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.
Our Core Beliefs in Action
McKinley's Family Fun Night was well-attended!
Last week the McKinley Elementary staff put on a wonderful Family Fun Night for students and parents. This was well attended and participants had the opportunity to play challenging games, eat great food, and win prizes. McKinley Elementary is making big strides this year when it comes to family involvement, and they are also doing wonderful work supporting students three days per week through their after school reading and math academy!
Assistant Superintendent of Schools Adam Hartman and New Teacher Support Coach Jamie Davis facilitated another outstanding Instructional Leader Professional Learning Community last week. They have crafted lessons by which principals, assistant principals, TOSAs, and instructional coaches can inform the process the district will use to continually coach and grow Master Teachers long into the future. This is very engaging work and I very much appreciate their effort!
Finally, last week Bill Summers, Adam Hartman, and a core group of Cañon City High School staff attended another Colorado Education Initiative Assessment for Learning Process convening in Aurora. While there, a comprehensive plan to teach teachers how to support and grade Capstone graduation requirement projects was developed. This plan will be put into action later this spring as a part of a CCHS early release staff development event.
Assistant Superintendent of Schools Adam Hartman and New Teacher Support Coach Jamie Davis facilitated another outstanding Instructional Leader Professional Learning Community last week. They have crafted lessons by which principals, assistant principals, TOSAs, and instructional coaches can inform the process the district will use to continually coach and grow Master Teachers long into the future. This is very engaging work and I very much appreciate their effort!
Finally, last week Bill Summers, Adam Hartman, and a core group of Cañon City High School staff attended another Colorado Education Initiative Assessment for Learning Process convening in Aurora. While there, a comprehensive plan to teach teachers how to support and grade Capstone graduation requirement projects was developed. This plan will be put into action later this spring as a part of a CCHS early release staff development event.
Our Future Focus
CCHS Principal Bill Summers proposes new courses to the BOE.
At last Monday's Board of Education meeting, seven new Cañon City High School courses were given permission to move forward. These are Early Childhood Education Levels 1 and 2, Foundational Studio Art, Intermediate Studio Art, Drawing/Painting, Foundations in Algebra, and Geography. This brings the total of newly offered courses at CCHS to nearly 50. This expansion of course offerings has been made possible by our Career Pathways commitment and expanding the high school daily schedule from four to five blocks several years ago. Each new course has been voluntarily designed by a high school staff member. Since all students do not arrive at high school with the same level of math competency, our new Foundations in Algebra class is designed to spread the teaching of Algebra concepts to incoming Freshmen who choose to take this course over an entire school year.
As a reminder, the Cañon City School District Board of Education would appreciate your taking a moment to inform their superintendent evaluation process by completing the 15 question survey at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TJJNHWJ It is designed to only take about 10 minutes to submit.
As a reminder, the Cañon City School District Board of Education would appreciate your taking a moment to inform their superintendent evaluation process by completing the 15 question survey at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TJJNHWJ It is designed to only take about 10 minutes to submit.
Our Focus on Safety and Wellness
We thought it might be time to offer a few more winter weather tips to help you get through the upcoming severe stretch of cold in the forecast:
General Safety
General Safety
- Walk carefully on snowy, icy walkways.
- Avoid overexertion when shoveling snow. It can be a serious workout, and going at it too hard can bring on a heart attack − a major cause of death in the winter. If you must shovel snow, stretch before going outside.
- Stay dry. Wet clothing loses all of its insulating value and transmits the cold rapidly.
- Watch for signs of frostbite: loss of feeling and a white or pale appearance in extremities. If any of these occur, get medical help immediately.
- Watch for signs of hypothermia: uncontrollable shivering, memory loss, disorientation, incoherence, slurred speech, drowsiness, and apparent exhaustion.
- Clean out the gutters, disconnect and drain all outside hoses. If possible, shut off outside water valves.
- Wrap water pipes in your basement or crawl spaces with insulation sleeves to slow heat transfer.
- Consider an insulated blanket for your hot water heater.
- If you have a fireplace, keep the flue closed when you're not using it.
- Make sure your furniture isn't blocking your home’s heating vents.
- During cold spells, keep cabinet doors open to allow warm air to circulate around pipes, particularly those in the kitchen and bathrooms.
- Keep a slow trickle of water flowing through faucets connected to pipes that run through unheated or unprotected spaces.
- Keep others informed of your schedule.
- Stay on main roads and avoid back road shortcuts.
- Top off antifreeze, windshield wiper fluid, gas, oil, and other fluids.
- Make sure your tires have enough tread. Consider snow tires.
- Keep bagged salt or sand in the trunk for extra traction and to melt ice.
- Clear snow from the top of the car, headlights, and windows.
- Save the numbers for your auto club, insurance agent and towing service into your cell phone.
- Keep a cold-weather kit in your trunk. It should include a blanket or sleeping bag, gloves, hard candy, bottled water, folding shovel, first aid kit, flashlight, and cell phone charger.
- Overinflate the tires by 2–5 PSI to compensate for air loss and help prevent flat spots.
Override and Bond Progress
Our future school-based health center.
GE Johnson and our design-build team have been making great progress on the construction of our new school-based health center, which will be located in a new section of Cañon City Middle School. The Pulse Health Center is slated to open during the summer of 2020, and our partners, Valley-Wide Health Systems and Solvista Health are busy creating staffing plans and securing equipment to operate the facility.
The Pulse will hold hours from 7 AM to 5 PM on weekdays, offering healthcare services for Cañon City School students and staff. Children of district staff and siblings of students will also be able to access services at The Pulse. Please be on the lookout for additional updates as we move closer to our Summer 2020 opening.
The Pulse will hold hours from 7 AM to 5 PM on weekdays, offering healthcare services for Cañon City School students and staff. Children of district staff and siblings of students will also be able to access services at The Pulse. Please be on the lookout for additional updates as we move closer to our Summer 2020 opening.
Last Week
Jamie Davis co-facilitates our Instructional Leader PLC.
Last week I published another issue of Echoes from Cañon, worked on some superintendent evaluation process revisions, attended a board work session and meeting, met with Cañon City High School Principal Bill Summers and Assistant Superintendent of Schools Adam Hartman about future CCHS staffing levels, worked on director evaluation documents, held a directors meeting, participated in an Instructional Leader Professional Learning Community, attended a Colorado Education Initiative-Colorado Department of Education services alignment meeting, participated in Rural Alliance, Opportunity Coalition, and Pikes Peak Alliance legislative advocacy calls, met with CCHS Assistant Principal Michelle Johnson about an upcoming Civility Campaign, and attended a Colorado Education Initiative Assessment for Learning Program gathering with the CCHS team in Denver.
This Week
The CCHS ALP Team had at work on Capstone.
I'm taking a personal day on Monday to spend time with my son, Stefan. On Tuesday I have several legislative items to attend to in Denver, as well as a School Safety Resource Center Advisory Board meeting. On Wednesday we have a Central Office Staff meeting, a Social-Emotional Learning/School Health Professionals staffing meeting, and we'll be finalizing building FTE recommendations. I'm back in the Denver area on Thursday and Friday for an Early Childhood Leadership Commission annual report release meeting and the annual Colorado Association of School Executives Winter Leadership Conference.
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
