School Board Update 11.15.24 - Britton Fletchall

I would like to say, “thank you” to the Cactus Valley Elementary administration and staff for hosting our November 13 board meeting.  It is always appreciated to be a part of Shine the Light, meeting everyone and sharing awesome food.  When I first visited CVE three years ago we were preparing for a major renovation project to fix the floor slabs, and the school was beginning its Grow To Green campaign. 

Over the last three years, $5.6 million in school improvements have been made, including a BEST grant,  and CVE is now working on Blooming to Blue to reach the highest Colorado Accreditation benchmark.

If you have been following along with our Strategic Plan, measuring a successful student has many factors.  For Garfield Re-2, our top focus area is Academic Success. At every Board meeting this year, schools have been asked to report on their status.  At our elementary schools, we learn about CMAS (Colorado Measures of Academic Success) scores in both Math and English Language Arts.  I am proud to say on 5 of 6 tests, CVE saw improvements in their school performance !!! “As they Grow through Green,” I am confident that the trend will continue, and we will see them closing the gap in our academic growth goal outlined in our Strategic Plan.  

To me, the students of CVE knew they could do better. The staff made the students aware of their scores, and that motivated them, not the opposite.

Other areas of success include student attendance at 96%; every position is filled, and a staff retention rate of 90% plus.   I am proud of their accomplishments, but we still have more ground to cover.  You are growing in the right direction.

As we think of the success of schools like CVE, our guiding light is our Strategic Plan.  That vision and focus can be attributed to our superintendent, Heather Grumley; without it, I am not sure we would have seen that level of improvement. I cannot thank her enough for that and her 32 years of service to this district.  I am happy to say we have her as our leader until the end of the school year.  As much as I would have liked to find a way for her to stay, the reality is we have to start looking for our next Superintendent now.  

They say the most important thing a school board can do is hire the next district leader, and I believe them. As we start this process, everyone will be involved: Staff, students, community members, and parents.  Garfield Re-2 is a special place, and it will take a special talent to lead it into the future.  I believe the next leader is stepping into an amazing opportunity.  We have a strong district office, so much talent in each of our buildings, and a community that is connected and involved.  We heard from three organizations that could help in that search.  The board will review those proposals, and then we will use multiple data collection tools, community meetings, and interviews to find that person.   As we move through this process, we will ask for your participation and input.

With us now being in year two of the Strategic Plan, it is time for updates. It is now live on the district website and ready for your review.  We spent some time with district leaders as they reviewed their strategic focus areas.   We talked more about career pathways, improving our staff experience, family engagement, and our amazing attendance success.  The Strategic Plan has unified our district and we are seeing positive results from that.

Over the past few months, our schools have had lockdowns, swatting events, threats, fire alarm scares and break-ins.  I am sure all of us are thinking, “What in the world is going on?”  

Know that we have built strong relationships with our law enforcement agencies.  As much as we want to get information out to you as fast as possible, we work with them to be sure it is the right time for that information to go out.  We are always looking for ways to improve that partnership so you can be confident we are doing all we can to keep you informed.  The last thing we want to do is give out information that is sensitive or incorrect.  Please do not think that every time there is an incident one of our students is involved.  Some of these threats are coming from outside our district or even the state.  But sometimes it has been a student.  Take the time today to talk to the kids in your life.  The police do not take these threats as jokes, and neither does the district. 

There are so many good things are students are doing inside our schools, on our athletic fields, and in our communities to be extremely excited for the future.  We will have challenges along the way but staying true to our mission and our belief in the Strategic Plan will guide us through.  

I believe in Garfield Re-2 and the work that is being done here.  As always there are opportunities to be involved.  We are always looking for volunteers, referees, parent engagement, and ways to support parents and staff. 

Once again, thank you to Cactus Valley and everyone who makes each day happen.  You are all appreciated.