Echoes from Cañon
Our Mission
The Cañon City School District is future-focused, providing innovative educational opportunities to successfully prepare all students to meet any challenge they may face.
The Cañon City School District is future-focused, providing innovative educational opportunities to successfully prepare all students to meet any challenge they may face.
Our Core Beliefs
1. We meet the social-emotional needs of all students, putting Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs before Bloom’s Taxonomy.
2. We believe learning growth matters most, requires risk-taking, and the work we do in our schools has the greatest impact on this.
3. We’re future-focused, believing the development of certain traits and skills will best prepare our students for ever-changing careers.
4. We emphasize what is good for kids over the needs and comfort of adults.
1. We meet the social-emotional needs of all students, putting Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs before Bloom’s Taxonomy.
2. We believe learning growth matters most, requires risk-taking, and the work we do in our schools has the greatest impact on this.
3. We’re future-focused, believing the development of certain traits and skills will best prepare our students for ever-changing careers.
4. We emphasize what is good for kids over the needs and comfort of adults.
Our Core Beliefs in Action
Regional Health and Wellness Coordinator Brian VanIwarden led the entire staff in a brain booster activity.
At this year's All-Staff Kickoff Meeting me, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Adam Hartman, and Board Treasurer Shad Johnson shared some of the major successes the Cañon City School District experienced during the past 12 months. These included:
-Washington Elementary being awarded the Governor's Distinguished Improvement Award for outstanding growth in English Langauge Arts and Math.
-National recognition for Cañon City's implementation of the BIMAS social-emotional screener with high school students. This was featured in Chalkbeat, shared by Governor Polis, and then NPR shared the story nationally.
-Cañon City High School declared an Exemplar School by the Colorado Education Initiative, a place to be visited by educators from around the state as they look to transform high school programs.
-Cañon City High School students earning the most college credits per student of any high school population in the state of Colorado.
-Lincoln School of Science and Technology and Cañon Exploratory Middle School students earning their way to the Destination Imagination International contest.
-McKinley Elementary School recognized as a model implementer of a one-to-one device program at the elementary level.
-Harrison student TJ Evagash finishing 3rd in the nation in a robotics contest.
-CCMS, CES, Harrison, and MVCKS students identified as positive outliers by A+ Colorado for growth on the Middle School English Language Arts CMAS assessment.
-District staff successfully adopting new language arts, math, and science curriculum over multiple grade levels.
-Sixteen brand new courses established at Cañon City High School over the past three years.
-CES, Harrison, Lincoln, McKinley, MVCKS, and Washington students identified as positive outliers by A+ Colorado for growth on the 5th grade CMAS Math assessment.
-District staff successfully created Standards-Based Report Cards for grades K-5.
-The Cañon City High School Intern/Apprentice Program now has over 100 business partners with nearly 200 students participating in quarter-long internships.
-Cañon City Schools was featured in an iLearn/CEL report for expert first-year implementation of a one-to-one device program.
-Washington Elementary being awarded the Governor's Distinguished Improvement Award for outstanding growth in English Langauge Arts and Math.
-National recognition for Cañon City's implementation of the BIMAS social-emotional screener with high school students. This was featured in Chalkbeat, shared by Governor Polis, and then NPR shared the story nationally.
-Cañon City High School declared an Exemplar School by the Colorado Education Initiative, a place to be visited by educators from around the state as they look to transform high school programs.
-Cañon City High School students earning the most college credits per student of any high school population in the state of Colorado.
-Lincoln School of Science and Technology and Cañon Exploratory Middle School students earning their way to the Destination Imagination International contest.
-McKinley Elementary School recognized as a model implementer of a one-to-one device program at the elementary level.
-Harrison student TJ Evagash finishing 3rd in the nation in a robotics contest.
-CCMS, CES, Harrison, and MVCKS students identified as positive outliers by A+ Colorado for growth on the Middle School English Language Arts CMAS assessment.
-District staff successfully adopting new language arts, math, and science curriculum over multiple grade levels.
-Sixteen brand new courses established at Cañon City High School over the past three years.
-CES, Harrison, Lincoln, McKinley, MVCKS, and Washington students identified as positive outliers by A+ Colorado for growth on the 5th grade CMAS Math assessment.
-District staff successfully created Standards-Based Report Cards for grades K-5.
-The Cañon City High School Intern/Apprentice Program now has over 100 business partners with nearly 200 students participating in quarter-long internships.
-Cañon City Schools was featured in an iLearn/CEL report for expert first-year implementation of a one-to-one device program.
Assistant Superintendent of Schools Adam Hartman addresses the entire staff.
-Cañon City High School began a P-TECH Program allowing students in STEM fields to earn an associates degree at no cost. This is the first P-TECH program in a rural high school in the entire country, and the grant was written by CCHS Technical Writing students.
-Cañon City High School's show choir program took both 1st place (Encore) and 3rd place (Tiger Ladies) in the CHSAA state championship competition.
-The Cañon City Schools Gifted And Talented Education program won an NAGC National Award.
-There were many examples of Vocational excellence with a slew of ADDA national design and drafting champions, automotive students earned a school-record number of ASE certifications, a CCHS business class taught Microsoft Excel classes to community members, we also had a Skills USA state champion and national qualifier, and our building trades program completed construction on a house for the 42nd consecutive year.
-The Cañon City High School Tiger Open Pathways program won a Colorado Association of School Boards Innovation in Education awards.
-The Cañon City High School Lady Tigers Soccer team won a National Soccer Coaches Association Award for Academic Excellence.
-The Cañon City School District was inducted into the Blossom Festival Hall of Fame.
-CCSD Board of Education Vice-President Lloyd Harwood was honored with a Colorado Association of School Boards McGuffey Award.
Assistant Superintendent of Schools Adam Hartman then shared how all this good work is being recognized around the state of Colorado, that Cañon City High School is a finalist for a 2019 Succeeds Award for Innovation in Education, and how this summer we had one of our best new staff recruiting years ever!
-Cañon City High School's show choir program took both 1st place (Encore) and 3rd place (Tiger Ladies) in the CHSAA state championship competition.
-The Cañon City Schools Gifted And Talented Education program won an NAGC National Award.
-There were many examples of Vocational excellence with a slew of ADDA national design and drafting champions, automotive students earned a school-record number of ASE certifications, a CCHS business class taught Microsoft Excel classes to community members, we also had a Skills USA state champion and national qualifier, and our building trades program completed construction on a house for the 42nd consecutive year.
-The Cañon City High School Tiger Open Pathways program won a Colorado Association of School Boards Innovation in Education awards.
-The Cañon City High School Lady Tigers Soccer team won a National Soccer Coaches Association Award for Academic Excellence.
-The Cañon City School District was inducted into the Blossom Festival Hall of Fame.
-CCSD Board of Education Vice-President Lloyd Harwood was honored with a Colorado Association of School Boards McGuffey Award.
Assistant Superintendent of Schools Adam Hartman then shared how all this good work is being recognized around the state of Colorado, that Cañon City High School is a finalist for a 2019 Succeeds Award for Innovation in Education, and how this summer we had one of our best new staff recruiting years ever!
Our Future Focus
Dante Gonzales of Valley Wide Health Services and Brian Turner from Solvista address the Board of Education.
At last Monday's Board of Education meeting, Dante Gonzales from Valley-Wide Health Services and Brian Turner from Solvista Mental presented information about our soon to open School-Based Health Center. While at the meeting they presented about the services that will be offered, who the clientele will be, and when we expect to open.
Last week we also received exciting news from Valley-Wide Health Services that they are ready to move forward offering internships through our high school PTECH program. This will allow 16 and 17-year-old students to shadow and internship with VWHS staff.
We were also contacted last week by our partners at the iLearn Collaborative. They have asked us to be a Showcase District for this year's annual conference in February. This means our district will host a cadre of educators from across the nation who wish to see how we've implemented blended learning throughout our buildings.
Last week we also received exciting news from Valley-Wide Health Services that they are ready to move forward offering internships through our high school PTECH program. This will allow 16 and 17-year-old students to shadow and internship with VWHS staff.
We were also contacted last week by our partners at the iLearn Collaborative. They have asked us to be a Showcase District for this year's annual conference in February. This means our district will host a cadre of educators from across the nation who wish to see how we've implemented blended learning throughout our buildings.
Override Progress
Our new student Chromebooks finally arrived, though in two separate deliveries. This week our technology support staff will prepare them to be distributed to students a soon as possible.
Bond Progress
Our Design-Build team shows th progress we are making on the Washington construction site to representatives from the Colorado Department of Education.
On Wednesday Colorado Department of Education Capitol Construction Program staff were in Cañon to inspect progress being made on our CanñonCity Middle School and Washington Elementary projects. While touring sites we discussed the many challenges we've had getting the CCMS project out of the ground due to fuel tanks and asbestos-lined pipe discoveries. However, it was exciting to see cleanup taking place from our recent gymnasium-auditorium demolition, and that our geothermal system has been connected to our new mechanical system and is pumping air conditioning into classrooms just in time for the arrival of students. On the Washington site, great progress is being made excavating and forming the building. we are even starting to see plumbing and electrical rough-ins. We also noticed old playground equipment was being relocated to the north side of the campus for use once the school year starts.
Last Week
Last Monday we held our annual all-staff kickoff meeting, then a board work session and meeting. On Tuesday I made my way to Denver for a quarterly Colorado Safe Schools Resource Center Advisory Board meeting. On Wednesday I attended a rural alliance conference call, a Building Excellent Schools Today tour of construction sites with our new CDE support liaison, and a series of routine office meetings. On Thursday we had our annual classified staff orientation session and on Friday we trained our district substitutes and I attended an Abbey land use informational meeting.
This Week
Police Chief Daric Harvey debriefs functional lockdown drill participants.
This week I'll participate in a functional lockdown drill on Sunday, make the rounds of all schools, attend a meeting about student placements, and attend a training on our two-way radio system on Monday, hold a Superintendent Advisory Council meeting and attend a Regional Manager's Meeting on Tuesday, catch up on project work and attend an informational meeting about a Colorado Education Initiative Youth Connections grant opportunity on Wednesday, and trek to and from Denver for Early Childhood Leadership Commission and Mill Levy Equalization Legislative Planning meetings on Thursday and Friday.
Other Voices
Each school year the Cañon City Daily Record asks me to write a welcome back to school message to the community. This is my effort for this year:
At the Cañon City School District, our vision continues to be Learning for life! We believe each child's educational experiences must be deeply connected to their future success.
How do we do this?
Our foundation is our mission. The Cañon City School District is future-focused, providing innovative educational opportunities for all students to prepare them to meet any challenge they may face.
As educators, we adhere to our Three Pillars of Instruction, ensuring each day we teach to a specific learning target, actively engaging all students, and assessing whether appropriate learning occurred, making instructional adjustments if it did not. We believe that in every subject at every grade level, instruction and learning must include a commitment to a knowledge core, place high demands on thinking, and offer opportunities to develop our targeted traits and skills.
In doing this, we first abide by our agreed-upon core beliefs. We are committed to meeting the social-emotional needs of all students, putting Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs before Bloom's Taxonomy. We believe learning growth matters most, requires risk-taking, and that the work we do in our schools has the greatest impact on this. We are future-focused, believing the development of certain traits and skills will best prepare our students for ever-changing careers. Finally, we emphasize what is good for kids over the needs and comfort of adults.
Toward what are we working? We believe by developing in students the 7 key traits of knowledge, innovation, tenacity, agency, agility, civility, and integrity, and 7 critical skills surrounding collaboration, communication, solution-seeking, contribution, reflection, empowerment, and leadership, each will be ready to face ANY challenge they may confront in an uncertain future.
Thank you for trusting us with your children and for enrolling them in the most innovative education system in Colorado!
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
At the Cañon City School District, our vision continues to be Learning for life! We believe each child's educational experiences must be deeply connected to their future success.
How do we do this?
Our foundation is our mission. The Cañon City School District is future-focused, providing innovative educational opportunities for all students to prepare them to meet any challenge they may face.
As educators, we adhere to our Three Pillars of Instruction, ensuring each day we teach to a specific learning target, actively engaging all students, and assessing whether appropriate learning occurred, making instructional adjustments if it did not. We believe that in every subject at every grade level, instruction and learning must include a commitment to a knowledge core, place high demands on thinking, and offer opportunities to develop our targeted traits and skills.
In doing this, we first abide by our agreed-upon core beliefs. We are committed to meeting the social-emotional needs of all students, putting Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs before Bloom's Taxonomy. We believe learning growth matters most, requires risk-taking, and that the work we do in our schools has the greatest impact on this. We are future-focused, believing the development of certain traits and skills will best prepare our students for ever-changing careers. Finally, we emphasize what is good for kids over the needs and comfort of adults.
Toward what are we working? We believe by developing in students the 7 key traits of knowledge, innovation, tenacity, agency, agility, civility, and integrity, and 7 critical skills surrounding collaboration, communication, solution-seeking, contribution, reflection, empowerment, and leadership, each will be ready to face ANY challenge they may confront in an uncertain future.
Thank you for trusting us with your children and for enrolling them in the most innovative education system in Colorado!
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
