Value Awards, Teacher Recognition Winners, & CO PTA Recap
Post date: May 20, 2018 5:23:18 PM
Values Awards
Every year teachers and staff from each school are asked to nominate members in their school for the District's Value Awards for Valuing People, Exemplary Performance, Teamwork, and Integrity. Kyffin PTA wants to congratulate the following teachers for being selected for this year's Values Awards. It's a huge honor to be selected and recognized by your colleagues! Thank you for supporting the growth and learning of our children!
John Martinez - Valuing People
Cindy Haight - Exemplary Performance
Janet Hopkins - Teamwork
Jim Havens - Integrity
Golden Schools Foundation Teacher Recognition Award Winners!
This year the GSF received about 40 nomination letters from all the Golden area schools. Kyffin by far had the most letters submitted (over half!!), as well as the most letters submitted by students! It is amazing that so many from our community took the time to honor our teachers!!
For the first time ever, two teachers from the same school won the Teacher Recognition Awards. On the last day of Teacher Appreciation Week, a surprise awards assembly was held by the GSF to celebrate Mrs. Clarke and Mrs. Pless. A video from the students from both classrooms was shared at the assembly and will eventually be on the school website. Congratulations to Mrs. Clarke and Mrs. Pless!
Last week, Mr. Havens and the GSF also visited the classrooms of the other Kyffin teachers who were nominated for this award and shared their nomination(s) letter with them. Congratulations to Ms. Agard, Mrs. Graffam, and Mrs. Morrison! The students who submitted nominations helped to put together a special video for morning announcements and it can be viewed here.
Thanks for all of your help in making the GSF Teacher Recognition program a huge success at Kyffin this year!! And, be sure to register to run in the Golden Gallop this year, as it is the biggest fundraiser for the Golden Schools Foundation and allows us to give lots of money and support to Kyffin and the other Golden area schools in the form of Enrichment Grants (Kyffin got $2,500), Teacher Excellence (Kyffin got $1,000), and Teacher Recognition (Kyffin got $2,000)!!!!
Colorado PTA Recap
Colorado PTA has been focusing on two issues during the legislative session: school funding and safety. The session ended on May 9; below is a brief recap of the good and bad news on those issues. Our focus now needs to be on getting Initiative 93 – Great Schools, Thriving Communities – on the ballot. Here is what we need you to do:
Here is the good news and bad news about the legislative session in terms of school funding:
GOOD – House Bill 1379, Public School Finance, passed the House and Senate and now heads to the Governor's desk for a signature. It provides a significant increase in the base amount of school funding, at $475 per pupil; a significant reduction of $150 million in the “negative factor” (budget stabilization factor); a significant increase in the number of “slots” for the Early Childhood At-Risk Enhancement program, which funds preschool and kindergarten; more funding for English Language Learners; and more funding for rural schools.
BAD – House Bill 1232, New School Funding Distribution Formula, was killed. This bill would have implemented Initiative 93 after its passage, using the new school finance formula that was created by nearly all the state’s school superintendents. (Should Initiative 93 pass, we will still have a chance to pass this legislation next year.)
Here is the good news and bad news in terms of school and child safety:
GOOD – SB 151, CDE Bullying Policies Research, has been signed into law. SB 272, Crisis and Suicide Prevention Training Grant Program, has been passed and is waiting for the Governor's signature. Also, the House State Affairs Committee killed several gun-related bills, one which would have repealed the requirement for a permit to carry a concealed handgun and two which would have repealed the limit on the capacity of ammunition magazines.
BAD – The Senate State Affairs Committee killed numerous bills that would have done things such as require more training to recognize child abuse, create a task force to address issues of homeless youth, prohibit “bump stocks,” and prohibit children from being forced to undergo “conversion therapy.” In addition, the Senate State Affairs has been assigned bills it will likely kill that would provide more mental health treatment for children, provide more emotional health support for foster youth, create more training to prevent child sexual abuse, and provide training for suicide prevention.