January 17, 2022
Focus on the Fabulous
January is Board Appreciation month which gives us the opportunity to recognize the many hours that the board spends working to provide the best education possible for our students. Celebrating School Board Recognition Month is our chance to say thanks and acknowledge the work they do. The board’s main goal is to support student achievement. The board focuses on creating a vision for what parents and citizens want their district to become and how to make student achievement a top priority. ,
Other goals include creating a safe and orderly climate where students can learn and teachers can teach, collaborating to solve common problems, and focusing on continuous improvement. Thankfully, throughout the pandemic, our board has been supportive of doing what was necessary to keep students and staff safe while still allowing us to provide a solid education on site. During this time of controversy, our board has worked together effectively to establish common ground that makes sense for our district.
The BOE was recognized at Tuesday night’s BOE meeting. The Governor’s state proclamation was read which recognized their work.
Prior to the regular board meeting, the board took part in the annual work session. During the work session, the leadership guidelines were reviewed and time was spent discussing the work of the board, protocols, responsibilities, roles, duties, and powers. Policies were discussed, specifically Section A- Foundation and Basic Commitment. Time was also spent on the District Action Plan, the communication plan, and the financial audit review.
Dan Melendrez, principal of Fremont High School, joined us for the evening and took part in the work session and regular board meeting. Dan is part of the Rural Superintendent Academy and as part of that work, district leaders are partnering up and visiting cohort member districts to learn and engage in each other’s work.
Rewind
Last week our elementary staff participated in CPI training, organized by Mr. Morgan. This training provided practical techniques to implement consistent and sustainable principles that prevent, or mitigate, the need for de-escalation interventions. The crisis intervention training equips staff with strategies for safely defusing anxious, hostile, or violent behaviors at the earliest stage. Kudos to Mr. Morgan and all of the elementary team for making the effort to get trained so that we are providing students and staff with a safe learning environment. Thanks to Stacey Holland, Special Education Director from SLV BOCES, for leading the training for our staff.
Our ELL team worked hard last week to get ACCESS testing started for our students. This is the annual testing for our students who are English learners. ACCESS stands for Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State-to-State for English Language Learners. It's a test that's given to students from kindergarten to grade 12, to assess their progress in learning English. ACCESS testing will continue for the next several weeks.
Forward Focus
Monday we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. This federal holiday marks the birthday of MLK, Jr. and is observed on the third Monday of January each year. King demonstrated nonviolent activism throughout the Civil Rights Movement, in his efforts to protest racial discrimination and fight for equality in our country.
Mid-year evaluations will be taking place in the next few weeks for all staff members. Evaluations will be completed by the end of the month.
The District Leadership Team meets on Wednesday. The team will be reviewing the District Action Plan and the progress made to date on the five improvement strategies.
Our basketball teams will have home games this week, Tuesday night against Monte Vista and Friday night against Trinidad. Saturday the teams will travel to Crested Butte. The boys got the win on Saturday against Dolores Huerta beating them by ten. The girls’ team also scored a win on Saturday, beating their opponents decisively by 18 points!
Our Viking wrestlers will compete at the Northfork Tournament in Hotchkiss on Saturday. The wrestling team has been very competitive this year and several wrestlers have placed in tournaments. Manny Morales is being recognized as the Wrestler of the Week. Other grapplers that have earned that honor in previous weeks include Omar Hernandez and Aaron Valadez.