Echoes from Cañon
Examples of Excellence
Operations Manager Jeff replaces a fluorescent lighting tube with a new, high efficiency LED bulb.
I would like to take a moment this week to highlight the great work being done by Jeff Peterson, our district operations manager. Though he has already been expertly guiding our operations crew for several years, I am additionally impressed with the work Jeff is doing to help us create a vision for the future of our district facilities. With the board having directed us to apply for a BEST grant that would significantly fund and help us build two new facilities, the expertise Jeff is providing in relation to the inadequacies of our current Washington and CCMS buildings, and toward what will no doubt be outstanding new state of the art schools, is much appreciated. I had the pleasure of seeing him in action several times last week, exposing the reasons why new buildings at Washington and CCMS are needed, and guiding preliminary design and costing out work with our architectural and construction partners. The Cañon City School District is extremely fortunate to have a man of Jeff’s talent working on behalf of its children!
On Monday in Grand Junction the Cañon City High School Band secured a 4th place finish at the Colorado High School Activities Association state marching band competition. I want to take a moment to congratulate Mr. Race, his staff, and all of the fine students involved. I have closely observed the work ethic of our band participants and have no doubt they finished in the final grouping once again this year because of their hard work and dedication. I must add I have also noticed the great adult support our Tiger Pride band has received all year from parents. Thank you all for making us so proud!
On a final note this week, 90-year young Cañon City High School alumnus Willis "Speedy" Day was honored during Friday night’s final Tiger football game of the year at Citizens' Stadium. Mr. Day wore Tiger jersey number 1 as a player in 1943. Speedy played quarterback and was known as an extremely difficult to tackle runner. Unfortunately Mr. Day had to leave school during his junior year as his country called him to duty. Of course, he went on to serve the country honorably during World War II. The Cañon City School District congratulates Willis Day on this special honor, and would like to join the entire community in thanking him for serving our nation so well as a member of our Greatest Generation.
On Monday in Grand Junction the Cañon City High School Band secured a 4th place finish at the Colorado High School Activities Association state marching band competition. I want to take a moment to congratulate Mr. Race, his staff, and all of the fine students involved. I have closely observed the work ethic of our band participants and have no doubt they finished in the final grouping once again this year because of their hard work and dedication. I must add I have also noticed the great adult support our Tiger Pride band has received all year from parents. Thank you all for making us so proud!
On a final note this week, 90-year young Cañon City High School alumnus Willis "Speedy" Day was honored during Friday night’s final Tiger football game of the year at Citizens' Stadium. Mr. Day wore Tiger jersey number 1 as a player in 1943. Speedy played quarterback and was known as an extremely difficult to tackle runner. Unfortunately Mr. Day had to leave school during his junior year as his country called him to duty. Of course, he went on to serve the country honorably during World War II. The Cañon City School District congratulates Willis Day on this special honor, and would like to join the entire community in thanking him for serving our nation so well as a member of our Greatest Generation.
The Focus of Our Work
The 2016 Tiger Pride Marching Band finished in 4th place at this year's state marching competition.
On Wednesday November 9th we’ll have another delayed start staff development day in the Cañon City School District. As a reminder to the community, our staff members make use of this valuable time each month to refine the skills they apply to educate our children. This Wednesday I will spend time at Cañon City High School observing the work they are doing to transform the school toward a pathways model of education. Special district consultant Dominic Carochi and director of instruction Adam Hartman will also be out and about observing and supporting the good work our teachers are doing.
At the top of my to-do list for the the next four months is our effort to put together a Building Excellent Schools Today grant to support our effort to build replacement schools for Washington Elementary and Cañon City Middle School, as well as to provide basic health and safety upgrades to all our other campuses. This work began last week when we met with GE Johnson Construction Company and CRP Architects to revisit the various projects we would like to complete around the district, and began making decisions that will lead to solid cost estimates for our proposed new buildings.
At the top of my to-do list for the the next four months is our effort to put together a Building Excellent Schools Today grant to support our effort to build replacement schools for Washington Elementary and Cañon City Middle School, as well as to provide basic health and safety upgrades to all our other campuses. This work began last week when we met with GE Johnson Construction Company and CRP Architects to revisit the various projects we would like to complete around the district, and began making decisions that will lead to solid cost estimates for our proposed new buildings.
Last Week
Willis "Speedy" Day was honored for his athleticism and service to country at last Friday's Tiger football game.
On Monday I attended Key Leader training related to a new Fremont County Communities that Care initiative. I also spent time working with the literacy team developing a literacy coach evaluation process. On Tuesday I had a SAC meeting. I also made my monthly appearance on Morning Line at KRLN, and had meetings with CCHS principal Bill Summers about the future of our Counselor Corps grant, as well as finance assistant Keri Peterson about our recent pupil count audit. On Wednesday I had a series of monthly touching base meetings with administration staff, operations staff, director of special services Lynnette Steinhoff, and probationary teacher coach Jamie Davis. On Thursday I had my monthly touching base meeting with RE-2 superintendent Rhonda Roberts, and I also worked with operations manager Jeff Peterson on our BEST proposal. I began my day on Friday in a regional superintendent meeting, and then participated in a meeting with folks from GE Johnson Construction and CRP Architects where we worked on preliminary design items and costing out of our proposed building projects.
This Week
On Monday morning I’ll be observing a health lesson at CCHS, and I’ll be interviewed by an education publication about our newly adopted Lindamood-Bell reading intervention process. I also have a meeting over at Harrison K-8 school, and with a parent of one of our students later in the afternoon. Early Tuesday I’ll meet several times with CCEA representatives. I’ll also sit in on some of our monthly meeting with the Cañon City Police Department, attend a SAC meeting, and then prepare for and attend a our monthly Leadership Team meeting. On Wednesday morning I’ll meet with classified association leaders, observe delayed start professional development activities at several of our schools, and then attend to office work in the afternoon. On Thursday I’ll drive to and from Denver to attend an Early Childhood Leadership Commission meeting. When I return to Cañon that evening I’ll attend a CCHS 2020 meeting and a gathering of community folks who want to learn more about our proposed facilities improvements. Friday is a slow day on my calendar, though I do have check-in meetings with several of our board members.
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh