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
Bill Henderson, one of our bus drivers, completes his end of route paperwork.
It is an absolute pleasure this week to highlight the amazing qualities of some of our behind the scenes support staff.
Last spring I became aware of a situation where one of our bus drivers, Bill Henderson, had a challenging experience taking Bruce Omer's Cañon City Exploratory School 5th-6th grade combination class on a field trip. As CES staff are apt to, Mr. Omer had his class reflect on their behavior and every child agreed a good path forward would be to offer a letter of apology to Mr. Henderson. This is where the story may have ended. However, Mr. Henderson was kind enough to write a joyful reply to Mr. Omer's students stating, "please accept my tremendous gratitude for the wonderful gesture jointly made by the Wanderers (Mr. Omer's community). I was most definitely overwhelmed and with awe, surprise, and joy when I received a big envelope filled with sincerity. Thank you all for the terrific letters you wrote. They are priceless to me!"
Mr. Henderson, I know you didn't have to craft that beautiful letter. Thank you, thank you, thank you for reinforcing the lesson our CES students learned. You expertly displayed our core belief that we value growth, in both academics AND behavior!
Last spring I became aware of a situation where one of our bus drivers, Bill Henderson, had a challenging experience taking Bruce Omer's Cañon City Exploratory School 5th-6th grade combination class on a field trip. As CES staff are apt to, Mr. Omer had his class reflect on their behavior and every child agreed a good path forward would be to offer a letter of apology to Mr. Henderson. This is where the story may have ended. However, Mr. Henderson was kind enough to write a joyful reply to Mr. Omer's students stating, "please accept my tremendous gratitude for the wonderful gesture jointly made by the Wanderers (Mr. Omer's community). I was most definitely overwhelmed and with awe, surprise, and joy when I received a big envelope filled with sincerity. Thank you all for the terrific letters you wrote. They are priceless to me!"
Mr. Henderson, I know you didn't have to craft that beautiful letter. Thank you, thank you, thank you for reinforcing the lesson our CES students learned. You expertly displayed our core belief that we value growth, in both academics AND behavior!
On another front, one of our most versatile support team members Daniel Damianov, who has served as a classified substitute and a classroom paraprofessional, and who we now rely on to line up our daily corps of substitutes, was the focus of yet another letter of thanks. This was from Kristin Crain, a special education teacher at Cañon City Middle School. Kristin said, "I have no idea whom this needs to be directed to but I have a shout out that I'd like to share. I recently locked my keys in my car after school, including my phone and building keys and any resources I had available to problem-solve my mistake. Daniel, the custodial substitute in the administration building was more than helpful. He allowed me to borrow his phone to call my mom, google and call the On-Star support phone number, and then he waited with me while they magically unlocked my car. He was simply outstanding in the way he helped me with my silly personal struggle.
I'm so happy and blessed to be working in a district that's so supportive, where everybody has each other's back. THANKS, DANIEL!"
Thank you indeed, Daniel! Core belief number one states "We meet the social-emotional needs of all students, putting Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs before Bloom’s Taxonomy." To do so, we must also meet the social-emotional needs of our staff, and you have certainly done this.
Speaking of core belief number one, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention will be hosting an "Out of the Darkness Walk to Fight Suicide" this Saturday, September 7th, at 9 AM at Centennial Park. This is a great opportunity to bring greater awareness to an issue that has touched nearly everyone in our community. Please consider registering at https://afsp.org/
I'm so happy and blessed to be working in a district that's so supportive, where everybody has each other's back. THANKS, DANIEL!"
Thank you indeed, Daniel! Core belief number one states "We meet the social-emotional needs of all students, putting Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs before Bloom’s Taxonomy." To do so, we must also meet the social-emotional needs of our staff, and you have certainly done this.
Speaking of core belief number one, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention will be hosting an "Out of the Darkness Walk to Fight Suicide" this Saturday, September 7th, at 9 AM at Centennial Park. This is a great opportunity to bring greater awareness to an issue that has touched nearly everyone in our community. Please consider registering at https://afsp.org/
Our Future Focus
HomeBiEd students attend the closing of the sale of the house they built.
We're pleased to announce our Cañon City High School PTECH program is up and running this year. We have 18 class-of-2021 students enrolled and another 32 from the class of 2022. Participating in PTECH allows each of these students the opportunity to earn an associates degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math-related fields at no cost to themselves. Cañon City High School counselors are ensuring student schedules include all Pueblo Community College required courses and that each PTECH enrollee accomplishes two internships in their career related field by the time they graduate.
Last week Cañon City High School Building Trades students participated in the closing of the sale of the house they built earlier this year. We thank realtor and HomeBiEd Board member Carla Brady for making this possible!
Last week Cañon City High School Building Trades students participated in the closing of the sale of the house they built earlier this year. We thank realtor and HomeBiEd Board member Carla Brady for making this possible!
Bond Progress
Steve Lindner of Lindner Chevrolet donated a set of computers to our new A+ Computer Networking and Troubleshooting program.
At their August 27th Work Session, the Cañon City Board of Education toured the old district grounds shop behind Cañon City Middle School, which originally served as the Cañon City High School JROTC Shooting Range.
The Board then took a look at and celebrated the opening of our new Grounds Shop, Electronics Recycling, and A+ Computer Certification Classroom, located along 12th Street just north of the Icabone Pool.
This facility was constructed as part of our Cañon City Middle School Major Remodel project and part of our Multi-Facility Improvement Grant, funded by a Building Excellent Schools Today grant.
The new grounds space has allowed the district to move a ton of dangerous equipment out of the high school basement and to provide safe and modern working space for its operations employees.
The Cañon City Middle School work site is really starting to take shape. Debris from the demolition of the old auditorium/gymnasium has been cleaned up allowing for sightlines across the entire site to the north of the historic 1925 structure.
Meanwhile, walls are now being constructed at the new Washington Elementary School. Visitors to the worksite can see the school's new gymnasium taking shape.
The Board then took a look at and celebrated the opening of our new Grounds Shop, Electronics Recycling, and A+ Computer Certification Classroom, located along 12th Street just north of the Icabone Pool.
This facility was constructed as part of our Cañon City Middle School Major Remodel project and part of our Multi-Facility Improvement Grant, funded by a Building Excellent Schools Today grant.
The new grounds space has allowed the district to move a ton of dangerous equipment out of the high school basement and to provide safe and modern working space for its operations employees.
The Cañon City Middle School work site is really starting to take shape. Debris from the demolition of the old auditorium/gymnasium has been cleaned up allowing for sightlines across the entire site to the north of the historic 1925 structure.
Meanwhile, walls are now being constructed at the new Washington Elementary School. Visitors to the worksite can see the school's new gymnasium taking shape.
Last Week
Earthwork is taking shape at the CCMS construction site.
Last Monday I published another installment of Echoes, met with RE-2 district leaders about collaborating on a grant, worked with Director of Special Services Tim Renn on outlining a more understandable continuous improvement structure for the district, and attend the official opening of our new district grounds facility/hands-on technology center. On Tuesday we held a Superintendent Advisory Council meeting, met about a Colorado Education Initiative Youth Connections grant opportunity, joined CCMS instructional leaders for some instructional walkthroughs, and I then took a trip to Denver for an Early Childhood Leadership Commission gathering. On Wednesday I sat in on a meeting about a possible high school video productions collaboration with a local business, met with Lincoln School of Science and Technology Principal Garrett Olguin about improvement planning, and attended a Cañon City Planning and Zoning Committee meeting about our CCMS project. On Thursday I worked on a Gates Foundation Grant to support the work we envisioned through our Civic Canopy process, and I attended an evening Cañon City Urban Renewal Zone proposal meeting. On Friday I sat in on a motivational speaker presentation to middle school students, conducted routine communication with the board of education, finalized legislative resolutions on behalf of the board of education, and began work on our Management's Discussion and Analysis section of our annual audit.
This Week
Governor Polis was on hand at the Early Childhood Leadership Commission transition gathering.
This week I'll appear on KRLN's Morning Line, hold a routine Superintendent's Advisory Council meeting, meet with the McKinley School Improvement Support Team, conduct a Central Office Staff meeting, chair a quarterly Cañon City Educational Organization for Excellence board meeting, meet with partners from Siemans about how they can support Cañon City High School Capstone projects related to our new buildings achieving LEED Gold efficiency status, attend an every other week TechSTART evening social event, touch base with Brian Turner from Solvista and Stacie Kwitek from Fremont County Department of Human Services, attend a Colorado Department of Education Coherence Lab conference call, and make my way around the district to see how our first early release Friday staff development day goes.
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
Thanks for listening once again!
George S. Welsh
