Great Things Going On
The Center Consolidated School District is pleased to announce that Skoglund Middle School-Center High School Math-Science Teacher Daniel Newmyer has been named its 2012-13 Teacher of the Year! Mr. Newmyer has seven years of teaching experience, his last four being in the Center Consolidated School District. He clearly demonstrates a passion for his subjects and continually encourages his students to compete in science and engineering fairs at all possible levels. In his current position he has personally applied for and secured tens of thousands of dollars worth of grants that have allowed students the opportunity to compete in local, state, national, and international science and engineering fairs. Mr. Newmyer not only guides his students to participate in these competitions, he has also seen them win! Under his guidance Center High School has gone from completely lacking a science fair program at the high school level to securing the San Luis Valley Science Fair Small High School Award for the past 4 consecutive years, qualifying numerous students to attend state, national, and international competitions, and actually placing for an international award. Daniel Newmyer has not only been recognized locally for his teaching excellence, as many of you know he was recently granted the Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award. You can read more about this at this link.
Many folks around the Valley may have seen a newspaper this past week about how one of our area districts may be struggling to ensure their TCAP testing processes meet the requirements set forth by the Colorado Department of Education. Just in case anyone is worried about how we conduct this process in Center, I would like to share that our Director of Instruction Lori Cooper attends CDE training sessions each year, then holds all staff inservice activities to ensure our teachers carefully follow the rules. Test security is taken seriously, with tests being made available in the building only during the time span when they are to be given. They are locked up each evening during the testing window so they can’t be tampered with by staff members or building administrators. I know it is quite a tedious process for our staff members to go through each year, but this helps us to ensure the test is given according to CDE rules and the data we get after the tests are scored truthfully reflect what our kids know and are able to do. This is a big job that can sometimes be confusing and Lori Cooper deserves a gigantic thank you for the hard work she does each year making sure it is done correctly!
Haskin Elementary 2nd and 3rd grade math teacher Jessica Stevens put her teacher assigned iPad to use as a document camera this week, thanks to a stand designed and built by her father. After using it to teach her first lesson Jessica excitedly and unexpectedly discovered her iPad actually created a video copy of the lesson she had just taught her students. Of course Ms. Stevens quickly realized this would be a valuable resource to any child who may have been absent during the time she taught her lesson, and immediately worked to establish a website where these lessons can be posted for review by her students. Great job Ms. Stevens! Thanks for being willing to try new things with instructional technology. You can view a video of one of Ms. Stevens lessons at the following link.
Congratulations go out to the students and staff members of Center High School as Colorado Department of Education rural education liaison Tina Goar stopped by CHS to deliver the 2012 Centers of Excellence banner to Mr. Jones. This was done in a nice ceremony that took place in the varsity gymnasium. This marks the 4th consecutive year CHS has earned this award. You can read this Alamosa Valley Courier article by Lauren Krizansky to learn more about this honor.
Congratulations go out to the students and staff members of Center High School as Colorado Department of Education rural education liaison Tina Goar stopped by CHS to deliver the 2012 Centers of Excellence banner to Mr. Jones. This was done in a nice ceremony that took place in the varsity gymnasium. This marks the 4th consecutive year CHS has earned this award. You can read this Alamosa Valley Courier article by Lauren Krizansky to learn more about this honor.
The Past Week
This past week I attended CEA, CASE, CASB Anchor Group in Denver on Monday. At this session we learned more about how CDE plans to proceed with Turnaround schools and districts. On Tuesday I attended the monthly San Luis Valley Superintendent Advisory Council meeting in Alamosa, as well as our own District Accountability Committee and Board meetings. On Wednesday I had the pleasure of meeting with some district teachers who participated in a teacher evaluation student feedback pilot. At this meeting we made decisions about how to proceed with this process. On Friday I was in Thornton attending a required CDE meeting about the revised Consolidated Grant Application process.
Big Things We Are Working On
On Tuesday the Center school board filled its open seat, appointing James Sanchez to fill it. Mr. Sanchez is a long time Center resident who serves as the Center municipal court judge and who recently retired form a long career as a United States postal worker, including having been Center’s postmaster. Mr. Sanchez is filling an at-large seat that will come up for election again this November.
During the board meeting my annual superintendent evaluation was conducted and I was approved for a contract for the 2013-14 school year. The board greatly appreciated the feedback offered by the many staff members who responded to my evaluation survey. They highlighted areas where they feel I am doing well and encouraged me to focus on some areas where staff members are voicing concerns. The 2013-14 school year will be my 18th in Center, 17th as superintendent of schools.
On Friday it was announced that the San Luis Valley Race to the Top consortium has been awarded a Colorado Legacy Foundation Extended Learning Opportunities grant. This award will allow us to set up pilot one to one tablet programs in each of the San Luis Valley school districts.
During the board meeting my annual superintendent evaluation was conducted and I was approved for a contract for the 2013-14 school year. The board greatly appreciated the feedback offered by the many staff members who responded to my evaluation survey. They highlighted areas where they feel I am doing well and encouraged me to focus on some areas where staff members are voicing concerns. The 2013-14 school year will be my 18th in Center, 17th as superintendent of schools.
On Friday it was announced that the San Luis Valley Race to the Top consortium has been awarded a Colorado Legacy Foundation Extended Learning Opportunities grant. This award will allow us to set up pilot one to one tablet programs in each of the San Luis Valley school districts.
The Coming Week
On Monday I will be attending one of Governor Hickenlooper’s follow-up TBD meetings, this one in Grand Junction. Our new board member James Sanchez will be attending this meeting with me.
On Wednesday board members Michael Lobato, Yuridia Cendejas and James Sanchez will be trekking to Denver to attend the CASB San Luis Valley day at the Capitol. I will be joining them for this trip where we hope to offer input regarding the proposed revision of the School Finance Act.
On Thursday I will be a panelist at the Donnell-Kay blended learning opportunities gathering late in the afternoon.
Friday is an end of quarter teacher work-day so we will not be hosting kids. Spring Break runs through Tuesday April 2nd. Kids will return to school on Wednesday April 3rd.
On Wednesday board members Michael Lobato, Yuridia Cendejas and James Sanchez will be trekking to Denver to attend the CASB San Luis Valley day at the Capitol. I will be joining them for this trip where we hope to offer input regarding the proposed revision of the School Finance Act.
On Thursday I will be a panelist at the Donnell-Kay blended learning opportunities gathering late in the afternoon.
Friday is an end of quarter teacher work-day so we will not be hosting kids. Spring Break runs through Tuesday April 2nd. Kids will return to school on Wednesday April 3rd.
Extra Points
San Luis Valley superintendents met last Tuesday to determine the focus of 2013-14 All Valley PLC work and came up with the following plan: The focus of teacher work will be on curriculum and instruction: All Valley Teacher PLCs will take place on August 15th and 16th during which PLC groups will review their district’s chosen curriculum, develop a common end of quarter assessment to be administered throughout the Valley, plan for first quarter instruction, and conduct some work of their own choosing.
PLCs will meet again on November 1st to review first quarter assessment results, plan for a mid-year common assessment, and plan for second quarter instruction.
On January 10th PLCs will meet again to review second quarter assessment results, plan for a third quarter common assessment, and plan for third quarter instruction.
Our last PLC day on February 7th 2014 will be used to focus on how student achievement results will tie to teacher evaluation.
PLCs will meet again on November 1st to review first quarter assessment results, plan for a mid-year common assessment, and plan for second quarter instruction.
On January 10th PLCs will meet again to review second quarter assessment results, plan for a third quarter common assessment, and plan for third quarter instruction.
Our last PLC day on February 7th 2014 will be used to focus on how student achievement results will tie to teacher evaluation.
Video of the Week
Center High School graduate Stefan Welsh has embarked on a Kickstarter project through which he hopes to highlight the accomplishments of Colorado’s Building Excellent Schools Today program. Of course the Center School District benefited tremendously from the BEST program by garnering support to build its new PK-12 facility. Stefan’s goal is to produce a film documentary that shows how the BEST program is benefitting Colorado communities and changing the lives of students. Lauren Krizansky from the Alamosa Valley Courier wrote a nice article about the project which you can view at this link. To see a “teaser” video about the project go here. Hopefully the end result of this work can result in keeping the Building Excellent Schools Today program viable for many years to come.
Thank you for listening once again!
George
Thank you for listening once again!
George