Echoes from Cañon
Examples of Excellence
I want to begin this week by thanking the Cañon City Rotary Club for purchasing and distributing dictionaries to all 3rd graders in our district. They have recently been visiting Cañon Exploratory School, Harrison, Lincoln, McKInley, Mountain View Core Knowledge, and Washington schools to do this.
I would also like to commend the Cañon City High School JROTC for their continued hard work and thank them for letting me observe their unit inspection earlier this week. I was very impressed with what I saw.
In response to the recent exchange of inappropriate pictures by school age children in our community, and the decision of the District Attorney to not criminally charge individuals but rather focus on education efforts, the Cañon City School District has already begun processes by which students and adults can be supported with training and information about the law, personal responsibility, and consequences for misuse of technology. Already all CCMS students have attended workshops about this and on Friday December 11th the CCPD presented to Harrison School students about the potential legal and personal consequences of sexting.
I would also like to commend the Cañon City High School JROTC for their continued hard work and thank them for letting me observe their unit inspection earlier this week. I was very impressed with what I saw.
In response to the recent exchange of inappropriate pictures by school age children in our community, and the decision of the District Attorney to not criminally charge individuals but rather focus on education efforts, the Cañon City School District has already begun processes by which students and adults can be supported with training and information about the law, personal responsibility, and consequences for misuse of technology. Already all CCMS students have attended workshops about this and on Friday December 11th the CCPD presented to Harrison School students about the potential legal and personal consequences of sexting.
On Wednesday December 9th our high school athletes engaged with Air Force Academy Cadets about choices they may make in using technology. Their focus was that social media use involves responsibility to yourself, your loved ones, and your team, human respect is the highest form of integrity, and teammates have the responsibility to hold one-another accountable.
Also, a Town Hall was held at the district office on Friday December 11th allowing community members to express opinions and ask questions about recent events, while also featuring potential educational public service announcements.
Finally, a big thank goes out to all the members of The Pride. I saw them supporting the Salvation Army this weekend by ringing bells at one of our local grocery stores. Thanks!
Also, a Town Hall was held at the district office on Friday December 11th allowing community members to express opinions and ask questions about recent events, while also featuring potential educational public service announcements.
Finally, a big thank goes out to all the members of The Pride. I saw them supporting the Salvation Army this weekend by ringing bells at one of our local grocery stores. Thanks!
The Focus of Our Work
CCSD is doing a lot of work toward conducting authentic teacher and principal evaluations. Last Monday our Evaluation Council met to offer final recommendations about how our district evaluation calculator can work when including student learning outcomes in final evaluations. We did some of this same work at our leadership team meeting on Tuesday, and expectations that all teachers receive a well informed mid-year evaluation by February 1st were reinforced.
On Wednesday evening I attended a Cañon 20-20 high school visioning task force meeting and felt very good about progress being made. We discussed what our charge should be, and began defining what a 2021 CCHS graduate should know and be able to do. We also focused on ways to make learning more relevant for kids, the many fine opportunities we already offer through the CCHS learning experience, and some things about CCHS we might consider changing in the future. We then revisited past task force work focused on making improvements in three target areas; school culture, learning pathways, and relationships with community and industry. We’ll gather once again in January to continue this important work.
On Wednesday evening I attended a Cañon 20-20 high school visioning task force meeting and felt very good about progress being made. We discussed what our charge should be, and began defining what a 2021 CCHS graduate should know and be able to do. We also focused on ways to make learning more relevant for kids, the many fine opportunities we already offer through the CCHS learning experience, and some things about CCHS we might consider changing in the future. We then revisited past task force work focused on making improvements in three target areas; school culture, learning pathways, and relationships with community and industry. We’ll gather once again in January to continue this important work.
Last Week
On Monday I met with Harrison principal John Pavlicek, then prepared for and attended an Evaluation Council meeting that afternoon. On Tuesday I met with the Chief of Police and District Attorney, my Superintendent Advisory Council, and our District Leadership Team. On Wednesday I conducted office hours at CCHS, participated in a press conference related to the wrap up of the sexting investigation, and attended the Cañon City High School Cañon 20-20 Task Force meeting. On Thursday I had a CCEOE meeting early in the morning and then conducted office hours at Washington Elementary and Cañon Exploratory School. On Friday I attended the Pikes Peak Area Superintendent Association meeting in Fort Carson in the morning, the Town Hall meeting about teen sexting here in Cañon in the late afternoon, and then had a great time at our our Cañon City Classified Employee Association Christmas party in the evening.
This Week
On Monday I will spend time preparing for a student achievement data presentation at our board meeting later that evening. On Tuesday morning we’ll entertain folks from the Colorado Department of Education Capital Construction Department (who oversee the issuance of BEST Grants), I’ll meet with my Superintendent Advisory Council, and I’ll have my monthly communication session with CCEA officers. I’ll end the day Tuesday at a Fremont County Facilities Corporation board meeting. Other things I’ll be doing this week include visiting schools, observing a debriefing in Bill Summers’ high school class, and traveling to Denver on Thursday for a meeting with our legislative Joint Budget Committee and Senator Michael Johnston.
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh