Echoes from Cañon
Examples of Excellence
Last week Cloyce Mann checked on preparations for installing a new reception desk at the administration building.
I want to begin this week by highlighting the fine work Cloyce Mann does in our district shop. Mr. Mann and his team recently hand designed and installed a new reception desk for our administrative office. I have also been working closely with Cloyce handling work conflicts that occasionally arise among classified employees through his role as an officer in the Cañon City Classified Employee Association In such situations I have always found him to be level headed, willing to listen, and quite good at proposing logical solutions. Above all this he is one absolutely amazing craftsman!
At last Monday’s board of education meeting I had the pleasure of witnessing a tear inducing thank you aimed at Cañon Exploratory School principal Beth Gaffney. Mrs. Gaffney will be retiring at the end of the school year.
At last Monday’s board of education meeting I had the pleasure of witnessing a tear inducing thank you aimed at Cañon Exploratory School principal Beth Gaffney. Mrs. Gaffney will be retiring at the end of the school year.
CES students recited a poem in honor of retiring principal Beth Gaffney at Monday's board of education meeting.
For many years she has been a primary advocate of the exploratory learning model developed through CES. Students and parents were on hand at the board meeting to present successes surrounding CES’s expansion to include a middle school program, and while there each made clear their appreciation for Beth and all her hard work related to the school.
On a final note on excellence, as a former 8th grade social studies teacher myself I want to thank Harrison K-8’s Karin Steadman for all the hard work she put into organizing and conducting an 8th grade history fair at her school. Last week I had the pleasure of being part of a team of volunteers who observed and judged student multimedia presentations, including websites and documentary videos. We viewed a wide range of work and some of it was, quite frankly, spectacular and emotionally moving. I have no doubt Karin worked far above and beyond her contract requirements leading up to this event, and I want to take a moment to thank her for wrangling up quite a number of community volunteers and making this outstanding opportunity available to Harrison’s emerging historians!
On a final note on excellence, as a former 8th grade social studies teacher myself I want to thank Harrison K-8’s Karin Steadman for all the hard work she put into organizing and conducting an 8th grade history fair at her school. Last week I had the pleasure of being part of a team of volunteers who observed and judged student multimedia presentations, including websites and documentary videos. We viewed a wide range of work and some of it was, quite frankly, spectacular and emotionally moving. I have no doubt Karin worked far above and beyond her contract requirements leading up to this event, and I want to take a moment to thank her for wrangling up quite a number of community volunteers and making this outstanding opportunity available to Harrison’s emerging historians!
The Focus of Our Work
Director of Student Services Dominic Carochi guides a UIP planning session.
Last Thursday afternoon I attended a Unified Improvement Planning session facilitated by GATE coordinator Adam Hartman and director of student services Dominic Carochi. At the session school leaders were given he opportunity to brainstorm areas needing improvement, to describe what particular areas of focus currently look like, and then to describe what they would like such areas to look like in the future, including listing resources that might be needed to enact such positive change. This was done to kick off the process by which principals engage their building leadership teams to create and put into action an academic improvement plan for the 2016-17 school year. We do this at this time of year because key to any improvement plan is aligning the resources needed to implement changes. I
District leaders begin the annual work of negotiations improvements to the master teacher contract.
spent my time during this meeting with the high school administrative team and we outlined a proposal for a potentially excellent UIP to be considered in a future high school building leadership team meeting. I want to thank Adam and Nick for the great preparation they put into this.
On Wednesday evening we also began our annual work surrounding the addressing of items that need to be improved in our master teacher contract. At our first formal negotiation session eight representatives from the Cañon City Education Association and eight school district representatives began working on issues related to compensation of teachers who cover classes outside of their own responsibility, increasing building tech support services, evaluation language related to measures of student learning, aligning the master contract with newly proposed K-5 trimesters, the district's desire to increase the number of full district staff development days, a desire to more effectively benchmark student achievement at key levels, looking at ways to decrease health insurance costs for employees and the district as a whole, and addressing salary and compensation issues.
On Wednesday evening we also began our annual work surrounding the addressing of items that need to be improved in our master teacher contract. At our first formal negotiation session eight representatives from the Cañon City Education Association and eight school district representatives began working on issues related to compensation of teachers who cover classes outside of their own responsibility, increasing building tech support services, evaluation language related to measures of student learning, aligning the master contract with newly proposed K-5 trimesters, the district's desire to increase the number of full district staff development days, a desire to more effectively benchmark student achievement at key levels, looking at ways to decrease health insurance costs for employees and the district as a whole, and addressing salary and compensation issues.
Last Week
Last week I had the opportunity to judge multimedia history fair projects at Harrison K-8.
On Monday beside meeting with board president Larry Oddo and attending a regular board meeting and work session, we finalized our Early Literacy and Counselor Corps grant applications and sent them off to CDE. On Tuesday I had an administrative safety team meeting and superintendent’s advisory council, then ended the day in a monthly meeting with our teachers association leaders and attending another Cañon 20-20 task force meeting. Wednesday was filled with a variety of meetings and our first formal spring teacher association negotiations session. On Thursday I met with DHS Director Steve Clifton in the morning, spent time judging at Harrison’s History Fair, and then attend a Unified Improvement Planning work session with director of student services Dominic Carochi, GATE Director Adam Hartman and our principals. Friday gave me some opportunity to catch up on office paperwork and email.
This Week
A new hand crafted reception desk is being installed in the administrative building during spring break1
Though it is spring break and our teachers and principals are enjoying a much deserved respite from children, I will be coming in for a little time each day with my main goals being writing this weekly blog, catching up on office paperwork, plugging Student Learning Outcome information in to our teacher evaluation online platform, working on an Expelled and At-Risk Student Support Services grant application, attending some face to face meetings, and tending to some school safety administration items I have fallen behind on.
I hope you all have a great week and that the upcoming Easter holiday affords you plenty of time to spend with friends and family.
George S. Welsh
I hope you all have a great week and that the upcoming Easter holiday affords you plenty of time to spend with friends and family.
George S. Welsh
