Echoes from Cañon
Our Mission and Core Beliefs
The Cañon City School District is future-focused, providing innovative educational opportunities to successfully prepare all students to meet any challenge they may face.
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.
The Cañon City School District is future-focused, providing innovative educational opportunities to successfully prepare all students to meet any challenge they may face.
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
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A gigantic THANK YOU is due to our partners at SunWest Credit Union. During October they provided a $500 donation to McKinley Elementary School. These funds are being used in support of our first core belief to purchase food and necessities for the Wildcat Cares Program to support students in need.
Also in support of our first core belief, in September the Lower Arkansas River Affiliate (LARA) of the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented (CAGT) hosted a launch event featuring guest speaker Mark Hess, CAGT President-elect. The LARA mission statement outlines its purpose "To deepen the understanding of giftedness and maximize students' potential while advocating for the exceptional educational and social-emotional needs of gifted and talented learners and their families in our regional communities." President Elect Hess shared his personal experiences working with gifted kids, illustrating how such students have a different and more intense way of interacting with the world around them. He also reminded everyone that these intensities need to be addressed through continual social/emotional support and guidance.
It is my understanding CAGT's Lower Arkansas River Affiliate strives to build a regional community (Custer, Fremont and Pueblo Counties) dedicated to providing support to gifted students and their families. In an effort to promote clear communication and transparency, Cañon City High School's Steven Carter, current LARA President, shared the new LARA of CAGT website created by Rain Rosales, a senior at Cañon City High School, which can be viewed here: https://www.laraofcagt.org/
Also in support of our first core belief, in September the Lower Arkansas River Affiliate (LARA) of the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented (CAGT) hosted a launch event featuring guest speaker Mark Hess, CAGT President-elect. The LARA mission statement outlines its purpose "To deepen the understanding of giftedness and maximize students' potential while advocating for the exceptional educational and social-emotional needs of gifted and talented learners and their families in our regional communities." President Elect Hess shared his personal experiences working with gifted kids, illustrating how such students have a different and more intense way of interacting with the world around them. He also reminded everyone that these intensities need to be addressed through continual social/emotional support and guidance.
It is my understanding CAGT's Lower Arkansas River Affiliate strives to build a regional community (Custer, Fremont and Pueblo Counties) dedicated to providing support to gifted students and their families. In an effort to promote clear communication and transparency, Cañon City High School's Steven Carter, current LARA President, shared the new LARA of CAGT website created by Rain Rosales, a senior at Cañon City High School, which can be viewed here: https://www.laraofcagt.org/
Our Future Focus
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On Monday November 8th our newly elected board directors will take their oath of office and the full Board of Education will reorganize its officer structure as President Shad Johnson and Vice-President Mary Kay Evans step away from their roles as a result of term limits. Superintendent Designee Adam Hartman is charged with transitioning the district to this new governance team, and I look forward to seeing them work together for the benefit of children.
Several years ago the Board of Education set a goal to establish a program at Cañon City High School to maintain the thousands of Chromebooks the community has invested in for our students. On September 30th this service officially kicked off, with CCHS students now servicing and maintaining keyboard and screen devices. This is a tremendous benefit to the district, all our schools, and our students themselves who get to learn these important skills.
Several years ago the Board of Education set a goal to establish a program at Cañon City High School to maintain the thousands of Chromebooks the community has invested in for our students. On September 30th this service officially kicked off, with CCHS students now servicing and maintaining keyboard and screen devices. This is a tremendous benefit to the district, all our schools, and our students themselves who get to learn these important skills.
Applying Our Traits and Skills
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On October 21st, thanks to a large group of staff and parent volunteers, Cañon City Middle School was able to hold its first ever Falcon Cup event. The Falcon Cup was designed to allow students to build connections with each other, and their community, through the application of the district’s adopted traits and skills. It consisted of fun, problem solving competitions supported by volunteers. What a great way to grow collaboration, tenacity, problem solving and agility!
Congratulations are due to the Canon City High School Tiger Pride Marching Band! In October they earned a regional championship trophy then finished 5th in the state marching band competition in early November. Tenacity and hard work sure pays off!
Recently, all of the CCHS Spanish classes did an interactive poster gallery for Hispanic/Latino Heritage month. QR codes were added to project posters to include audio, video, and website biographies that were created by students. What a great way to develop collaboration, creativity, and problem solving skills!
Congratulations are due to the Canon City High School Tiger Pride Marching Band! In October they earned a regional championship trophy then finished 5th in the state marching band competition in early November. Tenacity and hard work sure pays off!
Recently, all of the CCHS Spanish classes did an interactive poster gallery for Hispanic/Latino Heritage month. QR codes were added to project posters to include audio, video, and website biographies that were created by students. What a great way to develop collaboration, creativity, and problem solving skills!
Looking Ahead
During the coming week we’ll hold a regular board of education meeting and work session, conduct our weekly director’s meeting, I’ll attend a CDE Local Accountability Grant touching base session, we’ll hold a monthly Central Office Staff meeting, I’ll attend a River Science Foundation board meeting, we’ll touch base with Cañon City Education Association leaders, and Mr. Hartman and I will learn about the Governor’s 2022 budget proposal during the monthly Colorado School Finance Project gathering.
Other Voices
Cañon City High School has developed a model program for preparing students for the world of work, thanks to its major focus on Career Tech Education. Because of this, the Colorado Department of Education chose to hold its annual Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness retreat right here. To illustrate their deep interest, I’m including excerpts from an email sent to us by CDE PWR Director Director Andy Tucker.
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk yesterday about the PWR Team’s retreat that we hope to hold in Canon City. And more importantly, thanks so much for your willingness and enthusiasm to host.
As we discussed, the PWR Team is really hoping to get out into the field as a unit to see the amazing PWR work that is happening in schools. As much as is possible, we don’t want these visits to be a burden on the hosting school/district. We are most interested in seeing the PWR work in action.
Here is a potential timeline that we discussed. We also could easily flip flop the schedule so that we come to CCHS first and head to TechSTART later.
8:00-9:30- Visit TechSTART at the new campus in Florence
10:00-12:00- Visit Canon City High School (would love to see programs in action, meet some students/teachers, etc.)
12:00-12:30- lunch (we can absolutely order in or go out to support the community if the ProStart class is busy with other commitments)
12:30-3:00- PWR Team retreat (if there is a room in CCHS, perfect! If not, we can likely connect with the local workforce center or with PCC.)
Once we decide which schedule you and your team prefer, if you could connect me with the right person at TechSTART, I will reach out.
Again, thanks so much for your amazing partnership.
Andy Tucker
. . . and thanks for listening to me once again!
George S. Welsh
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk yesterday about the PWR Team’s retreat that we hope to hold in Canon City. And more importantly, thanks so much for your willingness and enthusiasm to host.
As we discussed, the PWR Team is really hoping to get out into the field as a unit to see the amazing PWR work that is happening in schools. As much as is possible, we don’t want these visits to be a burden on the hosting school/district. We are most interested in seeing the PWR work in action.
Here is a potential timeline that we discussed. We also could easily flip flop the schedule so that we come to CCHS first and head to TechSTART later.
8:00-9:30- Visit TechSTART at the new campus in Florence
10:00-12:00- Visit Canon City High School (would love to see programs in action, meet some students/teachers, etc.)
12:00-12:30- lunch (we can absolutely order in or go out to support the community if the ProStart class is busy with other commitments)
12:30-3:00- PWR Team retreat (if there is a room in CCHS, perfect! If not, we can likely connect with the local workforce center or with PCC.)
Once we decide which schedule you and your team prefer, if you could connect me with the right person at TechSTART, I will reach out.
Again, thanks so much for your amazing partnership.
Andy Tucker
. . . and thanks for listening to me once again!
George S. Welsh
