Echoes from Cañon
Our Board Adopted 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
Washington Elementary will receive a banner much like this to display in the new school!
The Cañon City School District is pleased to announce Washington Elementary School has earned the 2018 Governor's Distinguished Improvement Award.
This award is part of the Colorado Department of Education's annual school and district accreditation award system.
Distinguished Improvement Awards are bestowed on schools that demonstrate exceptional student growth on Colorado's statewide assessment system. These schools exceed expectations on the School Performance Framework indicator related to longitudinal academic growth, and they meet or exceed expectations on the indicator related to academic growth gaps.
In a message I received last week from Washington Principal Brian Zamarripa, he said, "when we received our growth data this fall, Mr. Welsh mentioned how impressive our 4th and 5th grade Median Growth Percentile was, especially in Math (80the percentile). He said he had only seen growth this high once before, but that was only at one grade level. Never had he seen this high of a median growth percentile as an average for multiple grades. We at Washington celebrated this growth early in the year when I shared our School Performance Framework rating with the staff, recognizing how we owed this wonderful rating to growth demonstrated by 4th and 5th grade students. It is quite an honor to now learn that we have earned the Governor's Distinguished Improvement Award as a result of this tremendous growth!"
An honor indeed! There is no better way to exemplify our core belief surrounding academic growth than to earn an award such as this. Several of our board members were in attendance last Wednesday when Mr. Zamarripa announced this wonderful accomplishment to the entire staff. Mr. Zamarripa will also have the opportunity to bring a contingent of staff to Denver to receive a banner commemorating this award in January. Congratulations Washington!
This award is part of the Colorado Department of Education's annual school and district accreditation award system.
Distinguished Improvement Awards are bestowed on schools that demonstrate exceptional student growth on Colorado's statewide assessment system. These schools exceed expectations on the School Performance Framework indicator related to longitudinal academic growth, and they meet or exceed expectations on the indicator related to academic growth gaps.
In a message I received last week from Washington Principal Brian Zamarripa, he said, "when we received our growth data this fall, Mr. Welsh mentioned how impressive our 4th and 5th grade Median Growth Percentile was, especially in Math (80the percentile). He said he had only seen growth this high once before, but that was only at one grade level. Never had he seen this high of a median growth percentile as an average for multiple grades. We at Washington celebrated this growth early in the year when I shared our School Performance Framework rating with the staff, recognizing how we owed this wonderful rating to growth demonstrated by 4th and 5th grade students. It is quite an honor to now learn that we have earned the Governor's Distinguished Improvement Award as a result of this tremendous growth!"
An honor indeed! There is no better way to exemplify our core belief surrounding academic growth than to earn an award such as this. Several of our board members were in attendance last Wednesday when Mr. Zamarripa announced this wonderful accomplishment to the entire staff. Mr. Zamarripa will also have the opportunity to bring a contingent of staff to Denver to receive a banner commemorating this award in January. Congratulations Washington!
The Washington staff wondered why board members were attending their meeting.
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Mr. Zamarripa had the pleasure of making the exciting announcement to staff!
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The staff, with good reason, celebrated their accomplishment!
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Our Future Focus
Cañon City High School Principal Bill Summers is proud to report the results of a site visit conducted by state officials has resulted in our nursing program moving from interim status to full approval. He offered a special shout out to Melissa Hardy on this. What better way to show our future focus than to prepare our students for such meaningful careers while they are in high school. Congratulations to all involved!
Also, last week the Fremont County Regional Health and Wellness Committee was once again recognized as a top participant in the statewide Weigh and Win program. Our regional participants have lost a total of 3,131 pounds this year! Anyone looking for a great way to ring in the new year with personal wellness goals is welcome to participate in the program.
Also, last week the Fremont County Regional Health and Wellness Committee was once again recognized as a top participant in the statewide Weigh and Win program. Our regional participants have lost a total of 3,131 pounds this year! Anyone looking for a great way to ring in the new year with personal wellness goals is welcome to participate in the program.
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A final kudos goes out to all the young men and women who put on another wonderful Fine Art of Christmas performance for the Cañon City Community. One-third of the high school student population, more than 300 students, participated this year in the instrumental, vocal, drama, and visual arts presentation!
Override Progress
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Last week I participated in a visit to Stone Mountain Elementary School in Douglas County with many of our staff. Our goal was to see firsthand how a Chromebook implementation might look at the elementary level. Key to the visit was our bringing along nearly all of our elementary technology instructors, as they are learning just how important their role will be as we move forward with this work. Some Mountain View Core Knowledge School staff also joined in on our visit. We are excited to see they will be partnering with us in a Chromebook implementation next year at the middle school level.
Bond Progress
On Friday folks around town will see a crane on our high school grounds as new rooftop HVAC units will be installed there.
Last Week
This year's classified Christmas Party included a gathering of decades and decades of smiling faces who have served our wonderful children in Cañon City Schools! Thank you for your years of dedication Wanda Adamic, Robin McCloskey, Barb Fawcett, Nancy Mann, and Char Marcy!
Last week I participated in a McKinley Turnaround Support Team meeting, conducted an expulsion hearing, and engaged with the Colorado Education Initiative about an upcoming series of public engagement and planning sessions on which they'll support us. I also had a board work session and meeting, a monthly touching base meeting with Director of Student Support Services Paula Buser, a monthly collaboration meeting with local law enforcement agencies, a Superintendent's Advisory Council meeting, a District Leadership Team meeting, and a CCEA leadership touching base meeting. On Wednesday I toured Stone Mountain Elementary School in the Douglas County School District with a team of Cañon City educators in an effort to learn how they support their one-to-one Chromebook program at the K-5 level. On Thursday I attended an Early Childhood Leadership Commission meeting in Denver and on Friday I attended a regional superintendent's meeting and our annual Classified Association Christmas gathering.
This Week
My plan for this week is to engage in some McKinley turnaround support work, catch up on office and community correspondence, attend the first CCHS Capstone Project Fair, hold a Superintendent Advisory Council meeting, attend some CCHS Public Policy presentations, meet with Cañon Exploratory School staff about their upcoming middle school Chromebook implementation, attend a Facilities Corporation quarterly meeting, review final plans for our new district grounds facility, and celebrate the coming of the holidays with staff.
Other Voices
Among the many great things going on at CCMS includes an annual Constitutional Convention simulation in Social Studies.
This week Cañon City Middle School Principal Jesse Oliver is a contributor to Echoes. He wishes to address the community about bullying prevention efforts being made at his school.
I want to highlight some of the recently published Healthy Kids Colorado Survey results as they pertain to the students at Canon City Middle School. This Survey is a 65 question survey that is done every other year with all middle school students. 2017 was the 2nd time we participated as a school.
A lot of topics covered in the survey, including how much screen time students get, how physically active they are, what they eat on a daily basis, as well as online activity, experiences around bullying, mental health, tobacco use, and the prevalence of weapons on campus. We at CCMS administration use these results, in coordination with our school health professional and counseling department, to make necessary adjustments to instruction and programs so we can impact our students in positive ways.
Specific areas we are pleased with our progress include are the percentage of students who have ever been electronically bullied (we have shown a 9% decrease), the percentage of students who reported being bullied on school property (a 27.6% Decrease), and the percentage of students who have someone to talk to when they feel sad, empty, hopeless or angry (a 50% increase). These three measures are important when measuring a school climate for middle school students. They indicate students are being bullied less and that they feel they have adults they can approach when in need.
Cañon City Middle School has also seen a .2% decrease in the percentage of students who report they have attempted to harm themselves. We recognize our statistics show far too many students experience such thoughts. However, in light of the state average in this category rising by 1.3%, we feel we are at least headed in the right direction.
The Cañon City Middle School staff, administrators, and counselors are proud of the work we have been doing and our results show that we live by our district's first core belief. We do our best to meet the social-emotional needs of all students, putting Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs before Bloom’s Taxonomy. However, we know we have much more work to do.
I want to assure the staff and parents of Canon City Middle School that we will continue to celebrate our successes, and we will continue to focus on areas in need of improvement, wherever they may be.
Jesse Oliver
Principal, Cañon City Middle School
. . . and thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
I want to highlight some of the recently published Healthy Kids Colorado Survey results as they pertain to the students at Canon City Middle School. This Survey is a 65 question survey that is done every other year with all middle school students. 2017 was the 2nd time we participated as a school.
A lot of topics covered in the survey, including how much screen time students get, how physically active they are, what they eat on a daily basis, as well as online activity, experiences around bullying, mental health, tobacco use, and the prevalence of weapons on campus. We at CCMS administration use these results, in coordination with our school health professional and counseling department, to make necessary adjustments to instruction and programs so we can impact our students in positive ways.
Specific areas we are pleased with our progress include are the percentage of students who have ever been electronically bullied (we have shown a 9% decrease), the percentage of students who reported being bullied on school property (a 27.6% Decrease), and the percentage of students who have someone to talk to when they feel sad, empty, hopeless or angry (a 50% increase). These three measures are important when measuring a school climate for middle school students. They indicate students are being bullied less and that they feel they have adults they can approach when in need.
Cañon City Middle School has also seen a .2% decrease in the percentage of students who report they have attempted to harm themselves. We recognize our statistics show far too many students experience such thoughts. However, in light of the state average in this category rising by 1.3%, we feel we are at least headed in the right direction.
The Cañon City Middle School staff, administrators, and counselors are proud of the work we have been doing and our results show that we live by our district's first core belief. We do our best to meet the social-emotional needs of all students, putting Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs before Bloom’s Taxonomy. However, we know we have much more work to do.
I want to assure the staff and parents of Canon City Middle School that we will continue to celebrate our successes, and we will continue to focus on areas in need of improvement, wherever they may be.
Jesse Oliver
Principal, Cañon City Middle School
. . . and thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
