Great Things Going On
I would like to begin this week by offering congratulations to Center High School student athletes Ashley Carter and Camille Ruggles upon qualifying to compete in the Colorado State Cross Country meet that took place this past Saturday. While there they both improved upon their personal best on the course by 4 miutes! This is quite an accomplishment for each, but it also causes me to pause to reflect on the outstanding careers Center High School-Skoglund Middle School cross country coach Dennis Schoenfelder, and his trusted assistant Dave Furukawa, have experienced together. Dennis has been coaching the team since he arrived in Center in the mid 1990’s, has had numerous top 10 individual finishers, a Class A state championship team, and an individual boys champion. Dave has been right by his side for most of his career. Most importantly, both Dennis and Dave have been wonderful role models for our students, sharing their love of life, running, and athletics, broadening their horizons by finding ways for them to travel to places they may never have dreamed of going, and offering them yet one more avenue by which to pay for a college education because of their talents. If this were not enough, this time of year you can also see Dennis and Dave working with kids of all ages into the wee hours of the evening preparing them for the annual Junior Olympics Cross Country regional meet with hopes of qualifying to compete in yet another national championship event. Thank you Dennis and Dave, for all the great work each of you do for our kids through this extracurricular activity!
Last Thursday many Center High School and Skoglund Middle School teachers participated in classroom instructional walks along with principals Luis Murillo and Kevin Jones. An instructional walk allows instructors to drop in on one of their colleagues to observe instruction and reflect on what the teacher might have done to improve the lesson. This opportunity also allows our teachers to pick up ideas and tools they may not have considered using in their classes. This process is an integral part of creating a professional work environment where teachers are open to learning from each other, sharing great ideas, and receiving feedback aimed at making them better educators.
In commenting about his first experience on instructional walks, new Skoglund Middle School principal Luis Murillo said, "it was fantastic for teachers to see their colleagues teaching, teachers got to see strategies in use that they might then utilize themselves, teachers were given a chance to reflect on their own practice and come up with a plan for personal improvement, administrators were given the opportunity to check their reliability when it comes to offering feedback, and great feedback was given to each teacher!"
In commenting about his first experience on instructional walks, new Skoglund Middle School principal Luis Murillo said, "it was fantastic for teachers to see their colleagues teaching, teachers got to see strategies in use that they might then utilize themselves, teachers were given a chance to reflect on their own practice and come up with a plan for personal improvement, administrators were given the opportunity to check their reliability when it comes to offering feedback, and great feedback was given to each teacher!"
Also last Thursday Kathy Kulp and Sarah Vance, our Haskin Elementary School principals, attended an all San Luis Valley Principal PLC in Alamosa. At these events principals discuss various topics and share ideas about things they would like to learn more about. Kathy and Sarah reported to me the agenda of this meeting included the new Colorado teacher evaluation data system called RANDA, Positive Behavior Instructional Supports (PBIS), the recess before lunch concept, walkthrough evaluations, READ Act plans, and the kindergarten GOLD assessment. I appreciate that they take the time to participate in these learning and networking opportunities despite their extremely busy schedules.
I also want to take a moment to thank Saguache County Clerk and Recorder Carla Gomez for taking the time to come to our 12th grade American Government classes last week to present to our students on the importance of registering to vote and participating in elections. This opportunity was arranged by Center High School social studies teacher Scott Poole who does a great job encouraging students to raise their awareness of local governmental processes and the rights of citizens.
I want to end this week by thanking former director of facilities Leonard Garcia, and athletics custodian Mike Martinez for working together to attempt a last minute repair of our football scoreboard controller. Current director of facilities Rich Brandt took a personal day on Friday and, unfortunately, while setting up the scoreboard Mike discovered a problem with the controller. Leonard has years of experience working through such matters and was willing to come out on a moment’s notice to help. Unsurprisingly, he was able to quickly identify the problem. Unfortunately nobody in the San Luis Valley carries the part we needed. Still, I want to thank him for his willingness to come out and help us with this work.
I want to end this week by thanking former director of facilities Leonard Garcia, and athletics custodian Mike Martinez for working together to attempt a last minute repair of our football scoreboard controller. Current director of facilities Rich Brandt took a personal day on Friday and, unfortunately, while setting up the scoreboard Mike discovered a problem with the controller. Leonard has years of experience working through such matters and was willing to come out on a moment’s notice to help. Unsurprisingly, he was able to quickly identify the problem. Unfortunately nobody in the San Luis Valley carries the part we needed. Still, I want to thank him for his willingness to come out and help us with this work.
Big Things We Are Working On
Though teacher evaluation processes don’t actually wrap up until the beginning of May I appreciate that Center Schools principals and teachers are already working hard on the process by beginning to complete self evaluations, conducting numerous walkthrough and feedback observations, and planning for comprehensive mid-year reviews of performance. Colorado’s Senate Bill 191 Teacher and Administrator evaluation process is a little harder to execute than our old system, but our experience in Center has been that when it is done with fidelity teacher instruction improves, as does student performance.
A gigantic thank you goes out to Center Schools director of facilities Richard Brandt who struggled last week with the task of repairing the sewer line attached to our modular building at the corner of 4th Street and Sylvester. Unfortunately the pipe was pierced when new fiber optic wiring was put in place during our recent construction process, and fixing it while also maintaining the integrity of the network line posed a bit of a challenge. Rich engaged the folks from RMS Utilities who had the exact equipment needed to execute a wet underground repair and the building will now be on line for our satellite preschool class to operate once again beginning Monday morning October 27th.
On a final “big things we are working on” note, the Center School District is once again closely monitoring the progress of the federal Secure Rural Schools and Communities Act. This stream of funding is integral to what we have been able to accomplish in Center Schools during the past six years, having contributed a total of 3.7 million dollars of additional funding to our system above and beyond what we receive from the State of Colorado and local taxpayers each year. These precious dollars have allowed us to expand to provide healthcare to all employees, maintain our current level of staffing, continue the implementation of our K-12 one-to-one device program, and update our transportation fleet. A quick accounting of the dollars that have filtered to the school district through this program since 2008 is as follows: Fiscal year 2008 = $8,551.38 (before the program became fully funded). Fiscal year 2009 = $89,488.21 (after the program became fully funded, but before passage of Colorado HB 10-50 requiring a minimum 25% allocation to school districts from counties). Fiscal year 2010 = $506,916.94. Fiscal year 2011 = $646,470.52. Fiscal year 2012 = $666,153.99. Fiscal year 2013 = $1,299,426.84. Fiscal year 2014 = $571,194.23. We understand a possible one year renewal of the SRS Act is still alive in Congress and are hopeful, if approved, the district will receive in the neighborhood of an additional $700,000 in funding for the current budget year, not to mention the benefit those additional dollars will also bring to Saguache and Rio Grande counties.
A gigantic thank you goes out to Center Schools director of facilities Richard Brandt who struggled last week with the task of repairing the sewer line attached to our modular building at the corner of 4th Street and Sylvester. Unfortunately the pipe was pierced when new fiber optic wiring was put in place during our recent construction process, and fixing it while also maintaining the integrity of the network line posed a bit of a challenge. Rich engaged the folks from RMS Utilities who had the exact equipment needed to execute a wet underground repair and the building will now be on line for our satellite preschool class to operate once again beginning Monday morning October 27th.
On a final “big things we are working on” note, the Center School District is once again closely monitoring the progress of the federal Secure Rural Schools and Communities Act. This stream of funding is integral to what we have been able to accomplish in Center Schools during the past six years, having contributed a total of 3.7 million dollars of additional funding to our system above and beyond what we receive from the State of Colorado and local taxpayers each year. These precious dollars have allowed us to expand to provide healthcare to all employees, maintain our current level of staffing, continue the implementation of our K-12 one-to-one device program, and update our transportation fleet. A quick accounting of the dollars that have filtered to the school district through this program since 2008 is as follows: Fiscal year 2008 = $8,551.38 (before the program became fully funded). Fiscal year 2009 = $89,488.21 (after the program became fully funded, but before passage of Colorado HB 10-50 requiring a minimum 25% allocation to school districts from counties). Fiscal year 2010 = $506,916.94. Fiscal year 2011 = $646,470.52. Fiscal year 2012 = $666,153.99. Fiscal year 2013 = $1,299,426.84. Fiscal year 2014 = $571,194.23. We understand a possible one year renewal of the SRS Act is still alive in Congress and are hopeful, if approved, the district will receive in the neighborhood of an additional $700,000 in funding for the current budget year, not to mention the benefit those additional dollars will also bring to Saguache and Rio Grande counties.
The Past Week
Though we did not have school on Monday, director of finance Betty Casanova and I worked on payroll items during the day. I also worked on weekly communication matters. On Tuesday I participated in a San Luis Valley superintendent Professional Learning Community session at Centennial Schools where I joined in on instructional walkthroughs and learned how Centennial Schools has secured extra team planning time for their teachers by implementing a creative class schedule. On Wednesday teachers and administrators in Center participated in instructional visits of their peers. On Thursday I was in Loveland to attend the Colorado School Safety Resource Center's annual Safe Schools Summit to learn more about ways we can increase the safety and well being of our students on campus. While there I heard a presentation on suicide prevention by Kevin Hines, a gentleman who actually attempted suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. This was timely information, as well as the youth mental health first aid trainings we offered after school this week, as on Friday another school shooting took place, this time in Marysville, Washington. Many school shootings are committed by children who have become suicidal and because of this schools need to do all they can to identify symptoms and support students who display them. On Friday I spent a lot of time in the buildings focusing on administrative paperwork.
The Week Ahead
On Monday and Tuesday I will be in Columbus, Ohio as a guest of, and at the request of, the Colorado Department of Education to attend the Rural Education National Forum and to present, along with Tina Goar, CDE Rural Education Liaison, and John Knapp, former Rocky Ford School District board president, on the topic of Colorado’s unique Rural Education Advisory Council. We’ll provide information regarding our council and how it has been able to support and build capacity for Colorado’s rural school districts. We’ll share information on the council’s purpose, goals, and priorities, and the current work we are engaged in. While at the Forum I will also attend a session in which United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will speak about rural education issues and a panel of former governors of states where rural education is a major priority will discuss current rural education issues and priorities.
I return to Center on Tuesday around midnight and will be back on campus Wednesday when grade 6-12 students will experience yet another ICAP day. Our secondary counselor Katrina Ruggles does a fantastic job of coordinating such days. On our last ICAP day students got the chance to listen to an empowering message from guest speaker Sahara Martinez and then moved to the classroom to continue working on their ICAP lessons on the College in Colorado website, guided by our teachers. Students focused on continuing their exploration into the career clusters and more importantly they started to put some thought into what career cluster they may best fit into. It is truly inspiring to see our students thinking and beginning to imagine themselves in a field of work after completing high school and college.
I also have a Boettcher Science Technology Education and Math teacher program grant meeting on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday I will be in Alamosa for part of the day to offer feedback to CDE about our current state assessment system. I also look forward to attending our traditional Haskin Elementary Halloween costume parade on Friday!
I return to Center on Tuesday around midnight and will be back on campus Wednesday when grade 6-12 students will experience yet another ICAP day. Our secondary counselor Katrina Ruggles does a fantastic job of coordinating such days. On our last ICAP day students got the chance to listen to an empowering message from guest speaker Sahara Martinez and then moved to the classroom to continue working on their ICAP lessons on the College in Colorado website, guided by our teachers. Students focused on continuing their exploration into the career clusters and more importantly they started to put some thought into what career cluster they may best fit into. It is truly inspiring to see our students thinking and beginning to imagine themselves in a field of work after completing high school and college.
I also have a Boettcher Science Technology Education and Math teacher program grant meeting on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday I will be in Alamosa for part of the day to offer feedback to CDE about our current state assessment system. I also look forward to attending our traditional Haskin Elementary Halloween costume parade on Friday!
Extra Points
I want to wrap up this week's message by wishing my beautiful wife, and our district PK-12 and public library director, Rebecca Reed a happy 50th birthday! Most women I know are a bit horrified of the aging process, but I have to say my wife Becky truly inspires me. In her 49th year of life she trained for and ran a 26.2 mile marathon, trained for and completed an iron distance triathlon, continued to grow in her position as a teacher librarian, and has been the rock who has supported me through the most challenging year of my education career. My wish for everyone is that they can find a life partner who brings such grit and grace to their relationship.
Happy 50th Birthday Rebecca Reed, you are truly the definition of 50 and fabulous!
Thanks for listening once again!
George
Happy 50th Birthday Rebecca Reed, you are truly the definition of 50 and fabulous!
Thanks for listening once again!
George