Echoes from Cañon
Examples of Excellence
Middle and High School math teachers work to revise the district Algebra Proficiency Exam.
Counselor Stacey Andrews (seated far left) shares best practices being used at CCHS.
I want to thank the critical staff that gathered this week to rewrite our district Algebra Proficiency Exam. This included Heather McLaughlin from CES, Kevin Marushack from CCHS, Alex Hill and Tennille Candelaria from CCMS, and Patience Bohna and Amelia Harrell from Harrison. Director of Instruction Adam Hartman reported, "it makes me happy to see vertical communication between the high school and our middle schools." "Yes, this is good for our Algebra Proficiency Exam, but more importantly, it's good for our kids. " Thank you all!
Cañon City High School Counselor Stacey Andrews shared her expertise this week while in Boulder at the Counselor Corps Grant Conference. She participated in a panel that shared best practices in preparing students for college and career opportunities. Thank you, Stacey!
The Cañon City High School Wrestling team is wrapping up an excellent season. Last year they secured a league championship title and this week they put in a great showing to finish 2nd in Class 4A Region 3. Congratulations!
Congratulations are also due to our Harrison Hawk female hoopsters who took first in the middle school league championship tournament, and to Cañon City High School senior Kylie Henninger who earned overall Army match champion at the 2018 JROTC Service Championship rifle contest.
Cañon City High School Counselor Stacey Andrews shared her expertise this week while in Boulder at the Counselor Corps Grant Conference. She participated in a panel that shared best practices in preparing students for college and career opportunities. Thank you, Stacey!
The Cañon City High School Wrestling team is wrapping up an excellent season. Last year they secured a league championship title and this week they put in a great showing to finish 2nd in Class 4A Region 3. Congratulations!
Congratulations are also due to our Harrison Hawk female hoopsters who took first in the middle school league championship tournament, and to Cañon City High School senior Kylie Henninger who earned overall Army match champion at the 2018 JROTC Service Championship rifle contest.
Wendy Birhanzel and Tammy De Wolfe observe classroom instruction at Lincoln.
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CCHS staff appear to be pretty excited about receiving their new Chromebooks.
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Our 2017-18 Tiger grapplers took the league championship and finished second in regionals.
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The Focus of Our Work
Kylie Henninger earned overall Army match champion at the 2018 JROTC Service Championship.
Readers may be aware the Cañon 2020 visioning committee has been considering a proposal to move the start of the school day at Cañon City High School back an hour next year as supported by adolescent sleep research. This has been a year-long discussion that will likely make it to the school board for consideration. Because of the size of our district, and our limited transportation resources, any change to the high school schedule will have to impact all other schools where we transport children on buses. For folks at Cañon City Middle School, Harrison K-8, Lincoln School for Science and Technology, and McKinley Elementary I want to promise that once the Cañon 2020 committee finalizes its proposal, you will be made aware of what effect this might have on your school day. Our Board of Education will have the final say on this plan, and will not make such a decision without first soliciting input from interested parties.
On Thursday we conducted a mid-year site visit at Lincoln School of Science and Technology and were pleased by many of the things we observed. External consultant Wendy Birhanzel was on hand to support this work. We saw clear evidence of a working collaborative leadership process, intense focus on improvement goals, and examples of outstanding ways to communicate with parents including about how the staff is making use of Delayed Start Task Force Work Time. We also noted the quantity and quality of instructional feedback provided to teachers by Principal Tammy DeWolfe, evidence staff are empowered to share their professional knowledge and support others in the use of best practices, the staff’s mindset of a lifelong commitment to professional growth, outstanding small group instructional practices, extremely talented paraprofessionals, and perhaps the most diversely gifted custodial team that has ever worked in a school. A final report will be ready for the Lincoln staff at the end of this week. We'll be taking external evaluator Ted Knight on a visit to Harrison this Monday.
On Thursday we conducted a mid-year site visit at Lincoln School of Science and Technology and were pleased by many of the things we observed. External consultant Wendy Birhanzel was on hand to support this work. We saw clear evidence of a working collaborative leadership process, intense focus on improvement goals, and examples of outstanding ways to communicate with parents including about how the staff is making use of Delayed Start Task Force Work Time. We also noted the quantity and quality of instructional feedback provided to teachers by Principal Tammy DeWolfe, evidence staff are empowered to share their professional knowledge and support others in the use of best practices, the staff’s mindset of a lifelong commitment to professional growth, outstanding small group instructional practices, extremely talented paraprofessionals, and perhaps the most diversely gifted custodial team that has ever worked in a school. A final report will be ready for the Lincoln staff at the end of this week. We'll be taking external evaluator Ted Knight on a visit to Harrison this Monday.
Override Progress
This week all High School instructional staff received their brand new Chromebooks during Wednesday's early release professional development time. On Friday I attended an iLearn Collaborative meeting with CCHS and district leaders designed to plot out professional development in advance of our grade 9-12 Chromebook implementation next fall.
Bond Progress
Our partners from GE Johnson and RTA Architecture walk the grounds of Mountain View Core Knowledge School to begin putting together cost estimates for a BEST grant.
On Tuesday, a team of nine panelists including principals, district-level administrators, a board director, and a citizen-taxpayer, interviewed three design-build teams and ultimately selected GE Johnson Construction and RTA Architecture. They will help us complete the $7.5 million multi-facility repair project we have ahead of us this summer and will support us in securing grants for new Cañon City Middle and Washington Elementary schools. We chose this team on the strength of their experience building schools in our region, their positive references, the experience they have with the Building Excellent Schools Today program, their creative approach, and the overall cost of their proposal which will get us more construction for our dollar than the two other finalists proposed.
Upon selecting our team, we immediately got to work on Wednesday. At this meeting we began setting a construction schedule for this summer's projects, confirming the square footage we'll need in new Washington and Cañon City Middle schools, establishing the timelines for design and construction of these projects (should we secure grants), planning for the construction of a replacement grounds shop, reviewing construction estimates for our grant application, and considering alternate solutions for the replacement/upgrade of Cañon City Middle School that might, in the end, allow us to retain at least the outer facade of the historically significant 1925 portion of that building.
One other item of note is that our design-build team walked the grounds of Mountain View Core Knowledge Charter School on Wednesday. This was done to view proposed repair and upgrade projects that might qualify for a BEST grant we are helping them to write.
Upon selecting our team, we immediately got to work on Wednesday. At this meeting we began setting a construction schedule for this summer's projects, confirming the square footage we'll need in new Washington and Cañon City Middle schools, establishing the timelines for design and construction of these projects (should we secure grants), planning for the construction of a replacement grounds shop, reviewing construction estimates for our grant application, and considering alternate solutions for the replacement/upgrade of Cañon City Middle School that might, in the end, allow us to retain at least the outer facade of the historically significant 1925 portion of that building.
One other item of note is that our design-build team walked the grounds of Mountain View Core Knowledge Charter School on Wednesday. This was done to view proposed repair and upgrade projects that might qualify for a BEST grant we are helping them to write.
Our current draft schedule for completion of projects related to our Multi-Facility Repair and Upgrade project.
Last Week
I took a personal day on Monday to travel. On Tuesday we held design-build interviews and decided to partner with GE-Johnson-RTA. On Wednesday we held central office and operations staff meetings. We also hosted visitors from the Fountain-Fort Carson School District to learn about the Lindamood-Bell intervention work we're doing. As reported above, we also held our first Design-Build Team meeting. On Thursday we conducted the Lincoln School of Science and Technology mid-year building evaluation site visit. I also attended the Cañon City High School Tech Deployment Committee meeting that afternoon and a Cañon 2020 visioning meeting that evening. On Friday I attended our iLearn high school technology staff-development kickoff meeting, held an expulsion hearing, and attended to routine office work. During the week I also spent around 10 hours working on BEST grant narrative.
Congratulations to the Harrison Girl's Basketball team for their championship performance!
This Week
I look forward to seeing these cute Harrison kindergarteners who celebrated the 100th day of school last week by dressing in "style."
On Monday we'll conduct the Harrison K-8 mid-year building evaluation site visit. We also have a school board work session and meeting in the evening. Tuesday is filled with quite a few meetings, including a District Leadership Team session and a Calendar Committee meeting in the evening. Most of Wednesday will be spent on BEST grant narrative writing, though I'll also attend the Regional Wellness Advisory Team meeting at Noon. On Thursday we have an important meeting about our district health benefit, and on Friday we have a meeting with Valley-Wide Health Services to talk about a possible school-based health center grant.
Thanks for listening once again.
George S. Welsh
Thanks for listening once again.
George S. Welsh
