Echoes from Cañon
Examples of Excellence
Some of the faces have changed since we last honored our operations, transportation, and technology folks at a board meeting. However, the result remains the same. They do great behind the scenes work getting our spaces ready for a new school year!
Induction Program Coordinator Jamie Davis discusses the district's instructional pillars with 2017-18 new staff.
As the first day of school fast approaches, our custodial, operations, technology, and transportation staff deserve a gigantic thank you for all they’ve accomplished this summer. Their tasks were a bit more challenging to complete this year as a result of all the construction projects they have had to work around. Despite this, but our buildings, grounds, and vehicles are looking great and will, no doubt, be ready when our kids arrive next week.
Hiring, preparing for, and orienting thirty or so new teachers each year is no small task. Last week we welcomed thirty-one new certified staff to work with our kids in the coming school year. I want to thank Director of Human Resources Misty Manchester, along with her Administrative Assistant Casey Bursha and "One Woman Welcoming Committee Extraordinaire" Teri Solano for all the hard work they put into preparing this year’s cadre. New Teacher Induction Coordinator Jamie Davis also deserves a shout out for her great work once again supporting new teachers in their transition to our district. She’ll be working side-by-side with our new certified hires all year long.
Hiring, preparing for, and orienting thirty or so new teachers each year is no small task. Last week we welcomed thirty-one new certified staff to work with our kids in the coming school year. I want to thank Director of Human Resources Misty Manchester, along with her Administrative Assistant Casey Bursha and "One Woman Welcoming Committee Extraordinaire" Teri Solano for all the hard work they put into preparing this year’s cadre. New Teacher Induction Coordinator Jamie Davis also deserves a shout out for her great work once again supporting new teachers in their transition to our district. She’ll be working side-by-side with our new certified hires all year long.
The Focus of Our Work
Our cadre of School Health Professionals and key staff participated in Random Acts of Kindness training.
The entire district staff is preparing for the arrival of students the week of August 20th. Of course district office, nutrition services, and operation staff have been hard at work all summer. Two weeks ago school office staff began arriving, on-site registration has been conducted, and we officially kicked off another school year with our annual Administrative Team Retreat last Monday. During this time each department shared items of importance with building and instructional leaders. On Tuesday we welcomed new certified staff and began their induction process. There were also several professional development opportunities taking place throughout the district last week including a Random Acts of Kindness session offered by our regional Health and Wellness folks. All staff return to work this week, with a teacher work day scheduled for Monday, our All-Staff Gathering taking place on Tuesday, and plenty of in building collaboration taking place the rest of the week.
Override Progress
Last week we ran a Chromebook checkout test run. To do this a number of district staff offered up their high school aged children to stand in line and go through the process. The experience helped district technology and CCHS library staff identify aspects that need improvement and everyone will be quite ready when the same children, along with more than 1,100 of their classmates, return for the real experience in two weeks.
Bond Progress
Director of Human Resources Misty Manchester welcomed thirty-one new certified staff.
Summer construction work is beginning to wind down with secure entires nearing completion at CCHS, CES, Lincoln, Harrison, and McKinley and just a few operational windows left to be installed. Once that's done new windows will be cleaned and coverings installed. By the end of this week we expect full installation of a new security fence and gate behind the CCHS Art Room, as well as installation of all fixtures in our new ADA accessible high school bathroom.
Thanks to great collaboration between Director of Operations Jeff Peterson and our partners at GE Johnson Construction, RTA Architecture, and RLH Engineering, we even have a few contingency dollars left to spend. One major focus of this effort will be to add modern hallway classroom door hardware to CCHS, CES, Lincoln, Harrison, and McKinley that can be easily locked from the inside of the classroom in cases of emergency.
As our summer project work winds down we’ll shift to every other week Design-Build Team meetings for a while, and our full focus will move to CCMS and Washington project design. In fact, our first design meeting will take place on the afternoon of Tuesday August 28th.
Thanks to great collaboration between Director of Operations Jeff Peterson and our partners at GE Johnson Construction, RTA Architecture, and RLH Engineering, we even have a few contingency dollars left to spend. One major focus of this effort will be to add modern hallway classroom door hardware to CCHS, CES, Lincoln, Harrison, and McKinley that can be easily locked from the inside of the classroom in cases of emergency.
As our summer project work winds down we’ll shift to every other week Design-Build Team meetings for a while, and our full focus will move to CCMS and Washington project design. In fact, our first design meeting will take place on the afternoon of Tuesday August 28th.
Last Week
Our new certified staff scavenger hunt is a great annual tradition. It looks like this group of new arrivals actually located the superintendent of schools.
On Monday we held our annual administrator back to school retreat and on Tuesday we began our annual new certified staff training process. That day I also attended our weekly SAC, Design-Build team meeting and a Colorado Safe Schools Resource Center advisory board meeting on Tuesday. On Wednesday I had several routine meetings and prepared for our traditional All-Staff Gathering that takes place this Tuesday. On Thursday I held a touching base meeting with our classified association officers and dis some follow-up work on student expulsion matters.
This Week
Last week someone was kind enough to test the lyrics to the old song "you put the lime in the coconut" using my bicycle coffee holder!
On Monday I’ll attend a board work session and meeting. I’ll also continue preparing for our All-Staff Gathering, which takes place on Tuesday with breakfast beginning at 7:15 AM. We hope to wrap up this work around 11 AM so employees can grab lunch and move on to the PD Fair that takes place at Harrison after Noon. On Wednesday and Thursday I’ll drop in on school level staff collaboration meetings, and on Friday I’ll attend the Harrison K-8 Kids At Hope kickoff presentation.
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
