Gilpin County School News

Jane Yerkman

02/22/2007 - There has been a lot of discussion going on at the school district regarding student achievement and our 2007-2008 school year budget. As you may have read in a recent news release from the school, we have been discussing with our staff members the progress our students are making on the Colorado Student Assessment Program, or CSAP tests. The CSAPs are a series of standardized tests designed to measure student achievement in relationship to the Colorado Model Content Standards. All students in grades 3-10 are tested in the core subjects of Reading, Writing, and Math.  In Science, only 5th, 8th, and 10th grade students are tested.

  In an effort to improve our student achievement and ensure that our children are learning everything they need to know, internal discussions on student achievement and providing our students with additional instructional time have run the gamut. These discussions include the possibility of a five-day school week, shorter class time in our art, music, and PE programs, and exploring various types of school-year calendar options (summer school, year-round school, etc.) Please be assured that these discussions are very broad and that nothing at this time has been decided on or approved by our Board of Education. We want to make sure that we are exploring all possibilities in regard to providing our students with the necessary education they need to succeed, and provide a well-rounded education, at the same time.

  Also in the area of student achievement, we have invited members of the Colorado Department of Education, Office of Educational Services, to spend three days in our school district. The five person team will spend time in our classrooms and interview staff members, students, board members, and administrators. At the end of the three days the group will share information in the areas of curriculum, assessment, instruction, leadership, culture, and data analysis. Gilpin County Schools is the first district in the metro-area to request this type of review by the state department. They are excited about coming here to Gilpin and we look forward to their visit.

  In regard to our financial outlook, we are providing our parents and community members an opportunity to attend what we are calling Financial Discussions over the next two weeks (we will continue beyond two weeks, if there is an interest.) Starting Tuesday and Wednesday, February 20th and 21st, and continuing the following Tuesday and Thursday, February 27th and March 1st, we are conducting these discussions to inform those who are interested, on how the state funding formula works and how our school district is funded. Please call Michelle Welch, district secretary, at 303-582-3444 ext. 3130 to sign up to attend. In order to facilitate conversation and questions, we are keeping the group’s size to a maximum of eight people.

  I would like to thank Aaron Storms, editor of this newspaper, who has accepted the school district’s offer to write a weekly column. Our plan is to inform the community of school events, the business of the school district, and the various achievements of our students and staff members. We’re hoping that with this column, we can keep you, our community, informed and current with school news and activities that happen on a regular basis.

  If you would like to contact me, try me at yerkmanj@gilpin.k12.co.us or call 303-582-3444. We currently provide a weekly e-mail memo from the school that includes a student activity calendar, all sporting events, extracurricular student activities, updates on various school-based organizations, lunch menus, etc. If you would like to receive this information, please contact me using the information above.