Echoes from Cañon
Examples of Excellence
Coach Laughlin addresses the CCHS football team at the end of season meeting.
This week is American Education Week, an opportunity for us to reflect on the many positive contributions people who work in education make to our society. Effective education systems begin with people, and the Cañon City School District has a plenty of great folks working for the benefit of our children. From our teachers, instructional paraprofessionals, and school administrators, to nutrition services and transportation employees, to operations, secretarial and district level support staff, it is the people of the RE-1 school district who make the difference in the lives of our children. In celebration of American Education Week the district be making an effort all week long to highlight the many great people who make the Cañon City School District the great place it is for children.
I also wanted to offer a shout out this week to our Instructional leaders who have been hard at work making it out to classrooms for the purpose of supporting teachers toward fully implementing our district level instructional foundations. Simply being an educator is quite a task. However, being charged with supporting a building full of educators may be the most difficult task in education. I have noticed how most of our administrators, TOSAs, and coaches have been spending many hours directly in classrooms this fall, observing instruction and offering supportive feedback aimed at improving student achievement. I want to thank them for this hard work.
On Monday I had the pleasure of addressing the Cañon City High School football team at their end of season team meeting. Though they fell short of postseason competition, these young men represented us in an extremely positive fashion this year. They, just like all Tiger student athletes and activities participants, dedicated hundreds of hours outside of their studies in pursuit of excellence whole also entertaining us well. I would just like to take a moment to congratulate them on a fine season.
I also wanted to offer a shout out this week to our Instructional leaders who have been hard at work making it out to classrooms for the purpose of supporting teachers toward fully implementing our district level instructional foundations. Simply being an educator is quite a task. However, being charged with supporting a building full of educators may be the most difficult task in education. I have noticed how most of our administrators, TOSAs, and coaches have been spending many hours directly in classrooms this fall, observing instruction and offering supportive feedback aimed at improving student achievement. I want to thank them for this hard work.
On Monday I had the pleasure of addressing the Cañon City High School football team at their end of season team meeting. Though they fell short of postseason competition, these young men represented us in an extremely positive fashion this year. They, just like all Tiger student athletes and activities participants, dedicated hundreds of hours outside of their studies in pursuit of excellence whole also entertaining us well. I would just like to take a moment to congratulate them on a fine season.
The Focus of Our Work
Buddy Lambrecht will present our 2016-17 audit to the board of education.
On Wednesday we had another delayed start professional development day. At Cañon City High School the entire staff met, then broke out to focus on work related tot the building of their new pathways curriculum. At Cañon Exploratory School the staff focused on building instructional skills using writers workshop techniques. At Lincoln, Washington, and McKinley schools the focus was literacy, be it through refining processes related to small group instruction, intervention, or using our new core curriculum resources. The staff at CCMS worked on instructional strategies that address students in the PARCC and CMAS “not met” scoring categories. The Harrison K-8 staff focused their efforts on writing high quality learning targets and collaborative writing instruction.
At Monday’s board of education meeting we’ll review our fiscal year 2015-16 financial audit. Colorado school districts are required to conduct a financial audit every year. Since our fiscal cycle runs from July 1 to June 31 it takes several months to close out the books. I’ll report final details about the audit in this communication next week, but would like to go ahead and thank Buddy Lambrecht and his entire financial staff for the hard work they did in preparation for and during the process.
At Monday’s board of education meeting we’ll review our fiscal year 2015-16 financial audit. Colorado school districts are required to conduct a financial audit every year. Since our fiscal cycle runs from July 1 to June 31 it takes several months to close out the books. I’ll report final details about the audit in this communication next week, but would like to go ahead and thank Buddy Lambrecht and his entire financial staff for the hard work they did in preparation for and during the process.
Last Week
Local law enforcement officers meet on a monthly basis with director of student support services Paula Buser.
On Monday I observed a health lesson at CCHS, and was interviewed by an education publication about our Lindamood-Bell reading intervention process. I also attended a meeting at Harrison K-8 school about their behavior program, and met with a variety of parents (unrelated to this). On Tuesday I had several meetings with CCEA leaders. I also sat in on our monthly session with the Cañon City Police Department and Fremont County Sheriff's Deputies, attended a SAC meeting, and attended our monthly Leadership Team meeting and book study session. On Wednesday morning I met with our classified association leaders, observed delayed start professional development activities at several of our schools, and attended to a number of office tasks. On Thursday I drove to and from Denver to participate in an Early Childhood Leadership Commission meeting. However, I made it back in time to attend a Cañon 2020 meeting, and a gathering of community folks who want to learn a little more about our proposed facilities improvements. On Friday I met with several board members and parents and caught up on office work.
This Week
Director of instruction Adam Hartman presents to the CCSD instructional leader PLC.
On Monday morning I’ll be meeting with Harrison administrators, reviewing a Safe Routes to School grant application for Lincoln School of Science and Technology, checking in with leaders on the progress of our literacy initiative, and attending a board work session and meeting. On Tuesday I’ll meet with Fremont County director of human services Steve Clifton, hold a SAC meeting, meet with operations manager Jeff Peterson, and hold an instructional leader PLC. On Wednesday I’ll attend the Fremont County SB 1451 meeting, the Fremont County Regional Wellness Committee meeting, and I’ll participate in a graduate study about the historic implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind act. Thursday is another up and back to Denver. This time for a state of Colorado education visiting session. When I return to Cañon that afternoon I’ll meet with director of technology Shaun Kohl and director of instruction Adam Hartman to prepare for an upcoming district technology visioning meeting. I’ll end the day Thursday in a meeting with some folks who are interested in attracting a YMCA to Cañon. On Friday I travel to Fort Morgan with Cañon city Police Chief Schultz where we will be working together on a presentation to the community about digital citizenship.
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
