Cañon City thrives through adventurous spirit, dynamic people, innovative schools, and historic charm.
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.
Top 5 Stories of 2019
To wrap up a wonderful 2019, Cañon City Schools is offering up its five most significant newsworthy stories of the calendar year.
Number 5: Cañon City High School students earn the greatest number of college credits per-student of all high schools in Colorado!
In spring 2019, the Colorado Department of Education released its annual Concurrent Enrollment Report. Thanks to Cañon City's productive partnership with Pueblo Community College, and the tremendous effort made by Cañon City High School administration to secure staff qualified to teach Early College coursework, Cañon City High School was featured throughout the report.
Most impressively, with 528 of Cañon City High School's 1,050 students participating in, and earning at least one college credit each, Cañon City High School actually led the state of Colorado in per-capita college credit earned by high school students.
This is a result of students earning credit for everything from Math, Language Arts, Humanities, and Science to Art, Music, Welding, Auto Mechanics, Computer-Assisted Design and Drafting, and Nursing.
Though the 2018-19 report won't come out until April 2021, analysis of the Cañon City High School Class of 2019 shows the 250 students who received their high school diploma in May earned a total of 4,235 college credits. Based on 2018-19 tuition prices, this means Cañon City High School parents saved roughly $640,000 in college tuition costs.
Meanwhile, the future of this endeavor remains bright. Just a few weeks ago the Gates Family Foundation announced it has awarded Cañon City High School $100,000 over the coming two years to further incentivize staff to earn Master's degrees in key content areas, thereby allowing the District to offer even more Early College courses to Cañon City High School students.
Most impressively, with 528 of Cañon City High School's 1,050 students participating in, and earning at least one college credit each, Cañon City High School actually led the state of Colorado in per-capita college credit earned by high school students.
This is a result of students earning credit for everything from Math, Language Arts, Humanities, and Science to Art, Music, Welding, Auto Mechanics, Computer-Assisted Design and Drafting, and Nursing.
Though the 2018-19 report won't come out until April 2021, analysis of the Cañon City High School Class of 2019 shows the 250 students who received their high school diploma in May earned a total of 4,235 college credits. Based on 2018-19 tuition prices, this means Cañon City High School parents saved roughly $640,000 in college tuition costs.
Meanwhile, the future of this endeavor remains bright. Just a few weeks ago the Gates Family Foundation announced it has awarded Cañon City High School $100,000 over the coming two years to further incentivize staff to earn Master's degrees in key content areas, thereby allowing the District to offer even more Early College courses to Cañon City High School students.
Number 4: Cañon City School District on track to complete $70 million in new construction and building upgrades, at the cost of only $23 million to local taxpayers!
In spring 2017, Cañon City Schools applied for two of Colorado's Building Excellent Schools today grants. One was a $7.5 million project asking BEST for $5 million in matching funds to increase the safety, security, and envelope of five schools by improving building entries and alarm systems, and upgrading roofing and replacing windows and doors. The second grant, a combined $50 million project to replace Cañon City Middle School and Washington Elementary School, unfortunately, was not approved at that time. However, with voter approval of a grant match for the two new school projects in hand, the district administration took another shot at a BEST grant in spring 2018 and secured a $24 million award for Washington Elementary, and a $36 million award to significantly upgrade Cañon City Middle School.
During the 2018 calendar year, as promised to voters through 2017 Ballot Question 3B, Mountain View Core Knowledge School's $3 million building loan was paid in full, and $7.5 million in safety, security and envelope upgrades to Cañon Exploratory School, Cañon City High School, Harrison School, Lincoln School of Science and Technology, and McKinley Elementary School were completed. At the same time, the design process for a new Washington Elementary School, and a significant upgrade to Cañon City Middle School that retains the historic 1925 portion took place.
In March and May 2019, construction began in earnest on both projects. Though the District struggled with unexpected underground finds at each site, and unstable soils at Washington, problems were soon overcome.
The new Washington Elementary School will open in August 2020, while Cañon City Middle School students will move into their new sections at the same time. Construction work will continue on the restoration and remodel of the 1925 part of the school that initially served as Cañon City High School.
During the 2018 calendar year, as promised to voters through 2017 Ballot Question 3B, Mountain View Core Knowledge School's $3 million building loan was paid in full, and $7.5 million in safety, security and envelope upgrades to Cañon Exploratory School, Cañon City High School, Harrison School, Lincoln School of Science and Technology, and McKinley Elementary School were completed. At the same time, the design process for a new Washington Elementary School, and a significant upgrade to Cañon City Middle School that retains the historic 1925 portion took place.
In March and May 2019, construction began in earnest on both projects. Though the District struggled with unexpected underground finds at each site, and unstable soils at Washington, problems were soon overcome.
The new Washington Elementary School will open in August 2020, while Cañon City Middle School students will move into their new sections at the same time. Construction work will continue on the restoration and remodel of the 1925 part of the school that initially served as Cañon City High School.
Number 3: Board of Education named Colorado Association of School Board's 2019 All-State Board!
On November 1st, the Colorado Association of Schools Boards named the Cañon City School District Board of Education its 2019 All-State Board! Each year this recognizes a single board of education in Colorado for overall excellence in governance.
Selection for this award requires evidence of how a board has advanced student success, demonstrates leadership, uses sound reasoning and strong ethics in its decision-making, develops its members individually and as a team, and displays excellence and consistency in responding to challenges or issues the Board and community faced.
Excerpts from the Board's award description include the following:
The Cañon City Fremont RE-1 board of education has advanced student success by engaging students, staff, and community in designing an education system of the future, focused on the development of specific traits and skills that will be of value to citizens for years to come.
In 2012, the Board initiated a strategic planning process to transition Cañon City High School to a career pathways model. Though it took five years, hundreds of hours of broad-based community and staff engagement, and recovery from a failed mill-override election, in fall 2017, Cañon City High School 9th graders entered a school program created by and for students. The Class of 2021 experienced a Freshman Base Camp offering broad educational choice, instruction relevant to career exploration, the ability to meet Colorado's revised high school graduation requirements, and an opportunity to graduate with an endorsement in one of four career clusters. Additionally, every member of this class and all who follow will complete a rigorous capstone project before earning their diploma and are benefitting from more than 100 community business partnerships that allow them to participate in relevant intern and apprentice experiences before graduation. This is an accomplishment nearly unheard of in a rural setting. This student-centered/student-driven culture paid off immediately during the 17-18 school year when a Cañon City High School Technical Writing class wrote and submitted a P-TECH grant application aimed at providing fellow students opportunities to engage more deeply in STEM education, complete STEM-based internships, and earn Associates Degrees in STEM-related fields, at no personal cost. With the award of this grant, Cañon City became the first rural school in the US to earn a P-TECH program. The result? Cañon City Schools now is recognized as an Exemplar District, featured by the Colorado Education Initiative as a must place to visit through the Homegrown Taken Initiative, and Cañon City High School received a 2019 Succeeds Award for outstanding STEM education.
The Cañon City Fremont RE-1 board of education uses sound reasoning and strong ethics in its decision-making process.
The Board's handling of Great Recession financial cuts by placing a high priority on people is a prime example of this. This is also evident through the cultivation of model certified and classified association relationships. This has also been accomplished through the codification of a set of core beliefs to which staff and the Board itself are held accountable. These include:
1. We meet the social-emotional needs of all students, putting Maslow before Bloom.
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.
Another key way the Board exhibited sound reasoning and ethics was by choosing to allow schools to administer the BIMAS Social-Emotional screener tool to all secondary students beginning with the 18-19 school year. This brought to light the many struggles CCSD students experience daily, setting in motion a need to address them. As a result, the District now has the data needed to expand community partnerships providing students with the social-emotional and substance abuse counseling they needed all along. This effort has received statewide and even national attention.
The Cañon City Fremont RE-1 board of education has displayed excellence and consistency in response to challenges or issues the community has faced by expertly navigating an extremely challenging large-scale student sexting incident that captured international interest in the fall of 2015. The Board managed this situation by holding to established communications norms, exhibiting transparency, presenting a unified front, and continuously keeping the safety, privacy, and well-being of each child at the forefront. As a result, the Cañon City School Board moved the community beyond the crisis while encouraging nationwide common-sense discussions about digital citizenship.
Finally, in fall 2018, surrounded geographically by school districts that moved to a 4-day calendar, the Board faced staff desire for doing the same by calling attention to the real issue at hand, the ability to fill open positions, and retain great quality educators to work with its kids. This resulted in the conduct of a transparent Interest-Based Solutions process that adhered to core beliefs and created an innovative hybrid calendar aimed at attracting and retaining staff. The Board then engaged the greater community in exploring solutions to its educator attraction and retention issue. This resulted in a Civic Canopy led process that created actionable plans to transform the image of Cañon City as a great place to live, work, and raise and educate children. The impact of this work will last generations.
On Friday, December 6th Larry Oddo, Lloyd Harwood, Mary Kay Evans, Shad Johnson, Robin Reeser, Beth Gaffney, and Mike Near were invited to the stage at the Broadmoor International Hall in Colorado Springs to accept this honor in a room full of school board members from all over the state of Colorado.
Selection for this award requires evidence of how a board has advanced student success, demonstrates leadership, uses sound reasoning and strong ethics in its decision-making, develops its members individually and as a team, and displays excellence and consistency in responding to challenges or issues the Board and community faced.
Excerpts from the Board's award description include the following:
The Cañon City Fremont RE-1 board of education has advanced student success by engaging students, staff, and community in designing an education system of the future, focused on the development of specific traits and skills that will be of value to citizens for years to come.
In 2012, the Board initiated a strategic planning process to transition Cañon City High School to a career pathways model. Though it took five years, hundreds of hours of broad-based community and staff engagement, and recovery from a failed mill-override election, in fall 2017, Cañon City High School 9th graders entered a school program created by and for students. The Class of 2021 experienced a Freshman Base Camp offering broad educational choice, instruction relevant to career exploration, the ability to meet Colorado's revised high school graduation requirements, and an opportunity to graduate with an endorsement in one of four career clusters. Additionally, every member of this class and all who follow will complete a rigorous capstone project before earning their diploma and are benefitting from more than 100 community business partnerships that allow them to participate in relevant intern and apprentice experiences before graduation. This is an accomplishment nearly unheard of in a rural setting. This student-centered/student-driven culture paid off immediately during the 17-18 school year when a Cañon City High School Technical Writing class wrote and submitted a P-TECH grant application aimed at providing fellow students opportunities to engage more deeply in STEM education, complete STEM-based internships, and earn Associates Degrees in STEM-related fields, at no personal cost. With the award of this grant, Cañon City became the first rural school in the US to earn a P-TECH program. The result? Cañon City Schools now is recognized as an Exemplar District, featured by the Colorado Education Initiative as a must place to visit through the Homegrown Taken Initiative, and Cañon City High School received a 2019 Succeeds Award for outstanding STEM education.
The Cañon City Fremont RE-1 board of education uses sound reasoning and strong ethics in its decision-making process.
The Board's handling of Great Recession financial cuts by placing a high priority on people is a prime example of this. This is also evident through the cultivation of model certified and classified association relationships. This has also been accomplished through the codification of a set of core beliefs to which staff and the Board itself are held accountable. These include:
1. We meet the social-emotional needs of all students, putting Maslow before Bloom.
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.
Another key way the Board exhibited sound reasoning and ethics was by choosing to allow schools to administer the BIMAS Social-Emotional screener tool to all secondary students beginning with the 18-19 school year. This brought to light the many struggles CCSD students experience daily, setting in motion a need to address them. As a result, the District now has the data needed to expand community partnerships providing students with the social-emotional and substance abuse counseling they needed all along. This effort has received statewide and even national attention.
The Cañon City Fremont RE-1 board of education has displayed excellence and consistency in response to challenges or issues the community has faced by expertly navigating an extremely challenging large-scale student sexting incident that captured international interest in the fall of 2015. The Board managed this situation by holding to established communications norms, exhibiting transparency, presenting a unified front, and continuously keeping the safety, privacy, and well-being of each child at the forefront. As a result, the Cañon City School Board moved the community beyond the crisis while encouraging nationwide common-sense discussions about digital citizenship.
Finally, in fall 2018, surrounded geographically by school districts that moved to a 4-day calendar, the Board faced staff desire for doing the same by calling attention to the real issue at hand, the ability to fill open positions, and retain great quality educators to work with its kids. This resulted in the conduct of a transparent Interest-Based Solutions process that adhered to core beliefs and created an innovative hybrid calendar aimed at attracting and retaining staff. The Board then engaged the greater community in exploring solutions to its educator attraction and retention issue. This resulted in a Civic Canopy led process that created actionable plans to transform the image of Cañon City as a great place to live, work, and raise and educate children. The impact of this work will last generations.
On Friday, December 6th Larry Oddo, Lloyd Harwood, Mary Kay Evans, Shad Johnson, Robin Reeser, Beth Gaffney, and Mike Near were invited to the stage at the Broadmoor International Hall in Colorado Springs to accept this honor in a room full of school board members from all over the state of Colorado.
Number 2: Cañon City High School awarded a Succeeds Prize for Innovation in STEM Education
On Thursday, January 19th in Denver, Cañon City High School was awarded the 2019 Succeeds Prize for Innovation in STEM Education.
This award recognized Cañon City High School's innovative development of a Systems Go rocketry program, as well as the incredible transformation the Cañon City High School staff has guided its programs through over the past three years. As a result, Cañon City High School is now am award-winning Student-Centered/Pathways/P-TECH high school.
The Succeeds Award also acknowledged Cañon City High School's amazing community partners who have invested in students, be it monetarily, by donating equipment and supplies, or by opening their doors to intern and apprentice opportunities for our students.
Finally, the award was also a testament to the partnership Cañon City High School has with Pueblo Community College, making possible our "first in the nation" rural high school P-TECH program.
The Succeeds Prize came with a $15,000 cash award, which was invested directly into our Systems Go rocketry program by paying a portion of the setup costs for an advanced manufacturing classroom at Cañon City High School. To support this effort, Cañon City High School is investing portions of $179,000 in vocational incentive money received from the State of Colorado in 2019 thanks to the number of students who earned industry certificates in Career and Technical Education courses.
Readers who would like to see the 9News broadcast of the award ceremony can go to this link and fast forward to the 30-minute mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvMKPWpXxZk
If you'd like to view the Cañon City Daily Record article about this, click on this link: https://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/2019/09/20/canon-city-high-school-receives-2019-succeeds-prize-for-innovation-in-stem-education/
This award recognized Cañon City High School's innovative development of a Systems Go rocketry program, as well as the incredible transformation the Cañon City High School staff has guided its programs through over the past three years. As a result, Cañon City High School is now am award-winning Student-Centered/Pathways/P-TECH high school.
The Succeeds Award also acknowledged Cañon City High School's amazing community partners who have invested in students, be it monetarily, by donating equipment and supplies, or by opening their doors to intern and apprentice opportunities for our students.
Finally, the award was also a testament to the partnership Cañon City High School has with Pueblo Community College, making possible our "first in the nation" rural high school P-TECH program.
The Succeeds Prize came with a $15,000 cash award, which was invested directly into our Systems Go rocketry program by paying a portion of the setup costs for an advanced manufacturing classroom at Cañon City High School. To support this effort, Cañon City High School is investing portions of $179,000 in vocational incentive money received from the State of Colorado in 2019 thanks to the number of students who earned industry certificates in Career and Technical Education courses.
Readers who would like to see the 9News broadcast of the award ceremony can go to this link and fast forward to the 30-minute mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvMKPWpXxZk
If you'd like to view the Cañon City Daily Record article about this, click on this link: https://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/2019/09/20/canon-city-high-school-receives-2019-succeeds-prize-for-innovation-in-stem-education/
Number 1: Cañon City named a Colorado Education Initiative Exemplar District in support of the Homegrown Talent Initiative!
On November 21 and 22, 2019, eighty educators, students, and community leaders from eight communities across Colorado came to Cañon City for two days to learn just what the heck is going on in Cañon City, both educationally and economically.
The Homegrown Talent Initiative is a statewide project designed to be an accelerant for leaders in rural communities who strive to develop a Colorado where all students are lifelong learners, ready to solve the problems of tomorrow. Participants take on this work with an eye toward innovation and collaboration.
The Homegrown Talent Initiative supports community aspirations to develop a comprehensive "educonomy" where economic development and education efforts work hand in hand for the benefit of kids and the community.
Through the Homegrown Talent Initiative, the Colorado Education Initiative aims to:
· Identify exemplary programs already occurring across Colorado (such as those in the Cañon City and St. Vrain school districts) and support the documentation of best practices such that others can learn from their efforts.
· Support communities in leveraging these and other efforts to develop and strengthen access to high-quality learning experiences in their schools and districts, as well as multiple pathways that lead learners to success in postsecondary education and career.
The Homegrown Talent Initiative is a statewide partnership that supports regional cohorts of communities to create homegrown, career-connected learning experiences for K-12 students aligned to the needs and aspirations of their local economies.
Facilitated by Colorado Succeeds and the Colorado Education Initiative, and supported by the Daniels Fund, Walton Family Foundation, and Gill Foundation, the initiative kicked off in September with eight rural communities selected to participate in the 2019-20 school year.
"Through our advocacy work and The Succeeds Prize, we've identified some of the most innovative and impactful partnerships between K-12, higher education, and employers," said Scott Laband, President of Colorado Succeeds. "Time and again, we have witnessed the value that can be generated for kids and communities when these diverse partners come together in substantive ways to design relevant, career-connected learning experiences for every student. Kids are more engaged in their learning, more successful in building skills and competencies, and more thoughtful about their future academic and career pathways."
We believe this collective work is essential to prepare all students and communities for the future, especially a future that requires lifelong learning," said Rebecca Holmes, President and CEO of Colorado Education Initiative. "CEI has been honored to work with many of these districts in some capacity over the past decade and we're absolutely energized by the opportunity to lead the implementation process with so many critical partners at the table in each community. I think Colorado is leading the country on building community-led solutions that will have a lasting impact on not just the schools but also the economic vitality of our rural regions, which generates a real opportunity for our entire state."
The Homegrown Talent Initiative is a direct and focused attempt to catalyze innovation in education and help communities create workable solutions to suit their unique needs and environment; empowering communities to improve student outcomes," said Linda Childears, President and CEO, Daniels Fund.
Participating communities were selected through an application process by CEI and Colorado Succeeds to collaborate to design and implement ways to tap into local talent while students are still in middle and high school. Through "Seeing is Believing" tours, participants are learning from education and economic leaders in Cañon City and St. Vrain schools, communities that have pioneered important work in this space.
Through facilitated technical assistance, coaching, and asset mapping, participants are being asked to address the dynamic changes in Colorado and help build homegrown opportunity pathways to serve the unique needs of students, families, schools, businesses, and industry.
The eight communities selected for the 2019-20 school year are Durango, Montezuma-Cortez, Grand County (both east and West Grand school districts), Prowers County, Clear Creek, Fremont Re-2, and Holyoke.
These design teams will work with Colorado Succeeds and the Colorado Education Initiative through Fall 2020. They will receive technical assistance, travel and convening stipends, connections with other communities across the state working on similar initiatives, and be eligible for future partnerships for deeper implementation and support.
To learn a bit more about what is happening in Cañon City to warrant its status as an Exemplar District, read the article at this link: https://coloradosucceeds.org/teachers-leaders/high-school-redesign-rural-colorado/?fbclid=IwAR0nnJ_QWINtPWtoZiYVPyr8wlOKGbo_ImHXD7zJUYi93w4jQyCWTS5famY
The Homegrown Talent Initiative is a statewide project designed to be an accelerant for leaders in rural communities who strive to develop a Colorado where all students are lifelong learners, ready to solve the problems of tomorrow. Participants take on this work with an eye toward innovation and collaboration.
The Homegrown Talent Initiative supports community aspirations to develop a comprehensive "educonomy" where economic development and education efforts work hand in hand for the benefit of kids and the community.
Through the Homegrown Talent Initiative, the Colorado Education Initiative aims to:
· Identify exemplary programs already occurring across Colorado (such as those in the Cañon City and St. Vrain school districts) and support the documentation of best practices such that others can learn from their efforts.
· Support communities in leveraging these and other efforts to develop and strengthen access to high-quality learning experiences in their schools and districts, as well as multiple pathways that lead learners to success in postsecondary education and career.
The Homegrown Talent Initiative is a statewide partnership that supports regional cohorts of communities to create homegrown, career-connected learning experiences for K-12 students aligned to the needs and aspirations of their local economies.
Facilitated by Colorado Succeeds and the Colorado Education Initiative, and supported by the Daniels Fund, Walton Family Foundation, and Gill Foundation, the initiative kicked off in September with eight rural communities selected to participate in the 2019-20 school year.
"Through our advocacy work and The Succeeds Prize, we've identified some of the most innovative and impactful partnerships between K-12, higher education, and employers," said Scott Laband, President of Colorado Succeeds. "Time and again, we have witnessed the value that can be generated for kids and communities when these diverse partners come together in substantive ways to design relevant, career-connected learning experiences for every student. Kids are more engaged in their learning, more successful in building skills and competencies, and more thoughtful about their future academic and career pathways."
We believe this collective work is essential to prepare all students and communities for the future, especially a future that requires lifelong learning," said Rebecca Holmes, President and CEO of Colorado Education Initiative. "CEI has been honored to work with many of these districts in some capacity over the past decade and we're absolutely energized by the opportunity to lead the implementation process with so many critical partners at the table in each community. I think Colorado is leading the country on building community-led solutions that will have a lasting impact on not just the schools but also the economic vitality of our rural regions, which generates a real opportunity for our entire state."
The Homegrown Talent Initiative is a direct and focused attempt to catalyze innovation in education and help communities create workable solutions to suit their unique needs and environment; empowering communities to improve student outcomes," said Linda Childears, President and CEO, Daniels Fund.
Participating communities were selected through an application process by CEI and Colorado Succeeds to collaborate to design and implement ways to tap into local talent while students are still in middle and high school. Through "Seeing is Believing" tours, participants are learning from education and economic leaders in Cañon City and St. Vrain schools, communities that have pioneered important work in this space.
Through facilitated technical assistance, coaching, and asset mapping, participants are being asked to address the dynamic changes in Colorado and help build homegrown opportunity pathways to serve the unique needs of students, families, schools, businesses, and industry.
The eight communities selected for the 2019-20 school year are Durango, Montezuma-Cortez, Grand County (both east and West Grand school districts), Prowers County, Clear Creek, Fremont Re-2, and Holyoke.
These design teams will work with Colorado Succeeds and the Colorado Education Initiative through Fall 2020. They will receive technical assistance, travel and convening stipends, connections with other communities across the state working on similar initiatives, and be eligible for future partnerships for deeper implementation and support.
To learn a bit more about what is happening in Cañon City to warrant its status as an Exemplar District, read the article at this link: https://coloradosucceeds.org/teachers-leaders/high-school-redesign-rural-colorado/?fbclid=IwAR0nnJ_QWINtPWtoZiYVPyr8wlOKGbo_ImHXD7zJUYi93w4jQyCWTS5famY