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
All meetings and instruction are now taking place in a digital format.
As a result of school shutdowns required to limit gatherings to no more than 10 individuals and to promote social distancing, last week Cañon City Schools shifted its instruction to a full on-line model for students in grades 6-12, and a blended online model for students in grades K-5. This took tremendous agility by our building leaders and instructional staff, as well as an emergency purchase of 1,200 Chromebooks, half of which have already been prepared for distribution to students. There is no way to individually thank everyone who played a role in this swift transformation, but suffice it to say our Board of Education, building administrators, technology staff, teachers, instructional paraprofessionals, and school office staff have done some amazing work.
Please watch this video of an interview I conducted with Cañon City High School Principal Bill Summers where he describes what this will look like for grade 9-12 students. You can access it at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQa_paftvSo
I also encourage you to watch this video of an interview I conducted with Cañon Exploratory Principal Kelly Albrecht, Cañon City Middle School Principal Jesse Oliver, Harrison Principal Marne Autobee, and Mountain View Core Knowledge Principal/Director Karen Sartori about what the digital learning process will be like for middle schoolers. You can view it at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHbxutnBqgE
As your child begins this online learning progress, please don't forget you can reach out to us at our Technology Helpdesk Hotline at 719-276-5808. You can also send us an email at covid19info@canoncityschools.org.
Please watch this video of an interview I conducted with Cañon City High School Principal Bill Summers where he describes what this will look like for grade 9-12 students. You can access it at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQa_paftvSo
I also encourage you to watch this video of an interview I conducted with Cañon Exploratory Principal Kelly Albrecht, Cañon City Middle School Principal Jesse Oliver, Harrison Principal Marne Autobee, and Mountain View Core Knowledge Principal/Director Karen Sartori about what the digital learning process will be like for middle schoolers. You can view it at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHbxutnBqgE
As your child begins this online learning progress, please don't forget you can reach out to us at our Technology Helpdesk Hotline at 719-276-5808. You can also send us an email at covid19info@canoncityschools.org.
Our awesome lunch prep and delivery team!
Though transforming our instructional model had to be a major goal, our first priority was establishing a process to deliver school meals to our children and families in need. This was done lickety-split with the first round of breakfast/lunch combinations handed out on Monday, March 23rd, followed by additional deliveries on March 25th and March 27th. By the end of last week, we were distributing nearly 2,000 meals per day, in the form of two Grab and Go sacks per child, each bag containing breakfast and lunch. This was made possible thanks to our outstanding Nutrition Services employees who immediately worked out an effective process of organization and distribution. These meals will continue to be delivered for the length of the COVOD-19 crisis, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at these locations and times:
CANON CITY HIGH SCHOOL: 10:45 AM- 11:15 AM
CANON EXPLORATORY SCHOOL 11:25 AM- 11:55 AM
HARRISON K-8, WEST PARKING LOT: 12:10 PM-12:30 PM
LINCOLN SCHOOL: 12:50 PM-1:20 PM
MCKINLEY SCHOOL: 1:30 PM- 2:00 PM
Just look for our Eat Right-Live Right mobile food truck!
With our transition to digital learning, our school counselors and health professionals want to continue offering social-emotional support and serving as a liaison if students need extra assistance. As a way to check-in with students virtually, each child will receive a voluntary survey to report how they are doing with the experience of learning from home. Please encourage your child to take the survey to help us continue to meet their social-emotional needs.
CANON CITY HIGH SCHOOL: 10:45 AM- 11:15 AM
CANON EXPLORATORY SCHOOL 11:25 AM- 11:55 AM
HARRISON K-8, WEST PARKING LOT: 12:10 PM-12:30 PM
LINCOLN SCHOOL: 12:50 PM-1:20 PM
MCKINLEY SCHOOL: 1:30 PM- 2:00 PM
Just look for our Eat Right-Live Right mobile food truck!
With our transition to digital learning, our school counselors and health professionals want to continue offering social-emotional support and serving as a liaison if students need extra assistance. As a way to check-in with students virtually, each child will receive a voluntary survey to report how they are doing with the experience of learning from home. Please encourage your child to take the survey to help us continue to meet their social-emotional needs.
Our Future Focus
McKinley Principal Scott Morton shares information about the school's instructional improvement plan.
Several weeks ago, before the COVID-19 crisis, we made our annual Instructional Program Review visit to McKinley Elementary School.
As expected, we saw many wonderful things while observing instruction and discussing improvement efforts, some of which I'd like to specifically highlight here:
-We thank Principal Scott Morton for all of his hard work and for being willing to make so many difficult decisions as they relate to leading a school in transformation. This is not easy. However, we can see how he is putting forth his best effort to do what is right for kids.
-We learned how McKinley's MTSS process is focused on family and community engagement and noted the development of a variety of events aimed at achieving this.
-We observed high-quality instruction that takes children to the top levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, requiring them to analyze and seek evidence to support their opinions, while effectively using electronic devices in support of this.
-We saw expert instruction guided by paraprofessionals in a manner that caused our visitors to wonder exactly who the teacher was in each classroom setting. This is high praise for our instructional support staff!
-We learned how the staff has been taking advantage of the instructional support being offered, are applying this learning, and making outstanding personal growth as educators.
-We noticed some teachers embedding lessons in civility and integrity, two of our primary focus traits, into daily lessons.
As expected, we saw many wonderful things while observing instruction and discussing improvement efforts, some of which I'd like to specifically highlight here:
-We thank Principal Scott Morton for all of his hard work and for being willing to make so many difficult decisions as they relate to leading a school in transformation. This is not easy. However, we can see how he is putting forth his best effort to do what is right for kids.
-We learned how McKinley's MTSS process is focused on family and community engagement and noted the development of a variety of events aimed at achieving this.
-We observed high-quality instruction that takes children to the top levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, requiring them to analyze and seek evidence to support their opinions, while effectively using electronic devices in support of this.
-We saw expert instruction guided by paraprofessionals in a manner that caused our visitors to wonder exactly who the teacher was in each classroom setting. This is high praise for our instructional support staff!
-We learned how the staff has been taking advantage of the instructional support being offered, are applying this learning, and making outstanding personal growth as educators.
-We noticed some teachers embedding lessons in civility and integrity, two of our primary focus traits, into daily lessons.
Part of the McKinley evaluation team observes instruction.
-Our external observers expressed how the staff has clearly established a comfortable and safe environment, focused on engagement in learning, effective pacing of content, and truly putting Maslow before Bloom.
-We saw a focus on our three pillars of instruction, with targets and engagement becoming an actual strength.
-We were impressed with how the staff is using Chromebooks to deeply engage children in learning. We even learned how one staff member has been making instructional videos to replicate herself so she can move around and work with individual students who are struggling. What is really exciting about this is how this technique has now advanced to students taking charge of making some of these videos as well.
-We appreciate how the school is leveraging the skills of teachers who are doing exceptional work by having them share their knowledge in mini PD lessons.
-We were impressed with the work of the technology teacher through his co-teaching efforts and one-on-one support of all teachers. In fact, the general theme we saw in McKinley is a staff that constantly supports each other. To see this agency, empowerment, and risk-taking in a team is truly special.
-We were blown away by the transformation of the SED program, especially how the staff is interacting positively with kids in situations where not everyone would be able to do so. A Compass Committee member said, “after seeing this with my own eyes, it is clear the program in no way negatively impacts education for the rest of the students.” Along the same lines, we were quite impressed with the high level of inclusion McKinley offers special education students. Simply stated, this is what it looks like when special education is being done right.
-Finally, and as indicated by survey results and comments, we reflectively engaged the administrative team as to why there is a perception of dysfunction in the application of the school behavior modification process. As a result, it was agreed this will be reviewed for effectiveness and revisited with the staff.
I thank the McKinley staff for their hospitality and continued hard work. McKinley is a truly welcoming place to be, and we certainly felt that.
-We saw a focus on our three pillars of instruction, with targets and engagement becoming an actual strength.
-We were impressed with how the staff is using Chromebooks to deeply engage children in learning. We even learned how one staff member has been making instructional videos to replicate herself so she can move around and work with individual students who are struggling. What is really exciting about this is how this technique has now advanced to students taking charge of making some of these videos as well.
-We appreciate how the school is leveraging the skills of teachers who are doing exceptional work by having them share their knowledge in mini PD lessons.
-We were impressed with the work of the technology teacher through his co-teaching efforts and one-on-one support of all teachers. In fact, the general theme we saw in McKinley is a staff that constantly supports each other. To see this agency, empowerment, and risk-taking in a team is truly special.
-We were blown away by the transformation of the SED program, especially how the staff is interacting positively with kids in situations where not everyone would be able to do so. A Compass Committee member said, “after seeing this with my own eyes, it is clear the program in no way negatively impacts education for the rest of the students.” Along the same lines, we were quite impressed with the high level of inclusion McKinley offers special education students. Simply stated, this is what it looks like when special education is being done right.
-Finally, and as indicated by survey results and comments, we reflectively engaged the administrative team as to why there is a perception of dysfunction in the application of the school behavior modification process. As a result, it was agreed this will be reviewed for effectiveness and revisited with the staff.
I thank the McKinley staff for their hospitality and continued hard work. McKinley is a truly welcoming place to be, and we certainly felt that.
Our Focus on Safety and Wellness
Tricia Sallie presents to the Board of Education.
This week Cañon City School District Nurse Patricia Sallie shared this important message with our staff:
I wanted to let you know that if you have any health or medical-related questions or concerns during this confusing time, please reach out to me. I am still a health resource for you, even if virtual or over the phone. No question is too silly, I promise.
A few reminders to those who may still be working at district buildings;
It can be difficult, especially at this time of year to differentiate between symptoms of the common cold, seasonal allergies, influenza, and coronavirus. Some symptoms may overlap. Symptoms associated with colds and allergies may include itchy/ watery/ swollen eyes, sore throat, fever at times, stuffy nose, sneezing, cough, and head congestion. Symptoms associated with influenza or coronavirus may include fever, sore throat, fatigue, body aches, cough, and shortness of breath. Symptoms will vary from person to person. If you have concerns, please check-in (via phone) with your health provider. If you do not have a health provider, you may contact Fremont County Public Health Information Hotline at 719-276-7421 and ask to speak to a public health nurse for screening and direction. You can also contact me for a consultation.
If you have any of the above symptoms (even if you are sure it's only allergies or a cold), please do not come to work at all! Please wait until you are better. Some early symptoms of coronavirus have been ignored by thinking the same thing. Coronavirus can live on various surfaces for longer than originally thought. The last thing we should do is leave this germ within our school walls.
I want to express my heartfelt thanks and admiration to the entire staff during this difficult time. We will get through this together.
Tricia Sallie BSN, RN
I wanted to let you know that if you have any health or medical-related questions or concerns during this confusing time, please reach out to me. I am still a health resource for you, even if virtual or over the phone. No question is too silly, I promise.
A few reminders to those who may still be working at district buildings;
It can be difficult, especially at this time of year to differentiate between symptoms of the common cold, seasonal allergies, influenza, and coronavirus. Some symptoms may overlap. Symptoms associated with colds and allergies may include itchy/ watery/ swollen eyes, sore throat, fever at times, stuffy nose, sneezing, cough, and head congestion. Symptoms associated with influenza or coronavirus may include fever, sore throat, fatigue, body aches, cough, and shortness of breath. Symptoms will vary from person to person. If you have concerns, please check-in (via phone) with your health provider. If you do not have a health provider, you may contact Fremont County Public Health Information Hotline at 719-276-7421 and ask to speak to a public health nurse for screening and direction. You can also contact me for a consultation.
If you have any of the above symptoms (even if you are sure it's only allergies or a cold), please do not come to work at all! Please wait until you are better. Some early symptoms of coronavirus have been ignored by thinking the same thing. Coronavirus can live on various surfaces for longer than originally thought. The last thing we should do is leave this germ within our school walls.
I want to express my heartfelt thanks and admiration to the entire staff during this difficult time. We will get through this together.
Tricia Sallie BSN, RN
Override and Bond Progress
Chase Welchlen prepares Chromebooks for student use.
Though Governor Polis has Colorado residents on a Stay at Home order, construction employees are still deemed essential workers. This is allowing work to continue at Cañon City Middle School and Washington Elementary. With no students at either site, we are taking advantage of some opportunities to expedite construction. However, I understand we are also running into some supply problems right now, which is slowing down some aspects of the projects.
On the Override front, last week Cañon City Schools took delivery of 658 of roughlty 1,200 Chromebooks that were ordered to support the district's emergency shift to digitl instruciton at the K-5 grade levels. Our technology staff spent all day Thursday and Friday last week gettign them ready fro distribution to students.
On the Override front, last week Cañon City Schools took delivery of 658 of roughlty 1,200 Chromebooks that were ordered to support the district's emergency shift to digitl instruciton at the K-5 grade levels. Our technology staff spent all day Thursday and Friday last week gettign them ready fro distribution to students.
Last Week
It's been a couple of weeks since I wrote an installment of this blog. Spring break was spent planning to address a potential shut down of regular school processes, and the week after spring break was spent gearing up K-12 digital instruction. As of now, we have instruction taking place for grades 6-12. This will also launch for grades K-5 sometime in the coming week.
Last week's BOE meeting was held in a combined virtual and in-person fashion.
This Week
A lot of my work this week will take place from home.
Like many other folks, I'll do much of my work from home this week. On Monday I'll publish an issue of this blog, and check out the Boys and Girls Club essential worker childcare program that will launch at Cañon Exploratory School. Throughout the week I'll promote our K-5 digital learning kickoff by interviewing our elementary principals, I'll focus on Social Emotional wellness of staff and students, do some Google Hangouts meeting surfing, and conduct a facilities walkthrough with Stacie Kwitek from Fremont County Department of Human Services. Stacie is looking for space to establish an emergency shelter during the COVOD-19 crisis. I also have plans to create a student and parent feedback survey about grade 6-12 digital instruction and catch up on federal programs reporting to the Colorado Department of Education.
Other Voices
Before Spring Break, Washington Elementary Principal Brain Zamarripa shared this note with me:
So this just happened! A gentleman rang the doorbell at Washington Elementary School this morning, and when I answered, he asked if I would give the contents of an envelope to all the teachers. I asked him whom I should say it was from, and he simply said "All of us!". When I opened the envelope, there was a thank you card filled with five $200 gift cards and $200 cash. The written message in the card is "Thank you all! Teachers are 'my heroes'. We can build a building, but you do it all you build minds. Thank you!" The envelope containing the gift had the message "Teachers use this for your new school you decide what's best." What a great start to the day and week!
Brian Zamarripa
Stay safe, socially distant, and thanks to all for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
So this just happened! A gentleman rang the doorbell at Washington Elementary School this morning, and when I answered, he asked if I would give the contents of an envelope to all the teachers. I asked him whom I should say it was from, and he simply said "All of us!". When I opened the envelope, there was a thank you card filled with five $200 gift cards and $200 cash. The written message in the card is "Thank you all! Teachers are 'my heroes'. We can build a building, but you do it all you build minds. Thank you!" The envelope containing the gift had the message "Teachers use this for your new school you decide what's best." What a great start to the day and week!
Brian Zamarripa
Stay safe, socially distant, and thanks to all for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
