The Fine Art of Christmas will take place once again this week!
Echoes from Cañon
During December, I’m culminating my effort to transparently communicate the happenings of the Cañon City School District through Echoes from Cañon in four final installments outlining the state of the school district as I see it when Adam Hartman becomes the chief executive officer on January 1st.
The focus of this second message includes the behind the scenes advocacy I engaged in as superintendent of schools in an effort to secure resources for the district, addressing employee attraction and retention issues including experience steps lost during the Great Recession as well as benefits and the annual work calendar, the transformation of Cañon City High School as envisioned before I arrived, and Mr. Hartman and Mr. Summers’ influence in developing our profile of a graduate, viewed as a model around the state of Colorado and beyond.
Advocating for Resources
Former Board Vice-President Lloyd Harwood testified several times in front of the state legislature.
A key aspect of the work of a superintendent is to advocate for students and staff by securing the resources needed to achieve the district’s vision.
This can be done by applying for grants and working with local, state, and federal governments to secure resources.
Before coming to Cañon City, I had the opportunity to gain experience on this front. I learned large urban and suburban school districts in Colorado have an advantage because they have their own lobbyists.
Thus, advocacy for places like Cañon City requires collaborating with districts who have similar needs.
Before I arrived in Cañon, we were already participating in the Pikes Peak Alliance, a group of about 20 Colorado Springs region school systems. Though we have much in common, we do not completely align to their needs. So, though we remain in the Pikes Peak Alliance, we also joined the Colorado Rural Alliance, a collective of rural school districts, and the Opportunity Coalition, a group of school districts who have high at-risk student populations.
Through involvement in each organization, Cañon City Schools has positively impacted funding for the Building Excellent Schools Today program (leading directly to our grant awards for an upgraded CCMS campus and a new Washington building), secured funding directly for rural schools through the Rural Sustainability program (netting the district more than $3 million over six years), directed more resources to at-risk students both through the funding formula, additional special education funding, and federal stimulus allocations, and secured mill equity, which will benefit Cañon City Schools with more available funding in the future at no increased cost to district taxpayers.
This can be done by applying for grants and working with local, state, and federal governments to secure resources.
Before coming to Cañon City, I had the opportunity to gain experience on this front. I learned large urban and suburban school districts in Colorado have an advantage because they have their own lobbyists.
Thus, advocacy for places like Cañon City requires collaborating with districts who have similar needs.
Before I arrived in Cañon, we were already participating in the Pikes Peak Alliance, a group of about 20 Colorado Springs region school systems. Though we have much in common, we do not completely align to their needs. So, though we remain in the Pikes Peak Alliance, we also joined the Colorado Rural Alliance, a collective of rural school districts, and the Opportunity Coalition, a group of school districts who have high at-risk student populations.
Through involvement in each organization, Cañon City Schools has positively impacted funding for the Building Excellent Schools Today program (leading directly to our grant awards for an upgraded CCMS campus and a new Washington building), secured funding directly for rural schools through the Rural Sustainability program (netting the district more than $3 million over six years), directed more resources to at-risk students both through the funding formula, additional special education funding, and federal stimulus allocations, and secured mill equity, which will benefit Cañon City Schools with more available funding in the future at no increased cost to district taxpayers.
Trips to the capitol building in Denver to testify in front of committees are a common occurrence for a superintendent who focuses on advocacy.
Investing Wisely
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Students have quickly taken to new learning opportunities supported by technology.
What have we done with these additional resources? As you know, we've vastly improved the condition and safety of our facilities, updated most of our learning resources (including providing keyboard and screen devices for all students and staff), we’ve begun a classroom furniture upgrade process, and we've addressed staff compensation issues that were negatively impacted by the Great Recession.
This means we’ve been able to regain six lost experience steps for both certified and classified employees, cover the full cost of a single health benefit for each employee for the first time this century, offer a creative and attractive annual work calendar, create a robust parental leave policy, and offer low-cost preschool/childcare services for district employees.
In the process, we’ve improved the district’s fiscal position to the point where our annual reserves have risen from only 8% of our total budget in 2015 to 24% as of July 1, 2021.
This means we’ve been able to regain six lost experience steps for both certified and classified employees, cover the full cost of a single health benefit for each employee for the first time this century, offer a creative and attractive annual work calendar, create a robust parental leave policy, and offer low-cost preschool/childcare services for district employees.
In the process, we’ve improved the district’s fiscal position to the point where our annual reserves have risen from only 8% of our total budget in 2015 to 24% as of July 1, 2021.
Defining Outcomes
Adam and Bill guide the high school staff in developing the CCHS Capstone.
Before I arrived in Cañon City, future focused educators and board members had already established the Cañon 2020 Vision. This set a goal to offer student-centered career pathways opportunities at the high school. Unfortunately, because of a bond and mill levy election defeat in November 2013, this plan was placed on a shelf.
When I began my work here, the Board of Educaiton asked me to move forward with the plan despite limited resources, mainly because of impending changes to Colorado’s high school graduation requirements.
When Bill Summers became CCHS Principal and Adam Hartman became Director of Curriculum and Assessment, tremendous progress was made toward the 2020 Vision.
Key to this was establishing specific high school learning pathways, offering intern and apprentice opportunities for students (resulting in over 140 community business partners who take on our students), and creating a profile of a graduate now captured in the traits and skills we strive to develop in our students. Add to this a comprehensive capstone experience for all graduates, and Cañon City, perhaps more so than any other school system in Colorado, has a crystal clear vision for what students should know and be able to do before earning their diploma.
When I began my work here, the Board of Educaiton asked me to move forward with the plan despite limited resources, mainly because of impending changes to Colorado’s high school graduation requirements.
When Bill Summers became CCHS Principal and Adam Hartman became Director of Curriculum and Assessment, tremendous progress was made toward the 2020 Vision.
Key to this was establishing specific high school learning pathways, offering intern and apprentice opportunities for students (resulting in over 140 community business partners who take on our students), and creating a profile of a graduate now captured in the traits and skills we strive to develop in our students. Add to this a comprehensive capstone experience for all graduates, and Cañon City, perhaps more so than any other school system in Colorado, has a crystal clear vision for what students should know and be able to do before earning their diploma.
A rough draft of our graduate profiler and capstone concept.
Not only do we clearly state our expectations, we support and measure student progress toward it!
In fact, if you’d like to observe this firsthand, I encourage you to attend the Cañon City High School SELF Expo on Monday, December 20th beginning at 6 PM.
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
