Great Things Going On
I’ll begin this week by expressing my appreciation to Haskin Elementary grade 3-5 staff members for the great work they did last week administering Colorado’s statewide reading, writing, and math proficiency assessments (TCAP). Not only were our children extremely prepared to “Rock the Test,” the assessment was conducted in a way in which our kids were truly excited about taking it and richly rewarded for their great effort on it. I want to thank Haskin 3-5 principal Sarah Vance and her core subject area staff consisting of Zoraya Vazquez, Honey Stecken, Jo Ann Evans, Colleen Hurst, Jerry Le Blanc, Jessica Stevens, Christine Mikeljack, and Ashlee Lane for their great work and for managing what could have been a disruptive test week with such wonderful expertise.
Many Center High School staff members and students are once again due congratulations as their Colorado High School Activities Association “You Can Play” video garnered top honors in the state for class 2A and won the overall contest popular vote by collecting roughly 1,300 of 3,000 votes cast! The concept behind the initiative is to encourage all types of students to become active in sports and school activities if they so choose. You can view their video on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tsDwYsztUY . Upon
hearing of this great honor Center High School teachers and coaches Mark Jones and Scott Poole were kind enough to volunteer to drive CHS video productions students Trinidad Bucio, Alyssa Tovar, Ben Torres, David Gonzalez, and Aneesah Cook to Boulder to watch their project being played in front of nearly 5,000 fans just prior to the class 4A state basketball championship game. As representatives of the video productions class that created the project they were each recognized at center court before as the video was played. A gigantic thank you also goes out to Dennis Schoenfelder and Stefan Welsh, their video productions teachers, for guiding their students through the completion of such a great project!
On a final, and somewhat less serious note, it turns out Center Consolidated Schools is home of the 2014 San Luis Valley Adult Knowledge Bowl championship team! On Thursday evening Center Schools Americorps Vista workers Raffi "Kitten" Mercuri, Matt Du Bois, and Arabia Morgan were joined by Center Schools librarian Rebecca Reed and superintendent of schools George Welsh while competing in an event designed to raise money for the Del Norte High School Knowledge Bowl Team to take a trip to Washington D.C. The amazing Center “Team Achievers” squeaked into the final round playoff against DNH’s knowledge bowl team and a team of Del Norte community members, and on the strength of Raffi Mercuri’s brain took first place in the event. Of course each Center winning team member will proudly wear their award t-shirt that says “I’m smarter than the Del Norte High School Knowledge Bowl Team!”
Big Things We Are Working On
Center Schools is currently in the midst of building its 2014-15 academic improvement plan. In doing so we will take a close look at the resources we expect to be able to employ toward improving learning opportunities and outcomes for our students. In doing so we are already anticipating having the financial ability to expand classroom teaching staff and so are advertising such possible openings. In the mean time we are wrapping up state achievement testing and I will be completing extensive evaluations of our alternative school and virtual academy directors as well as our director of instruction.
The Past Week
This past week I attended the monthly San Luis Valley Superintendent Advisory Council, our monthly district accountability meeting, and our monthly board of education meeting. On Wednesday I travelled to Cherry Creek to attend a statewide superintendent legislative meeting. There were roughly 100 Colorado superintendents present at this meeting. At the end of the session I was pleased in that I was selected to participate in a smaller steering committee to engage directly with state legislators regarding the final design of the Student Success Act. I was back in Center on Thursday and Friday to train a staff member in nonviolent crisis intervention techniques and to conduct regular office duties.
The Week Ahead
As stated above, during the coming week grades 6-10 students will be taking their 2014 Colorado TCAP assessments. On Monday many Haskin Elementary teachers will receive training in how to use the district’s new health and wellness toolkit. On Tuesday I have my monthly Early Steps to School Success early childhood literacy preparation progress meeting. On Tuesday afternoon I will be attending a GED grant budgeting meeting, and will then conduct the Center Schools Teacher of Year selection committee meeting in the late afternoon. On Wednesday I will participate in the Colorado Association of School Boards regional day at the capitol, then on Thursday I will take part in the Colorado Association of School Executives legislative advocacy day. On Friday I will complete my March payroll duties in the morning, attend a Tech Savvy Superintendent Award webinar practice run-through, and then represent the San Luis Valley at the state superintendent legislative steering committee meeting.
Extra Points
Last Friday afternoon I had the extreme pleasure of taking Mr. Richard Deitrich, his wife Margaret, and his daughter Gay on a tour of our new school facilities. While here he visited the auditorium, the high school, the gymnasium, and our beautiful science wings. Mr. Deitrich and Margaret graduated from Center High School in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s and it is clear to me they are truly proud of their roots in our community. They are both well educated and have led very productive lives working in academia in the Denver area. In addition to being a rare inductee of the Center High School Athletic Hall of Fame, it turns out Richard Deitrich’s grandfather’s name can be found on the original cornerstone from our 1918 building! He and Margaret were thrilled to see how we carefully preserved that face of the cornerstone at the entry of the
Fyock Community Library. While on the tour Richard proudly posed in front of the 1946 Center High School San Luis Valley Football Championship team picture that is displayed on our heritage wall, and he and Margaret allowed me to take their a shot of them in front of our new building dedication plaque. As they prepared to leave our campus, Mr. Deitrich mentioned how pleased he was with the news that has been coming out of Center and how, as senior citizens in Colorado, he and his wife get a discount on their property taxes. He indicated that life has treated them well and then pulled a check out of his coat pocket and presented it to me to be used on behalf of our students, saying, “This represents the discount we receive on our taxes; I want it to go to the children of Center.”
I was truly honored to be the person who got to take Mr. Deitrich and his family on their first tour of our beautiful new building. What a special afternoon it was.
Thanks for listening once again.
George
I was truly honored to be the person who got to take Mr. Deitrich and his family on their first tour of our beautiful new building. What a special afternoon it was.
Thanks for listening once again.
George