Echoes from Cañon
Examples of Excellence
Images from Vision Day
I would like to begin this week by thanking Dr. Sean Claflin for organizing and conducting a vision day program that will result in glasses distribution for many students in need of vision correction. In all 30 kids were serviced! Many students needed glasses, while some kids were even identified with significant vision needs. I also hear new glasses are already being dispensed by opticians to the students who participated. Thanks!
I also want to thank our many staff members who are currently in the process of conducting mid-year student achievement data reviews. During the past week I had the opportunity to observe Lincoln School of Science and Technology staff members reviewing DIBELS and STAR test data. I was also invited to observe Cañon Exploratory School teachers working together to regulate writing assessment scoring. I very much appreciate the effort our educators are making to determine where our students are at this juncture of the school year, and where they need to go academically during the remainder of the time we have them at each grade level.
I also want to thank our many staff members who are currently in the process of conducting mid-year student achievement data reviews. During the past week I had the opportunity to observe Lincoln School of Science and Technology staff members reviewing DIBELS and STAR test data. I was also invited to observe Cañon Exploratory School teachers working together to regulate writing assessment scoring. I very much appreciate the effort our educators are making to determine where our students are at this juncture of the school year, and where they need to go academically during the remainder of the time we have them at each grade level.
The Focus of Our Work
Lincoln staff members discuss STAR math and reading results
Our district level focus right now is on three key areas as we begin 2016. These are facilities, instruction, and evaluation.
Facilities: We are in the process of writing a comprehensive Building Excellent Schools Today grant application prior to CDE’s end of February deadline. Our goal is to address the many outstanding roofing, water service, and safety issues we have in our buildings. Should our grant gain approval, we should then be able to complete this work for roughly 30 cents on the dollar. As the overall scope of this project is outlined I will be sharing details about it through this weekly communication.
Instruction: Soon we hope to begin taking groups of our building level evaluators on walkthroughs together in order to allow them to benefit from each other’s knowledge about how to best to support teachers in improving their instruction. We will also continue our Cañon 20-20 Task Force work in an effort to create a clear vision for the future of Cañon City High school. We will also continue work on making decisions about purchasing much needed resources for teachers to use that are aligned to the curriculum we have been developing.
Evaluation: We hope to finalize our new evaluation calculator by January 15th and put it in the hands of teachers and administrators to use in preparation for including student achievement results in end of year final evaluations. I am currently holding principals accountable for conducting authentic mid-year evaluations of all their teachers by early February, as outlined in our district evaluation process. I will also be conducting mid-year building reviews using an outside consultant at McKinley, Washington, Harrison, CCMS, and CCHS. These evaluations will include an opportunity for each building staff member to respond to a survey about the leadership and the overall direction of each building. We expect to complete mid-year principal evaluations by March 1st. The results of these will help us to make principal employment recommendations for the 2016-17 school year by the time we hold our first March meeting. Finally, by February 1st I will also conduct mid-year evaluation check-ins with the department leaders I supervise, and I will make sure survey links go out to all staff members and community members so our board can get feedback to guide their evaluation of me by March 1st.
Facilities: We are in the process of writing a comprehensive Building Excellent Schools Today grant application prior to CDE’s end of February deadline. Our goal is to address the many outstanding roofing, water service, and safety issues we have in our buildings. Should our grant gain approval, we should then be able to complete this work for roughly 30 cents on the dollar. As the overall scope of this project is outlined I will be sharing details about it through this weekly communication.
Instruction: Soon we hope to begin taking groups of our building level evaluators on walkthroughs together in order to allow them to benefit from each other’s knowledge about how to best to support teachers in improving their instruction. We will also continue our Cañon 20-20 Task Force work in an effort to create a clear vision for the future of Cañon City High school. We will also continue work on making decisions about purchasing much needed resources for teachers to use that are aligned to the curriculum we have been developing.
Evaluation: We hope to finalize our new evaluation calculator by January 15th and put it in the hands of teachers and administrators to use in preparation for including student achievement results in end of year final evaluations. I am currently holding principals accountable for conducting authentic mid-year evaluations of all their teachers by early February, as outlined in our district evaluation process. I will also be conducting mid-year building reviews using an outside consultant at McKinley, Washington, Harrison, CCMS, and CCHS. These evaluations will include an opportunity for each building staff member to respond to a survey about the leadership and the overall direction of each building. We expect to complete mid-year principal evaluations by March 1st. The results of these will help us to make principal employment recommendations for the 2016-17 school year by the time we hold our first March meeting. Finally, by February 1st I will also conduct mid-year evaluation check-ins with the department leaders I supervise, and I will make sure survey links go out to all staff members and community members so our board can get feedback to guide their evaluation of me by March 1st.
Last Week
CES staff members refine writing rubrics
On Monday I worked in my office catching up on paperwork and general planning tasks. That evening I attended a Fremont County Health and Wellness Committee social event. On Tuesday I participated in my monthly KRLN radio interview, BSERT Safety and SAC meetings, then conducted McKinley and Lincoln in-building office hours. On Wednesday we held our monthly administrative office team meeting, I met with CCHS Principal Bret Meuli about various topics related to his school, then worked on data analysis before presenting student achievement results to the staff at Lincoln School of Science and Technology. On Thursday I met with RE-2 superintendent Rhonda Roberts, conducted in-building office hours at Washington and CES, then met with board president Larry Oddo in preparation for our January 11th BOE meeting and work session. On Friday I traveled to Springs for the Pikes Peak Area Superintendent Association meeting, and then spent time in my office during the late afternoon catching up on paperwork.
This Week
The CCSD Board of Education
On Monday I’ll be traveling to Denver with board vice president Lloyd Harwood to attend a statewide superintendent gathering and to participate in a press conference imploring the legislature to focus efforts on restoring funding to education lost through the implementation of the negative factor during the Great Recession. Lloyd and I will be returning to Canon by 4:30 PM to participate in a board work session and regular meeting. On Tuesday I’ll attend the district's monthly meeting with the Cañon City Police Department and a weekly superintendent advisory council meeting. That afternoon we’ll hold a leadership team meeting as well. On Wednesday morning I have a meeting with Cañon City Classified Education Association leaders, and then I present student achievement data to the McKinley staff. I’ll then conduct in-building office hours at CCMS that afternoon, at CCHS, Harrison and McKinley on Thursday morning, and I’ll attend our January District Accountability Committee meeting on Thursday evening. As of right now I have a pretty open schedule on Friday!
For Fun!
The good, the bad, and the ugly!
Just before the Winter Break the CCMS staff held a “caption this picture” contest just to have a little fun. It appears Roseann Meyers came out on top with her contribution of “the good, the bad, and the ugly.” I won’t make any judgement as to who fits which description, but I very much appreciate the effort being made to lighten things up a bit.
Thanks CCMS for all your hard work, and for taking things a little less seriously now and then!
Thanks for listening!
George S. Welsh
Thanks CCMS for all your hard work, and for taking things a little less seriously now and then!
Thanks for listening!
George S. Welsh