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
Members of the 2019-20 Cañon City High School Mountain Biking Club
I wish to thank Heidi Hubinger’s Cañon City High School art students for dressing up CCHS's White Hall with a Student Empowered Learning Frameworks (SELF) trait-inspired montage. This includes images depicting knowledge, innovation, tenacity, agency, agility, civility, and integrity. You can see with this looks like in this week's Echoes banner image. We also encourage you to check it out in person when you have a chance. What a great way to emphasize core belief number three, we’re future-focused, believing the development of certain traits and skills will best prepare our students for ever-changing careers.
Did you know Cañon City High School has a burgeoning Mountain Bike Club? Though this got off to a quiet start last year, more than a dozen students are now actively participating. What a great way to further develop an adventurous spirit in our students, and to encourage positive risk-taking!
Did you also know the Cañon City High School Cross Country has a team mission to, "develop character that leads to honesty, integrity, respect, loyalty, and compassion." In support of this, our harriers participated in a community service project by which they each constructed a treat to be enjoyed by shelter dogs at the Fremont County Human Society. What a great idea!
Though we had our first alternating week Friday off last week, the Harrison K-8 staff kept their doors open to students needing additional support and tutoring through a new Friday School program they have instituted. I've seen a list of Harrison staff who have committed to this for the entire school year and have no doubt this practice will result in academic growth for our students who need such support.
Finally, did you know we have a new cadre of School Resource Officers this year? Officer Ryan Belding (who just happens to be a Marana, AZ High School graduate just like your superintendent of schools) is supporting Cañon City High School and Officer Chip Coffin is making his way around all of our middle schools. I hear many great things about them and appreciate the work they are doing to develop trusting relationships and keep our schools safe.
Did you know Cañon City High School has a burgeoning Mountain Bike Club? Though this got off to a quiet start last year, more than a dozen students are now actively participating. What a great way to further develop an adventurous spirit in our students, and to encourage positive risk-taking!
Did you also know the Cañon City High School Cross Country has a team mission to, "develop character that leads to honesty, integrity, respect, loyalty, and compassion." In support of this, our harriers participated in a community service project by which they each constructed a treat to be enjoyed by shelter dogs at the Fremont County Human Society. What a great idea!
Though we had our first alternating week Friday off last week, the Harrison K-8 staff kept their doors open to students needing additional support and tutoring through a new Friday School program they have instituted. I've seen a list of Harrison staff who have committed to this for the entire school year and have no doubt this practice will result in academic growth for our students who need such support.
Finally, did you know we have a new cadre of School Resource Officers this year? Officer Ryan Belding (who just happens to be a Marana, AZ High School graduate just like your superintendent of schools) is supporting Cañon City High School and Officer Chip Coffin is making his way around all of our middle schools. I hear many great things about them and appreciate the work they are doing to develop trusting relationships and keep our schools safe.
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Our Future Focus
Officers Belding and Coffin
At our Superintendent Advisory Council meeting this week we discussed the need to address substitute pay. We have made good progress on certified and classified compensation over the past 4 years, but have done nothing for substitutes, short of complying with the new minimum wage laws. We asked Misty will to build a plan to place before SAC at the beginning of next year's budgeting process. When we are happy with it, we'll share it with the board and move to act on it before other budget decisions are made.
During our monthly Leadership Team meeting we discussed the application of our new policy about animals on campus, shared ideas about a bullying prevention policy the district is working on revising, discussed building level reporting protocols related to recent QPR training recently received by classified staff, and discussed use of funding recently provided by Fremont County Department of Human Services for backpack food programs at each of our schools. Principals hung around after the meeting to learn how to use our new Google Sheets version of the evaluation calculator we developed over the summer. This is will allow staff to interact with their Measures of Student Learning calculator on their Chromebooks. New Teacher Support Coach Jamie Davis then solicited feedback from principals about how this year's new teacher orientation went and what we might do to improve it moving forward.
During our monthly Leadership Team meeting we discussed the application of our new policy about animals on campus, shared ideas about a bullying prevention policy the district is working on revising, discussed building level reporting protocols related to recent QPR training recently received by classified staff, and discussed use of funding recently provided by Fremont County Department of Human Services for backpack food programs at each of our schools. Principals hung around after the meeting to learn how to use our new Google Sheets version of the evaluation calculator we developed over the summer. This is will allow staff to interact with their Measures of Student Learning calculator on their Chromebooks. New Teacher Support Coach Jamie Davis then solicited feedback from principals about how this year's new teacher orientation went and what we might do to improve it moving forward.
Override Progress
We held a Technology Visioning Committee meeting on Thursday, September 12th. Topics discussed included grade 6-8 Chromebook implementation progress, 2nd-year high school Chromebook implementation progress, K-5 staff Chromebook distribution and staff development support, discussions about apps available for monitoring student access to the internet, and plans for eventually removing many no longer needed windows devices. The committee also learned about an exciting initiative Tech Start's Luke Javernick is working on with Cañon City High School science teacher Carrie Trimble. The aim is to create a River Science class where students study and repair a stretch of Oak Creek south of Cañon City. Mr. Javernick's hope is this work can lead to a cadre of students who posess the skills and knowledge needed to do the same kind of work along the Arkansas River where it runs through Cañon.
Last Week
I attended a Gates Family Foundation dinner at the Excelsior Farm Hub in Avondale
Last week I had a series of furniture pricing/purchase meetings, a few routine parent meetings, a board work session and regular meeting, a monthly touching base meeting with the Cañon City Police Department, a routine Superintendent's Advisory Council meeting, a meeting about transportation routes, a monthly District Leadership Team meeting, a Vocational Building Trades Board meeting, my first expulsion hearing of the new school year, a Technology Visioning Committee meeting, a Gates Foundation dinner meeting in Pueblo, a regional superintendents gathering, and a monthly Colorado School Finance Project meeting.
This Week
Denver at the Colorado Department of Education. On Tuesday I meet with Board Secretary-Treasurer Robin Reeser to discuss current provisions of the Colorado School Finance Act. We'll then hold a Superintendent Advisory Council meeting, a Colorado Education Initiatives Youth Connections Grant site visit, and I'll attend a Communities that Care board meeting. On Wednesday I'll attend the quarterly FIOG meeting, a live lockdown drill review meeting with Director of Student Support Services Paula Buser and local first responders, a quarterly Fremont County Workplace Learning Board meeting about our student intern and apprentice program, and a meeting with Assistant Superintendent of Schools Adam Hartman about the impact of school SPF ratings on our federal programs application process. On Thursday and Friday, I'll be in Vail where I'll attend the annual Colorado Association of School Executives superintendent conference. Of course, my fingers will be tightly crossed Thursday evening as I wait for news about Cañon City High School's result at the annual Succeeds Prize ceremony.
Other Voices
Jamie Murray, our District Social Emotional Learning Coordinator, and a sitting member of a Colorado Behavioral Task Force subcommittee asked me to share this information on how folks can offer feedback to the task force. This message was written by Summer Gathercole.
"We are offering opportunities for family members and people with lived experience to share their stories. We want to hear about their journey, the challenges that are still being worked through, and suggestions to make the behavioral health system work for all Coloradans.
Below is information about our meeting dates and times that you can share with your community. There will be at least one public testimony a month through June 2020.
We are working on scheduling more dates, some of which will be outside the Denver metro area. We will share that information once we have finalized additional details.
"We are offering opportunities for family members and people with lived experience to share their stories. We want to hear about their journey, the challenges that are still being worked through, and suggestions to make the behavioral health system work for all Coloradans.
Below is information about our meeting dates and times that you can share with your community. There will be at least one public testimony a month through June 2020.
We are working on scheduling more dates, some of which will be outside the Denver metro area. We will share that information once we have finalized additional details.
Thanks for listening once again,
George S. Welsh
George S. Welsh
