Examples of Excellence
We received information earlier this week that the Boettcher Foundation has honored 42 of Colorado teachers for the impact they had on 2015 Boettcher Scholarship recipients. This year Cañon City High School Language Arts teacher Bill Summers was among those being honored. In the Boettcher announcement Mr. Summers was lauded for the impact he had on the learning of CCHS graduate Claire Lamman, a 2015 Boettcher Scholarship recipient. Congratulations Mr. Summers!
This weekend the Colorado Mission of Mercy used our Harrison School facility to conduct a two-day free dental clinic, offering services to anyone in the community who can't afford dental care. Procedures conducted included cleanings, fillings, root canals, and extractions. Roughly 1,500 local residents were the beneficiaries of nearly 1 million dollars in dental care as a result of this event. The Cañon City School District was proud to share its facilities in support of this tremendous effort.
For the past two weeks Cañon City High School band members invested roughly 100 hours of effort each in preparation for their annual field show. During the process approximately 75 students worked in sections and as a whole group to prepare to march in the state fair parade, and in formation in the annual fall field show. This is a wonderful example of hard work paying off, as tremendous progress could be seen by the end of last week. I want to thank all our teachers and students for this gigantic investment of their time!
This weekend the Colorado Mission of Mercy used our Harrison School facility to conduct a two-day free dental clinic, offering services to anyone in the community who can't afford dental care. Procedures conducted included cleanings, fillings, root canals, and extractions. Roughly 1,500 local residents were the beneficiaries of nearly 1 million dollars in dental care as a result of this event. The Cañon City School District was proud to share its facilities in support of this tremendous effort.
For the past two weeks Cañon City High School band members invested roughly 100 hours of effort each in preparation for their annual field show. During the process approximately 75 students worked in sections and as a whole group to prepare to march in the state fair parade, and in formation in the annual fall field show. This is a wonderful example of hard work paying off, as tremendous progress could be seen by the end of last week. I want to thank all our teachers and students for this gigantic investment of their time!
A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting CHS JROTC Senior Army Instructor Drew Ornelas. Mr. Ornelas was kind enough to educate me about his program, including the fact it has been in existence for nearly 100 years! What I was most impressed with were the core abilities the program focuses on developing in participants. They include the following:
On Monday evening at our regular board of education meeting CCSD employees Kristin Meuli, Carol Smith, Sandra Seifert, Kim Valentine, and Sheila Robeson were recognized by the BOE with Kudos for the great work they did spearheading the support system for the online preregistration process for the Cañon City School District. These ladies spent three weeks in the administration building helping those with a lack of access to technology, or limited technology skills, preregister their children for the 2015-16 school year. In the end nearly 2,000 students were signed up through this process, and the system operated smoothly. Thank you ladies for all your hard work!
As a final example of excellence for the week I want to thank CCSD director of human resources Misty Manchester for the work she has been doing in preparation of new staff members arriving at work, all staff members reporting back to duty, and filling some unexpected late openings for the benefit of our children. I have noticed she had to put in a lot of time over the past weekend and, though such behavior is certainly not an expectation of the district, her extra effort is noticed and very much appreciated. I have no doubt all our back to school work events will run smoothly as a result of Misty's time and effort.
- Build personal capacity for life long learning.
- Communicate using verbal, non-verbal, visual, and written techniques.
- Take responsibility for actions and decisions.
- Do your share as a citizen in your high school, community, country, and world.
- Treat others with respect and dignity.
- Apply critical thinking techniques.
On Monday evening at our regular board of education meeting CCSD employees Kristin Meuli, Carol Smith, Sandra Seifert, Kim Valentine, and Sheila Robeson were recognized by the BOE with Kudos for the great work they did spearheading the support system for the online preregistration process for the Cañon City School District. These ladies spent three weeks in the administration building helping those with a lack of access to technology, or limited technology skills, preregister their children for the 2015-16 school year. In the end nearly 2,000 students were signed up through this process, and the system operated smoothly. Thank you ladies for all your hard work!
As a final example of excellence for the week I want to thank CCSD director of human resources Misty Manchester for the work she has been doing in preparation of new staff members arriving at work, all staff members reporting back to duty, and filling some unexpected late openings for the benefit of our children. I have noticed she had to put in a lot of time over the past weekend and, though such behavior is certainly not an expectation of the district, her extra effort is noticed and very much appreciated. I have no doubt all our back to school work events will run smoothly as a result of Misty's time and effort.
The Focus of Our Work
The major focus of our work this past week has surrounded preparing for the arrival of our new teachers and the return of all staff members by the end of the coming week.
We are also beginning to discuss how Cañon City School District might measure the performance of its own schools in light of a one year vacation in the implementation of statewide school performance frameworks through the Colorado accreditation rating system. I think creating a process by which we rate our schools ourselves could allow us more freedom in determining the instructional direction we would like each to take. This could also benefit the district, in that it would allow us to use the results of this rating system as part of our teacher evaluation process that requires measurement of student performance in a whole building.
Finally, on Thursday I attended a Truancy team meeting guided by CCSD employee Tonya Wolfe. During the meeting we discussed ways in which the district might intervene early with students who show a tendency to miss a lot of school. CCSD has a community evaluation team that meets regularly to identify student needs and resources that might address their reasons for truancy.
We are also beginning to discuss how Cañon City School District might measure the performance of its own schools in light of a one year vacation in the implementation of statewide school performance frameworks through the Colorado accreditation rating system. I think creating a process by which we rate our schools ourselves could allow us more freedom in determining the instructional direction we would like each to take. This could also benefit the district, in that it would allow us to use the results of this rating system as part of our teacher evaluation process that requires measurement of student performance in a whole building.
Finally, on Thursday I attended a Truancy team meeting guided by CCSD employee Tonya Wolfe. During the meeting we discussed ways in which the district might intervene early with students who show a tendency to miss a lot of school. CCSD has a community evaluation team that meets regularly to identify student needs and resources that might address their reasons for truancy.
Last Week
On Monday I had my weekly coordinating meeting with Colleen Carroll, our board and superintendent secretary, met with representatives from Goal Academy, then attended an evening board work session and board meeting. At the work session we continued building a new superintendent evaluation process for the district. At the board meeting we approved monthly expenditures, hired staff members, and purchased a new Colorado History textbook series for 4th graders to use this year.
On Tuesday and Wednesday I attended our superintendent council of advisors and leadership team meetings. Both of these focused on the work that needs to be done to open our school buildings for children. I also sat in on a meeting with our new school resource officers and spent time preparing a message I will share with our new staff members this coming Monday.
On Thursday and Friday I attended the truancy team meeting, spent time working on board communication items, and had some time to focus on statewide school finance issues, which I'll describe in greater detail below.
Throughout the week I also made an effort to visit as many school campuses as possible. While doing so I had great on-site conversations with Washington principal Brian Zamarripa, Lincoln principal Tammy DeWolfe, and McKinley principal Drenda Manning. I also had a wonderful walking conversation with new CCMS principal Tim Renn during lunch on Wednesday. I am quite impressed with the work each is doing to prepare their buildings and staff members for our upcoming first day of school.
On Tuesday and Wednesday I attended our superintendent council of advisors and leadership team meetings. Both of these focused on the work that needs to be done to open our school buildings for children. I also sat in on a meeting with our new school resource officers and spent time preparing a message I will share with our new staff members this coming Monday.
On Thursday and Friday I attended the truancy team meeting, spent time working on board communication items, and had some time to focus on statewide school finance issues, which I'll describe in greater detail below.
Throughout the week I also made an effort to visit as many school campuses as possible. While doing so I had great on-site conversations with Washington principal Brian Zamarripa, Lincoln principal Tammy DeWolfe, and McKinley principal Drenda Manning. I also had a wonderful walking conversation with new CCMS principal Tim Renn during lunch on Wednesday. I am quite impressed with the work each is doing to prepare their buildings and staff members for our upcoming first day of school.
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This Week
On Monday I will participate in new teacher orientation activities. On Tuesday I hope to spend some time observing our writers workshop staff development process. On Wednesday we'll hold our traditional all staff back to work gathering, followed by a professional development fair that afternoon. While our teachers are meeting in collaboration groups on Thursday I will converse with Florence superintendent of schools Rhonda Roberts and Fremont County director of human services Steve Clifton about ways we can continue to work together for the benefit of children. On Thursday I also hope to attend some of the early college instructor training that will take place for our high school teachers at Pueblo Community College. I will work a half day on Friday, taking the afternoon off to spend time with my family.
The Way I See It
On Friday I spent time with some other Colorado superintendents focusing on the grim realities of Colorado school finance and just how much has been withheld from our operating budgets during the past several years. According to the Colorado School Finance Project, Cañon City School District is currently receiving $3.6 million less per year than the Colorado constitutional requirement established through Amendment 23. Many of you might have heard this deficit referred to as the "negative factor." Since 2011, when the negative factor was first put into place, Cañon City has received a total of $15.8 million less revenue than it was supposed to according to the constitutional requirements of Amendment 23.
Understanding that short of a Colorado supreme court ruling requiring the legislature to repay districts for funding lost due to the implementation of the negative factor, school district superintendents all around Colorado are engaging in conversations to find ways they can steer legislators toward relieving some of the financial pressures currently placed on districts by unfunded mandates. In an effort to identify specific areas of leverage, we are working with the document you can find at this link: It shows the numerous education reform laws passed by the legislature this century, overall education spending and demographic trends in the state, and the future financial outlook for education as Colorado heads toward constitutionally required TABOR refunds despite the continued existence of this negative education funding factor.
I encourage each of you to take a glance at this document to get a better understanding of the many things that are coming into play regarding school finance in Colorado. I, personally, don't have an answer for this predicament we are in.
In the mean time, however, we will do our best to ensure we are doing all we can to utilize the precious resources we have, and to translate them into excellent instruction in each class, every single day for every child.
George S. Welsh
Understanding that short of a Colorado supreme court ruling requiring the legislature to repay districts for funding lost due to the implementation of the negative factor, school district superintendents all around Colorado are engaging in conversations to find ways they can steer legislators toward relieving some of the financial pressures currently placed on districts by unfunded mandates. In an effort to identify specific areas of leverage, we are working with the document you can find at this link: It shows the numerous education reform laws passed by the legislature this century, overall education spending and demographic trends in the state, and the future financial outlook for education as Colorado heads toward constitutionally required TABOR refunds despite the continued existence of this negative education funding factor.
I encourage each of you to take a glance at this document to get a better understanding of the many things that are coming into play regarding school finance in Colorado. I, personally, don't have an answer for this predicament we are in.
In the mean time, however, we will do our best to ensure we are doing all we can to utilize the precious resources we have, and to translate them into excellent instruction in each class, every single day for every child.
George S. Welsh
