Echoes from Cañon
Examples of Excellence
Mr. Daley shows Cañon City Middle School students how to use a mitre saw.
An example of a CCMS deck chair in progress.
Based on mid-year DIBELS benchmark reading test results, kudos are due our entire K-5 instructional staff and our district literacy team. This week Director of Instruction Adam Hartman reported that, however we slice our data, as a district we reduced the number of students reading below and significantly below grade level, while largely increasing the percentage of students reading at or well above grade level. Mr. Hartman says this is the best mid-year DIBELS benchmark data he has seen in this district. Thank you all!
I also want to point out great work Cañon City Middle School Building Trades Teacher Shannon Daley continues. Each semester has students design a product to build and sell, then takes them go through a process to figure out how to assemble them as quickly and efficiently as possible. Right now, they are making deck chairs, benches, and tables. Thanks so much for designing such relevant learning opportunities for our children, Mr. Daley.
I also want to point out great work Cañon City Middle School Building Trades Teacher Shannon Daley continues. Each semester has students design a product to build and sell, then takes them go through a process to figure out how to assemble them as quickly and efficiently as possible. Right now, they are making deck chairs, benches, and tables. Thanks so much for designing such relevant learning opportunities for our children, Mr. Daley.
The Focus of Our Work
Buddy Lambrecht is the CCSD Director of Finance.
At our Board of Education meeting on Monday Director of Finance Buddy Lambrecht will present a smorgasbord of mid-year budget adjustments related to actual revenues we’ll receive based on pupil count and the passage of our override. This recommendation will align with expenditure adjustments we are making related to work begun on our high school technology infusion, as well as payroll matters required by Colorado’s increase in minimum wage. This is a great time to do this work as we are mid-way through our fiscal year and we need to be sure we are tracking revenues and expenditures accurately.
I’m in the process of putting together a district calendar committee that will hold its first meeting on February 13th. I’m also calling our Technology Visioning Committee back together to address tasks related to where we stand related to our override funding.
I had productive meetings last week with Director of Special Education Lynnette Steinhoff and Cañon City High School Principal Bill Summers, as well as with some CCHS special education department personnel. My hope is this work will lead to more clear guidance for the department, as well as the development of operations norms that focus on meeting the needs of our most challenged students.
I also met last week with Harrison School Counselor Sandra Seaney, who is charged with developing a grade 6-8 ICAP Curriculum. During this session we discussed ways she can engage teachers, counselors and principals throughout our system as she completes this task.
I’m in the process of putting together a district calendar committee that will hold its first meeting on February 13th. I’m also calling our Technology Visioning Committee back together to address tasks related to where we stand related to our override funding.
I had productive meetings last week with Director of Special Education Lynnette Steinhoff and Cañon City High School Principal Bill Summers, as well as with some CCHS special education department personnel. My hope is this work will lead to more clear guidance for the department, as well as the development of operations norms that focus on meeting the needs of our most challenged students.
I also met last week with Harrison School Counselor Sandra Seaney, who is charged with developing a grade 6-8 ICAP Curriculum. During this session we discussed ways she can engage teachers, counselors and principals throughout our system as she completes this task.
Override Progress
McKinley Elementary will be the first K-5 school in our district to put Chromebooks in the hands of their students.
The Cañon City High School Technology Deployment Committee met again last Thursday. Discussion focused on when the district should move to hire a technology instruction coach included in next year’s budget, and what the structure of that position ought to be. We also planned a trip to the Littleton School District to learn about their one-to-one Chromebook program.
I also want to remind folks our plan for putting devices in the hands of students involves implementations in grades 9-12 next fall, grades 6-8 in fall 2019, and at elementary grade levels in the fall of 2020. Related to this, a few years back we allowed Lincoln School of Science and Technology and Cañon Exploratory School to acquire technology devices on a three-year lease purchase agreement. This year these schools are on year two of this process. After the election, McKinley Principal Scott Morton asked the Board of Education if they could begin a technology initiative using their own discretionary funds. As was done with Lincoln and CES, it was agreed we could do this also if McKinley showed it could make three years of payments. Thus, McKinley’s current arrangement with Cañon City Schools is to invest discretionary dollars toward the purchase of Chromebooks for their students to begin using them this coming fall. We are excited about this because it will allow us to learn what it takes to implement Chromebooks at the elementary level. In support, we are purchasing their teacher devices and setting up staff development to make ensure implementation is successful.
I also want to remind folks our plan for putting devices in the hands of students involves implementations in grades 9-12 next fall, grades 6-8 in fall 2019, and at elementary grade levels in the fall of 2020. Related to this, a few years back we allowed Lincoln School of Science and Technology and Cañon Exploratory School to acquire technology devices on a three-year lease purchase agreement. This year these schools are on year two of this process. After the election, McKinley Principal Scott Morton asked the Board of Education if they could begin a technology initiative using their own discretionary funds. As was done with Lincoln and CES, it was agreed we could do this also if McKinley showed it could make three years of payments. Thus, McKinley’s current arrangement with Cañon City Schools is to invest discretionary dollars toward the purchase of Chromebooks for their students to begin using them this coming fall. We are excited about this because it will allow us to learn what it takes to implement Chromebooks at the elementary level. In support, we are purchasing their teacher devices and setting up staff development to make ensure implementation is successful.
Bond Progress
Wednesday January 24th is the deadline for design-build teams to submit proposals to guide our multi-facility repair work, and possibly our new school building projects. After the deadline we’ll work with RLH Engineering to create a short list of firms we’ll then invite for a facilities walkthrough and interviews. Meanwhile, roofing replacement work continues at Cañon City High School.
Last Week
Last week Director of Instruction Adam Hartman and I invested six hours working on our federal programs mid-year budget revision and comparability report. I also met with a parent about an expulsion recommendation, held and reported on an employment dismissal hearing, conducted a District Accountability Committee meeting, met with our classified association leaders, met with CCHS special education department leaders, attended a technology deployment committee meeting, attended the CCHS High School Parent Advisory Committee meeting, and spent some time writing our Two-New School BEST Grant narrative.
This Week
Lindamood-Bell's Chris Mayberry attended a board meeting last summer and honored the work Literacy Coaches Kelli Jones and Jessica Bray are doing.
This week I'll conduct performance reviews of most of our Directors. I'll also meet with Chris Mayberry from Lindamood-Bell, hold an instructional leader PLC, and conduct a SAC meeting and an expulsion hearing. Wednesday morning is our deadline for accepting design-build team submittals, and so we’ll spend a lot of time that afternoon to narrow our applicant pool to a reasonable number of finalists. On Thursday I travel to Littleton with the tech deployment committee to learn how they went about setting up their one-to-one Chromebook initiative. My Friday will pretty much focus entirely on Director evaluations.
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh