In Jeffco, pleading to keep cuts at bay

Written by Nancy Mitchell on Feb 3rd, 2012. | Copyright © EdNewsColorado.org

LAKEWOOD – A crowd of more than 500 filled the Lakewood High School auditorium Thursday and spilled into the hallway to watch a big-screen version of teachers and parents inside urging Jeffco school board members not to cut their jobs or favored programs.

• $10.5  Million = Total budget cuts for Jeffco Public Schools for 2012-2013*

• $70K = Average budget cuts per school for each of the 148 Jeffco schools*

Hutchinson Elementary teacher Corey Lynn (Right) at the front of the line of Hutchinson teachers supporting their instructional coach at Thursday's school board meeting in Lakewood.

“If this position is taken away, then our team dissolves,” pleaded a dozen or so staff members from Parmalee Elementary in Indian Hills, echoing numerous others. “Remember our voices. We are Jeffco.”

With 90 people signed up to speak and predictions of a pending blizzard, school board president Lesley Dahlkemper resorted to negotiations to keep an efficient flow to the microphones.

“Can you do five, five and five?” she said, encouraging three groups representing instructional coaches to keep their comments to five minutes each.

Instructional coaches are among the groups threatened by the $50 million to $60 million in cuts facing the state’s largest school district over the next two years.

So are school librarians, guidance counselors and elementary music teachers, along with the district’s gifted and talented program and its outdoor lab. Those and numerous others are contained in a prioritized list of suggestions for cuts created in December by a citizens’ advisory group.

Thursday was the school board’s second public comment session since the list was released and the second to draw hundreds of people to a meeting to urge board members not to follow its contents.

After an audience packed the board’s meeting in January, where the possible elimination of elementary instrumental music teachers was the focus, district leaders decided to move Thursday’s meeting to the more spacious auditorium.

Another sign of public interest in the process came Saturday, when about 600 people participated in five community budget forums at high schools across the county, said district spokeswoman Lynn Setzer.

Board members, who will make the final budget decision in May or June, have emphasized that the prioritized list is not binding. So they’ve become the targets of emotional appeals.

School librarians appeared to be the biggest group at Thursday’s meeting, with many audience members wearing stickers on their shirts that read “Support School Libraries.” The prioritized list calls for reducing all 92 elementary librarians to half-time and eliminating middle school librarians altogether.

But guidance counselors and instructional coaches, along with their supporters, also were out in large numbers.

Sandy Austin, a counselor at Green Mountain High School in Lakewood, said district counselors have handled 88 suicide risk assessments this year.

“It’s a matter of life and death,” she said. “Please save our counselors’ jobs so we can save our kids.”

The list of suggested reductions includes cutting up to 17 middle and high school counselors and as many as 20 instructional coaches.

Several schools, such as Parmalee, Powderhorn and Hutchinson elementaries and Carmody Middle School, turned out in force to give moving testimony to the power of their coaches.

Corey Lynn, a sixth-grade teacher at Hutchinson, said the school’s instructional coach, Christina Larson, helps him with a class of 34 students.

“With the class sizes so huge, these kids are like flowers competing for the sun and many of them get lost.”
– Jeffco elementary teacher
“With the class sizes so huge, these kids are like flowers competing for the sun and many of them get lost,” Lynn said. “I can’t reach every single kid without someone there to look at the data and to pinpoint the needs of the kids and to reach those kids who are overshadowed.

“I can’t do it alone. I am overwhelmed.”

Audience members quickly dwindled throughout the evening as speakers made their comments and left, eager to avoid the coming snowstorm.

Tomorrow, two school board members and two district officials will meet with representatives of employee groups for Jeffco’s second annual employee summit, where they’re expected to talk about pay and benefits for next year.

Jeffco employees, along with many others in Colorado school districts, are in year three without cost-of-living raises. This year, all employees also took a 3 percent pay cut and two furlough days.

Shortly before public comment began Thursday, board members voted 4-1 to close employee negotiations to the public. Board member Laura Boggs was the only “no” vote.

A principal explains why his school needs an instructional coach


VIDEO URL: CLICK HERE or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAMIE_kbd74&feature=player_embedded

Full Article: http://www.ednewscolorado.org/2012/02/03/32375-in-jeffco-pleas-to-keep-cuts-at-bay

* Approximate numbers based off proposed budget cuts and total number of schools found HERE or http://www.ednewscolorado.org/2012/01/17/31288-find-your-districts-new-budget-numbers-2

JEFFCO SCHOOLS 2010-2011 ANNUAL REPORT AVAILABLE

Each year, state and federal law requires school districts to publish an annual report on how well they performed. The report is mailed to schools and public libraries and is made available on the district’s website. The document talks about student achievement, how the taxpayer’s money is spent for education and highlights of the year’s activities. The federal “No Child Left Behind” law and the Colorado Department of Education specify that certain information must be included in the annual report including Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) scores, SAT and ACT scores and information about the qualification of the district’s teachers. (CLICK IMAGE FOR FULL 2010-2011 REPORT and Dennison's mention on pg 12!)

Dennison Elementary receiving second Blue Ribbon Award, 1st 2003, 2nd 2010

In addition, Jeffco Public Schools Strategic Planning and Advisory Council, an advisory group composed of board of education members, cabinet members, representatives from the district’s employee associations, parent representatives as well as citizen and parent leaders, provides details about its activities for the year. LINK TO ARTICLE: CLICK HERE or go to
http://www.jeffcopublicschools.org/publications/annual_reports/2010-11/index.html?page=12

Conservatively planning for $70 million in budget cuts

 Many of you may be hearing about the suggestions for reductions that have emerged from the district’s budget workgroups over the past few weeks. We are conservatively planning for $70 million in cuts over the next two years; a huge number that will mean the loss of jobs in every part of the district. The work of developing the reduction suggestions has been difficult – there just aren’t any easy solutions when the reduction target is this large.

More than 500 district positions could be eliminated over two years – that includes administrators, support staff and teachers. When you read the list of jobs that are being suggested for elimination, I’m sure you’ll have an emotional reaction because some of them are music teachers, teacher-librarians and classroom teachers. There are also central and school-based administrators, custodians and others who support the work that happens in the classroom. Please keep in mind that the $70 million reduction amount is a conservative estimate and we won’t know the full extent of the reductions until the state budget work is completed.

Throughout this process we are committed to keeping our focus on sustaining Jeffco’s excellence while balancing a budget that has been deeply impacted by the state’s financial crisis. My thanks to all of our parents who have served on the budget workgroups and to those parents who attended the budget meetings at your school. Every time we undertake this process, we learn – I have heard many helpful ideas from our community. In early 2012, members of the Jefferson County Board of Education will hold community budget forums, but in the meantime, please visit our website if you have budget-related comments. Thank you for caring for your children and supporting your schools – I hope you have a lovely holiday break.

Dr. Cindy Stevenson, Superintendent

Article from: Jefferson County "Chalk Talk, Friday, Dec. 9, 2011
Full Article HERE: http://jeffcoweb.jeffco.k12.co.us/communications/parent_news/archive/2011/December/2011.12.09.html

Dennison's Paint Day A HUGE Success!

On July 3rd, Jeffco stadium had a fourth of July celebration including a fireworks display at dusk. It was then a Dennison mother noticed how weathered and run down the outside temp buildings looked. The buildings clearly needed fresh paint, doors and siding not to mention a lot of needed improvements.

(click to enlarge)

Porches, ramp ways, and shutters all in desperate need of repair. From this day on research began. Private contractors were called, but no one took interest in donating paint. Home Depot in Lakewood was contacted and from the start they wanted to be involved. One phone call lead into months of planning and constant communication about the paint project and a possible grant.

Home depot not only took the time to looked at pictures of the buildings, they personally brought contractors out to Dennison to review what needed to be done. John Cahill (Store Manager) put the project in the hands of Duane Schissler (Project Manager) Duane truly wanted to go the extra mile for our school. Duane amazingly was able to get Glidden to donate paint and informed us of a grant available.

www.roofntherockies.com

Dennison is also receiving a $5,000 grant that will repair doors come spring 2012. Dennison also had several other local companies donate food and drinks for this amazing event. Volunteers from the Home Depot came out to Dennison on October 22nd and did just what they said and more. These volunteers scheduled time off unpaid to help our school. In this economy one would think where do these people come from? They all had it there hearts to make our school a better work place, learning institute, and a place to be proud of. Duane, so driven, also brought a local contracting company, Roof'n The Rockies to help better this project. These wonderful people repaired the siding, installed 3 custom benches and are coming back to replace old gutters at the school. How grateful we all are. Lets not forgot our devoted parents, staff, and students who showed up early Saturday morning to scrap, paint, and be apart of making miracles happen. 

(click to enlarge)

Many parents showed up before their little ones went off to soccer, dance, football, etc... Families worked hard on re-painted old playground equipment and basketball court. It looks great! Thank you for taking time to make this possible. It truly couldn't of happen without everyone's support. Who says an hour of time doesn't count. Look at the difference, you all made. (WATCH SLIDE SHOW BELOW) Maureen Curtiss, principle at Dennison had no idea what was to come. Thank you for all the extra time with paper work and meetings. Thank you for your hard work on the 22nd. The local companies who provided food and drinks: Chipotle (Union Blvd), Jimmy Johns (Union Blvd), King Soopers, (Alameda Pkwy) Nestle Water, and Starbucks (Alameda Pkwy)  our volunteers greatly appreciated the  food and drinks. Home Depot we thank you for all the improvements and the opportunity to show our children that getting involved and volunteering leaves a mark to be proud of. Give an hour, you'll receive so much more.
Photos: by Michele Montoya
*Click on photos to enlarge