we don't have school scheduled on any Friday between now and the end of the school year. Because of the many spring events that take place after spring break, and how this traditionally turns into Friday after Friday of instructional disruption, last year's Center Schools calendar committee recommended that we make this change. Of course the Center School District is still meeting the requirements of the State of Colorado regarding days and hours of school attended. However, this spring we hope to maximize quality instruction every Monday through Thursday while pushing things like class field trips to Fridays. Understanding that such a schedule may be difficult for some families, we have also set up many enrichment opportunities for our students on Fridays from March 20th through May 8th. On each of these days Center Schools will be sponsoring a swimming club event, allowing students to travel to the Sand Dunes Swimming Pool to swim and be supervised at little to no cost. Additionally, we are also offering the following elementary enrichment trips during consecutive Fridays from April 3rd through May 8th; Dinosaur Museum in Woodland Park, Pueblo Zoo/Rosemont House, Fort Garland Museum, Royal Gorge, a Bike Rodeo in Center, and Cliff's Amusement Park in Albuquerque. Additionally, on each of these days we also have scheduled trips to a challenge course with rock climbing instruction for middle and high school students. Parents will receive information in the mail about to how to register their children for each of these events. We encourage folks to take advantage of these opportunities.
As many of you know, soon Center Schools will be naming its baseball field after long time coach Lloyd Garcia. The 2015 baseball team will be playing a double-header against Dolores Huerta on Saturday April 25th starting at 9:30 AM in the Center Community Park. An alumni softball game will then be held in conjunction with field naming ceremonies. Events will include distribution of commemorative t-shirts and a community barbeque. Former players who intend to participate need to contact Kevin Jones, LJ Garcia, or Melissa Garcia with their name, graduation year, and t-shirt size before April 10th.
Many of you have probably noticed we don't have school scheduled on any Friday between now and the end of the school year. Because of the many spring events that take place after spring break, and how this traditionally turns into Friday after Friday of instructional disruption, last year's Center Schools calendar committee recommended that we make this change. Of course the Center School District is still meeting the requirements of the State of Colorado regarding days and hours of school attended. However, this spring we hope to maximize quality instruction every Monday through Thursday while pushing things like class field trips to Fridays. Understanding that such a schedule may be difficult for some families, we have also set up many enrichment opportunities for our students on Fridays from March 20th through May 8th. On each of these days Center Schools will be sponsoring a swimming club event, allowing students to travel to the Sand Dunes Swimming Pool to swim and be supervised at little to no cost. Additionally, we are also offering the following elementary enrichment trips during consecutive Fridays from April 3rd through May 8th; Dinosaur Museum in Woodland Park, Pueblo Zoo/Rosemont House, Fort Garland Museum, Royal Gorge, a Bike Rodeo in Center, and Cliff's Amusement Park in Albuquerque. Additionally, on each of these days we also have scheduled trips to a challenge course with rock climbing instruction for middle and high school students. Parents will receive information in the mail about to how to register their children for each of these events. We encourage folks to take advantage of these opportunities.
The Past Week
On Monday I participated in the Haskin Elementary School mid-year instructional review process along with independent consultant Wendy Birhanzel. On Tuesday I attended the San Luis Valley Superintendent Advisory Council meeting in Alamosa in the morning, then returned to Center for the regular March board of education meeting. On Wednesday I caught up on a lot of paperwork. I took Thursday and Friday off to attend to personal matters.
The Week Ahead
This Monday will be scholarship day for Center High School seniors. Juniors will be involved in ACT preparation activities all week long. Late in the day Monday I will participate in a hiring committee for the San Luis Valley BOCES as they choose a new Special Education Director. On Tuesday I have my monthly Early Steps to School Success site liaison meeting and will be waiting anxiously for the recall election count to be completed later in the evening. On Thursday afternoon I will be attending a LaLave board of directors meeting, and on Friday I will be working on items related to preparing for the April 10th regional teacher PLC event.
Of course spring break takes place from March 21st through 29th.
Thanks for listening once again!
George
Of course spring break takes place from March 21st through 29th.
Thanks for listening once again!
George