Echoes from Cañon
Examples of Excellence
CCSD Staff attended the iLearn Collaborative gathering in Denver last week.
Last Thursday and Friday a dedicated group of CCSD employees gave up precious time with their families to attend the iLearn Collaborative gathering in Denver. Jessie Daniels, Adam Hartman, Kari Holcomb, Shaun Kohl, Mark Lyons, Susanna Medina, Scott Morton, Amy Williamson, Scott Witkowsky, Daniel Coppa, Lori Coppa, Chris McIntyre, Bill Summers, and Jennifer VanIwarden attended. Thank you each for breaking away from your weekly routine to acquire skills needed to help make our deployment of Chromebooks in Cañon City High School and McKinley Elementary School successful.
I also want to thank everyone involved in our new Washington Elementary and upgraded Cañon City Middle School BEST grant application process. Our longtime partners at CRP Architecture were instrumental in helping us sort through many master plan options. Our new design-build team of GE Johnson Construction, RTA Architecture, and RLH Engineering were amazing in the way they triple-checked our building space and program needs, updated costs, and quickly reacted to the news we might be better served by renovating the 1925 core building as opposed to tearing it down. Along the way, Director of Finance Buddy Lambrecht and Director of Operations Jeff Peterson were incredibly responsive in providing information needed for the application. I think Buddy, Jeff and I make a good grant writing team. Finally, a special thanks to board director Kristyn Econome for setting time aside to review, edit, and make our narrative more understandable. Our applications were submitted last Friday. Now we wait.
On a final note, I want to offer thanks to our neighbors in the RE-2 School District for allowing us to tour Fremont Middle School to learn how we might proceed with our one-to-one technology device implementation. We observed engaging instruction and learned quite a bit about how teachers can support student in the use of devices.
I also want to thank everyone involved in our new Washington Elementary and upgraded Cañon City Middle School BEST grant application process. Our longtime partners at CRP Architecture were instrumental in helping us sort through many master plan options. Our new design-build team of GE Johnson Construction, RTA Architecture, and RLH Engineering were amazing in the way they triple-checked our building space and program needs, updated costs, and quickly reacted to the news we might be better served by renovating the 1925 core building as opposed to tearing it down. Along the way, Director of Finance Buddy Lambrecht and Director of Operations Jeff Peterson were incredibly responsive in providing information needed for the application. I think Buddy, Jeff and I make a good grant writing team. Finally, a special thanks to board director Kristyn Econome for setting time aside to review, edit, and make our narrative more understandable. Our applications were submitted last Friday. Now we wait.
On a final note, I want to offer thanks to our neighbors in the RE-2 School District for allowing us to tour Fremont Middle School to learn how we might proceed with our one-to-one technology device implementation. We observed engaging instruction and learned quite a bit about how teachers can support student in the use of devices.
The Focus of Our Work
Bill Summers, Adam Hartman, and Shaun Kohl observe Fremont Middle School technology based instruction.
On Wednesday I testified in front of the House Education Committee in support of legislation, originally advocated by our board of education through a Colorado Association of School Boards resolution passed in October, to invest an additional $5 million per year of marijuana excise tax collections over the next 20 years, to be invested in BEST Certificates of Participation that would amount to just short of $100 million to fund school construction projects. The bill passed out of committee on a 12-1 vote, and I very much appreciate the support our representative Jim Wilson expressed for this action.
On Thursday our Board of Education held a special work session about in what form to submit our facilities grants. We had to decide whether to package them together or to submit two separate ones. Our needs at both Cañon City Middle School and Washington Elementary are extensive, and both grants are desperately needed. In the end, the board decided submitting two application would give the BEST Board more flexibility in its decision making and financing strategies, and this could benefit our applications.
At our Board Work Session on Monday we'll address several topics, including a plan to invest in a student email monitoring system that could tip us off to students who engage in cyberbullying, suicidal behavior, and physical threats of others.
We have two important mid-year building reviews to conduct this week. On Monday we'll be on the Cañon Exploratory School campus with Molly Merry to offer feedback in support of improvement. On Wednesday Ted Knight will be back in town taking a look at Cañon City High School.
On Thursday our Board of Education held a special work session about in what form to submit our facilities grants. We had to decide whether to package them together or to submit two separate ones. Our needs at both Cañon City Middle School and Washington Elementary are extensive, and both grants are desperately needed. In the end, the board decided submitting two application would give the BEST Board more flexibility in its decision making and financing strategies, and this could benefit our applications.
At our Board Work Session on Monday we'll address several topics, including a plan to invest in a student email monitoring system that could tip us off to students who engage in cyberbullying, suicidal behavior, and physical threats of others.
We have two important mid-year building reviews to conduct this week. On Monday we'll be on the Cañon Exploratory School campus with Molly Merry to offer feedback in support of improvement. On Wednesday Ted Knight will be back in town taking a look at Cañon City High School.
Override Progress
On Thursday and Friday, members of the Cañon City High School Tech Deployment Committee, as well as key staff from McKinley Elementary School, attended the iLearn Collaborative state conference in Denver. While there we learned best practices for infusing technology into classroom instruction, how to manage devices in a school system, and how to support teacher development in technology instruction.
Bond Progress
This map shows the layout of the Cañon City Middle School major renovation and new building project we submitted.
On Friday afternoon I submitted two BEST grant applications to the Colorado Department of Education on behalf of the school district.
One asks for $24.8 million in state support to tear down the old vocational facility, replace our district grounds facility with a new one, extensively renovate the 1925 core of Cañon City Middle School, add new class space between that and the 1980s gymnasium, then demolish the 1970s-80s wing, allowing for off Main Street parking and added green space. The total cost for this project will be $32.8 million. If approved, our cost will be the $8 million match our voters approved in the November election.
Our second grant asks for $16.4 million to support the construction of a new two-story Washington Elementary on its property (to the north and east of the current facility) followed by the demolition of the old facility, the removal of an asbestos-laden portable structure, and major grounds and parking lot improvements. The total cost for this will be $22.6 million. If approved, our cost will be the $6.2 million match our voters approved in the November election.
In the next several weeks I'll be meeting with CDE Capital Construction regional representative Anna Fitzer and Mountain View Core Knowledge School leaders to determine the best path forward for significant improvements to the MVCKS campus. This will likely lead to a comprehensive facility assessment and master plan for improvement for the school.
One asks for $24.8 million in state support to tear down the old vocational facility, replace our district grounds facility with a new one, extensively renovate the 1925 core of Cañon City Middle School, add new class space between that and the 1980s gymnasium, then demolish the 1970s-80s wing, allowing for off Main Street parking and added green space. The total cost for this project will be $32.8 million. If approved, our cost will be the $8 million match our voters approved in the November election.
Our second grant asks for $16.4 million to support the construction of a new two-story Washington Elementary on its property (to the north and east of the current facility) followed by the demolition of the old facility, the removal of an asbestos-laden portable structure, and major grounds and parking lot improvements. The total cost for this will be $22.6 million. If approved, our cost will be the $6.2 million match our voters approved in the November election.
In the next several weeks I'll be meeting with CDE Capital Construction regional representative Anna Fitzer and Mountain View Core Knowledge School leaders to determine the best path forward for significant improvements to the MVCKS campus. This will likely lead to a comprehensive facility assessment and master plan for improvement for the school.
Last Week
On Tuesday I attended a Design-Build team meeting to finalize solution plans for our BEST grant applications. I also got to spend part of the day at Fremont Middle School observing how they implement their one-to-one iPad program. I traveled to Denver on Wednesday to testify in support of an increased BEST funding bill. While there I got to meet with CASB president-elect Kathy Gebhardt and Colorado Rural Alliance executive director Michelle Murphy about pending legislation. On Thursday and Friday, my focus was on attending the iLearn Collaborative conference with teams from Cañon City High School and McKinley Elementary. Around that, I worked on finalizing and preparing all documents needed for our BEST grant application submission.
This Week
Cañon Exploratory School students participate in Peer Mediation Training.
We have two mid-year building reviews this week. On Monday we'll be at Cañon Exploratory School. On Wednesday we'll visit Canon City High School. I have a day full day of meetings on Tuesday, including Superintendent's Advisory Council, Middle School ICAP, and an Instructional Leader PLC. On Thursday and Friday, I'll be in Denver once again, this time at the CASB Winter Legislative Conference. We also have a regular board meeting and work session on Monday evening.
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
