Echoes from Cañon
Our Board Adopted 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
Cañon City High School's Vocational Auto students earned 84 turkeys this year, to be shared with families in need.
Each year, Cañon City High School student council conducts a food drive to support a local charity in providing Thanksgiving meals to families in need. Did you know students in the auto program also conduct an annual “we work for turkeys" event, performing minor tasks for faculty and staff?
This year the goal for Cañon City High School was to amass 2,000 points, based on food collected. Thanks in no small part to efforts by the CCHS vocational automotive program, this goal was easily achieved. In fact, the automotive program gathered a whopping 84 turkeys and 2,100 points worth of food on their own! As Mr. Duston says, “Kids these days, you just gotta’ love them!” Thank you all for putting Maslow before Bloom by helping to meet the fundamental needs of many of our local families!
As Thanksgiving approaches, I feel it’s appropriate to share some messages of gratitude I've seen exhibited around the district.
I'll begin with Assistant Superintendent of Schools Adam Hartman’s message to Director of Operations Jeff Peterson and his staff. Adam said, “please pass along my sincere appreciation to all the individuals responsible for keeping our sidewalks and parking lots clear and safe during the winter months. This week's snowfall drove home the point once again what an important (and early morning) task that is. It's VERY MUCH appreciated!” To our entire operations staff who must wake up extra early on bad weather days, I echo Mr. Hartman’s words. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Cañon City Middle School Principal Jesse Oliver shared this heartfelt message with his staff this week:
"Hello CCMS teachers. I want to give some praise to you all about the things I just witnessed as I visited all of your classrooms this morning. I spent the last two hours walking around and visiting every instructional room. I wanted to observe the greatness happening one day before the holiday break and say how proud I am of you all.
This year the goal for Cañon City High School was to amass 2,000 points, based on food collected. Thanks in no small part to efforts by the CCHS vocational automotive program, this goal was easily achieved. In fact, the automotive program gathered a whopping 84 turkeys and 2,100 points worth of food on their own! As Mr. Duston says, “Kids these days, you just gotta’ love them!” Thank you all for putting Maslow before Bloom by helping to meet the fundamental needs of many of our local families!
As Thanksgiving approaches, I feel it’s appropriate to share some messages of gratitude I've seen exhibited around the district.
I'll begin with Assistant Superintendent of Schools Adam Hartman’s message to Director of Operations Jeff Peterson and his staff. Adam said, “please pass along my sincere appreciation to all the individuals responsible for keeping our sidewalks and parking lots clear and safe during the winter months. This week's snowfall drove home the point once again what an important (and early morning) task that is. It's VERY MUCH appreciated!” To our entire operations staff who must wake up extra early on bad weather days, I echo Mr. Hartman’s words. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Cañon City Middle School Principal Jesse Oliver shared this heartfelt message with his staff this week:
"Hello CCMS teachers. I want to give some praise to you all about the things I just witnessed as I visited all of your classrooms this morning. I spent the last two hours walking around and visiting every instructional room. I wanted to observe the greatness happening one day before the holiday break and say how proud I am of you all.
Among the many wonderful things the Cañon City Middle School staff is doing, working together to design a world class facility is one of them.
I walked into 22 classrooms and in EVERY single one I saw students learning or working on material, they were not checked out, they were not doing very little, they were all working. This is important to note because so often when we get close to a break we want to put on cruise control. In my opinion this is the best staff of teachers and you get results because you do not put it on cruise for the last few days and I as well as your students thank you for it.
Here are a few of the cool things I saw: Students struggling in 8th grade science to build an experiment, students who were able to teach me about rise over run in 8th grade math, students working in self directed groups in 7th grade ELA, students learning mitoses vs meiosis in 7th grade science, students finishing writing or projects in 8th grade English language arts and social studies, students engaged in learning in 7th grade math and social studies, students in 6th grade working on computers in math and English language arts, challenging thinking in social studies and working with notes in science, students in working art , building in wood shop, presenting self-developed exercise routines in PE, coding in Technology, and preparing for the parade by marching in Band.
This is only a short list of things I witnessed. I want to say THANK YOU to everyone for working right up to the break, for putting learning first, and for making sure students know that a day spent with each of you is a day spent expanding their knowledge."
Thank you Jesse for taking time to show this appreciation. Once again, I wish to echo your sentiment, because this is the kind of staff behavior we witnessed all over our district last week!
Here are a few of the cool things I saw: Students struggling in 8th grade science to build an experiment, students who were able to teach me about rise over run in 8th grade math, students working in self directed groups in 7th grade ELA, students learning mitoses vs meiosis in 7th grade science, students finishing writing or projects in 8th grade English language arts and social studies, students engaged in learning in 7th grade math and social studies, students in 6th grade working on computers in math and English language arts, challenging thinking in social studies and working with notes in science, students in working art , building in wood shop, presenting self-developed exercise routines in PE, coding in Technology, and preparing for the parade by marching in Band.
This is only a short list of things I witnessed. I want to say THANK YOU to everyone for working right up to the break, for putting learning first, and for making sure students know that a day spent with each of you is a day spent expanding their knowledge."
Thank you Jesse for taking time to show this appreciation. Once again, I wish to echo your sentiment, because this is the kind of staff behavior we witnessed all over our district last week!
Our Future Focus
At Monday's Board of Education meeting the annual financial audit was accepted and CCHS Technical Writing teacher Madison Tortessi's students presented images depicting the district's four core beliefs.
At our board meeting on Monday, November 12th, we accepted our annual financial audit. Representatives from Hoelting and Company was on hand to share their unqualified opinion, the best a district can receive through a financial audit process. The audit showed our June 30, 2018 ending fund balance came in at $2,658, 404, up from $1,685, 071 the prior year. Please remember this increase in our reserves is due to spring 2018 local tax collections related to our voter-approved mill levy override. These funds are designated for expenditure related to staff salaries, increased preschool services, purchase of student technology equipment, updating learning resources, and increased building maintenance in the current budget year, as is our future focus.
Override Progress
Though we're only at Thanksgiving break, I’m amazed to see how routine it has become for students at Cañon City High School to use their Chromebooks in the course of their learning. Many CCHS teachers are already becoming quite masterful at using the devices to support learning, while remembering it is their daily personal touch that truly makes the difference. The staff at McKinley Elementary has also been deeply engaged in this work, and thanks to their effort we're learning many lessons about what it will take to support student learning with devices at the K-5 level in the coming years. Believe it or not, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Adam Hartman, Director of Technology Shaun Kohl, and Instructional Technology Coordinator Daniel Coppa are already hard at work preparing our grade 6-8 staff for student device implementation during 2019-20 school year.
Bond Progress
One of the fascinating challenges we have in our Cañon City Middle School design process is how to marry the old (1925) section with new construction.
At Monday’s Board of Education meeting, we approved paperwork allowing the district to participate in the annual Colorado Building Excellent Schools Today Certificate of Participation sale. This sale will take place before the end of November and will secure the dollars we need to build our new Washington Elementary School. As a reminder, though this is nearly a $25 mullion project, the total cost to Cañon City taxpayers on our new Washington School is only $6.5 million thanks to our securing a Building Excellent Schools Today grant.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, we held short Cañon City Middle School and Washington Elementary Design Advisory Group meetings. At these sessions, staff had the opportunity to review concepts architects applied to floor plans as a result of recent all-day design sessions. We’ll come back together after the holidays for final all-day design sessions at each of the schools.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, we held short Cañon City Middle School and Washington Elementary Design Advisory Group meetings. At these sessions, staff had the opportunity to review concepts architects applied to floor plans as a result of recent all-day design sessions. We’ll come back together after the holidays for final all-day design sessions at each of the schools.
Last Week
At Wednesday's Cañon City Rotary Club meeting I had the pleasure of reconnecting with former Colorado Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff. Andrew helped to spearhead legislation that created the Building Excellent Schools Today program, thanks to which we are able to build two new schools here in Cañon City.
On Monday, though we had a two-hour snow delay, the McKinley Elementary Support Team met to discuss progress being made on the school's turnaround action plan. I spent some time last week working on Federal Programs grant revisions, especially specific to Title VB funding. However, there were some problems within the online application system that are causing me to have to wait for CDE assistance. On Monday evening I attended a school board work session, a school board meeting, and the annual Fall Pops Concert. On Tuesday I attended a Superintendent’s Advisory Council meeting, a District Leadership Team meeting, a CCMS Design Advisory Group meeting, and a Cañon City Education Association monthly touching base meeting. We had a delayed start professional development day on Wednesday. I began that day with a monthly Classified Association touching base meeting. I then attended a Rotary Club meeting to learn more about the services provided by Mental Health Colorado, and ended my day at a Washington Elementary Design Advisory Group meeting. On Thursday I took part in a series of routine meetings on a variety of topics, and on Friday I attended a regional superintendent group gathering where I learned quite a bit about Governor Hickenlooper’s proposed 2019 budget and how that might impact education.
This Week
Like many of you, I’ll be placing my focus on friends and family this week. Though I’ll take a trip to Pueblo with Assistant Superintendent of Schools Adam Hartman to learn more about how the Boys and Girls Club has partnered with the Pueblo School District, I’ll be working quite a bit from home on computer correspondence. I’ll also engage in quite a bit of home improvement, as I still need to put certain aspects of my house together as a result of the summer hail storm that hit Dawson Ranch. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for some good stucco patching weather!
Other Voices
The 2018-19 Tiger Pride Link Crew.
This week I have a special message from the Cañon City High School Tiger Pride Link Crew!
We hope this message finds your next few days filled with family, friends, food, and even a few quiet moments for yourself. This extended break came at such a good time as so often in our profession we put the needs of others ahead of ours and forget to take care of ourselves. We hope you are all able to return recharged and ready for this busy yet so exciting time of year!
The Pride would like to invite each you to our All-You-Can-Eat Breakfast Fundraiser on Saturday morning Dec. 1st at MUGS. Our Tiger Pride Link Crew will begin serving the public at 7 am and will finish at 10 am. There will be eggs, bacon, potatoes, and pancakes with coffee, juice and milk, even chocolate milk! Please consider starting your Parade of Lights Saturday by joining us at Mugs for a wonderful breakfast. Doing so will allow our current Tigers to serve and provide for you. The cost is $8 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under and there is no need to purchase advance. Simply show up on Saturday, December 1st and pay at the door. With the quality of food that is graciously provided by MUGS, this is absolutely the best breakfast deal around!
This fundraiser has a dual purpose. First and foremost is to allow an opportunity for our Tiger Pride Link Crew Leaders to volunteer and serve the public. Second, is to allow for The Pride to gather funds for its annual Shop With A Tiger Program. This will be our fourth year of SWAT (Shop With a Tiger) and this has become one of our signature events. SWAT allows a selected high school student to take an elementary student (selected by their building principal) on a Christmas shopping trip. The elementary student is given a $50 gift card and is allowed to spend this on whatever they wish, with parental approval at checkout. Last year was a tremendous success as 60 elementary students, paired with 60 high school students, had this opportunity. We are hoping to match that total once again this year.
We hope this message finds your next few days filled with family, friends, food, and even a few quiet moments for yourself. This extended break came at such a good time as so often in our profession we put the needs of others ahead of ours and forget to take care of ourselves. We hope you are all able to return recharged and ready for this busy yet so exciting time of year!
The Pride would like to invite each you to our All-You-Can-Eat Breakfast Fundraiser on Saturday morning Dec. 1st at MUGS. Our Tiger Pride Link Crew will begin serving the public at 7 am and will finish at 10 am. There will be eggs, bacon, potatoes, and pancakes with coffee, juice and milk, even chocolate milk! Please consider starting your Parade of Lights Saturday by joining us at Mugs for a wonderful breakfast. Doing so will allow our current Tigers to serve and provide for you. The cost is $8 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under and there is no need to purchase advance. Simply show up on Saturday, December 1st and pay at the door. With the quality of food that is graciously provided by MUGS, this is absolutely the best breakfast deal around!
This fundraiser has a dual purpose. First and foremost is to allow an opportunity for our Tiger Pride Link Crew Leaders to volunteer and serve the public. Second, is to allow for The Pride to gather funds for its annual Shop With A Tiger Program. This will be our fourth year of SWAT (Shop With a Tiger) and this has become one of our signature events. SWAT allows a selected high school student to take an elementary student (selected by their building principal) on a Christmas shopping trip. The elementary student is given a $50 gift card and is allowed to spend this on whatever they wish, with parental approval at checkout. Last year was a tremendous success as 60 elementary students, paired with 60 high school students, had this opportunity. We are hoping to match that total once again this year.
This experience is made possible thanks to gracious participants in this fundraiser, as well as to community donations.
Please place this event in on your calendars for Saturday, December 1st at MUGS. We’ll be excited to serve you a wonderful meal. Please, also, share this information as much as you can with your friends and neighbors and invite others to participate in providing this outstanding experience, both for elementary and high school students in our district.
With a sincere Thank You,
Tiger Pride Link Crew
. . . and thanks for listening once again, and have a joyous Thanksgiving holiday!
George S. Welsh
Please place this event in on your calendars for Saturday, December 1st at MUGS. We’ll be excited to serve you a wonderful meal. Please, also, share this information as much as you can with your friends and neighbors and invite others to participate in providing this outstanding experience, both for elementary and high school students in our district.
With a sincere Thank You,
Tiger Pride Link Crew
. . . and thanks for listening once again, and have a joyous Thanksgiving holiday!
George S. Welsh
