CSD Schools Abloom with Spring Activities

Spring must finally be here! I recently attended Glacier Hills Elementary’s Spring Fling open house. They opened the building to those in the community who live in the area but do not currently have students attending the school. They showcased student artwork and writing down the hallways. Teachers were running games outside. There were booths for AVID, the PTA, and Alta View Hospital, and of course, food trucks. The Yeti was wandering around for photos. Purchasing school t-shirts proved to be a big hit with the parents. It was a wonderful way to build school-to-community connections.

Canyons has the best teachers! It was an exciting evening honoring each of our school’s Teacher of the Year at the District’s Teacher of the Year celebration. Congratulations to all our winners. Listening to each teacher’s accomplishments reinforced my appreciation for the creativity, dedication, and focus on student success that Canyons teachers bring each day to our students. The school board was proud to share in your success.

I almost felt like a movie star as I attended the Canyons Education Foundation Gala to honor our student scholarship recipients and help raise funding for teacher innovation grants. It was a beautiful night with great food and good company. The Foundation is the fundraising branch with community outreach for the District.

I also attended the District Storytelling competition for K-3 students. I want to give a shout out to Peruvian Park Elementary for their exemplary students who took all three awards! This was excellent public speaking practice.

Finally, I had the opportunity to participate in a Zoom presentation on “The Weight of Injustice: Exploring the Intersectionality of Fatphobia, Racism, and Mental Health” presented by the Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC). This provided an interesting perspective on historical and present-day causes of some of the mental health issues facing children. Knowledge is the first step as we strive to always improve in supporting all students to reach their potential.

The week before Spring Break was busy! I started the week by visiting Diamond Ridge High and Entrada Adult High School. I was so impressed by the way the school building is evolving to meet the diverse needs of our nontraditional high school students. The classes are welcoming, teachers and staff know everyone by name, and most importantly, the students want to be at school! They have multiple supports: food pantry, counseling, showers and washing machines for the homeless, study/homework help, etc. The new science, cooking, and maker spaces will be ready for next year. One wing of the building is Entrada. This is open to the community to learn English skills and connect with community services, and earn GED diplomas. I so appreciate the support Canyons gives the community and our disadvantaged to have access to programs and are given an opportunity for success. Next, I visited with the wonderful employees who work in the Transportation Department. These bus drivers, dispatchers, routers, and mechanics keep the district rolling! They have the biggest hearts. Many of these employees are some of our oldest. When asked why they continue to work, they told me, “It’s because of the kids!” Being with our students is the highlight of their day. They shared with me some of their ideas to improve transportation efficiency, communication, and would love to someday have a new building. The building they are in is 60 years old. Newer equipment has been added as needed, but restroom upgrades, better office flow, break room space, and earthquake stability would be an important future goal for the District. I had the opportunity to attend a presentation concerning upgrades to our operations system Skyward. Our current version is very dated and unable to meet all of our District needs. It was impressive to see the what the new upgrade can do with teacher grading, reports, scheduling, attendance, lunch accounts, and enrollment. It may be worth the cost to upgrade a system the District is already familiar with. This information will inform future study sessions. I also attended the National School Boards Association recently. It was a wonderful opportunity to inform, share, discuss, and be in touch with issues facing our public schools all over the country. Three topics seemed to be reoccurring: school safety; student equity, mental health and resilience, and effective school board policy. It was reaffirming to see that many of the presentations aligned to our practices at CSD. We have a vision through our Strategic Planning, shared governance, and increased accountability for learning and less on operations. We have built strong collaboration between district leadership and board governance. We focus on students and their needs. It was nice to get to know each other better and strengthen relationships.

在过去的几周里，我很高兴被邀请作为评委参加 Willow Canyon 的 Battle of the Books。我总是乐于支持有助于为我们的学校课程增添活力的活动。同学们知书达理，答得有把握。如此激烈的竞争！每个人都做得很好。干得好，Books of Knowledge 团队！

我们很幸运拥有如此才华横溢的学生和出色的音乐总监！我对在 Corner Canyon High 举行的峡谷交响乐团演奏的专业音乐感到敬畏。谢谢你的邀请！这太棒了！我要向高中校长 Jordan Wright、Ranae Dalgleish、Caleb Shabestari 和 Mitchell Atencio 大声疾呼。

能够在学校社区委员会会议上与热心的家长和教育工作者会面总是一种很好的体验。为实现学习目标而进行的艰苦工作和计划以及观察关于如何有效使用可用 FTE、土地信托和 TSSR 资金的决定做得非常好。我参加了在 Silver Mesa 和 Glacier Hills 小学以及 Eastmont Middle 举行的 SCC 会议。

我还与各种员工团体会面，讨论问题并了解每个部门的工作方式。感谢你们每个人抽出时间与我会面，包括教育支持专家领导、Jordan High、CTEC、Willow Canyon、Alta View、Silver Mesa、Glacier Hills 和 Albion Middle

亲自向使我们的峡谷变得强大的员工表示感谢，这也是一次很棒的经历。 “Canyons Strong”是教育委员会的新员工表彰计划，我们作为董事会成员花时间感谢我们的员工以特殊方式为学校和部门做出贡献。每个月，每位 Canyons 教育委员会成员都会向至少七名有所作为的员工写感谢信。我能够亲手交付我的感谢卡。当他们被告知“谢谢”时，他们脸上的惊讶表情和泪眼，对我来说是无价的。