Superintendent's Report
CSDB Board of Trustees
September 2017
Page 5
CSDB BOARD OF TRUSTEES
SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT
September 2017
REPORTS FROM STUDENT PROGRAMS
Education Departments
School for the Deaf/School for the Blind
· Students and staff have returned full of energy. They have jumped back in and are enjoying being back in the school routine.
· The Principal’s 200 Club is a new PBIS motivator for secondary students. When a PRIDE ticket is earned, students draw a number 1-200. Their name is placed on an accessible board, in the cafeteria. Once a row is filled, the students in that row will earn a mystery prize. This will hopefully form more relationships and rapport between students who are blind and students who are deaf, while motivating our secondary students in a new and exciting way.
· Students are earning CSDB PRIDE water bottles.
School for the Deaf
· Most students, in the 3rd-8th grades have the opportunity to participate in a daily math intervention class. This scheduling was set-up, in order to address on-going gaps in foundational math knowledge for students. This class is in addition to their regular math class. The intervention class focuses on individualizing instruction to address a student’s numeracy needs.
· Students, in 5th-8th grades, are participating in special Friday Clubs, during the Friday Alternative Schedule block. This provides an opportunity for students to explore areas of interest. Teachers are hosting 5 different clubs which include nature, sports, STEM, crafts/sewing and drama. Students had their first club meeting Friday, August 2. All of them were engaged and excited!
· Students, in 9-12th grades, are participating in discovery classes, during the Friday alternative schedule. Teachers are facilitating classes, which include Deaf academic bowl, cooking, coding, photo journalism and art.
School for the Blind
· A new Expanded Core Curriculum class is being offered this year. All secondary students report to their advocates, during 7th period, for Compensatory Skills. This class focuses on organization, study skills, sensory efficiency, concept development, and spatial understanding.
· Several students are taking 1-2 classes in a mainstream environment. These classes include: Anatomy and Physiology, English, Writing, Social Studies/Science, and English Language Learner Classes.
· Accessible activities were offered during the Solar Eclipse, August 21. These activities included a pinhole projector, a soundscape application on Apple devices, audio described footage, and tactile graphics. The students were impressed and very engaged in the events on and virtually off-campus.
· Upper elementary students, 3rd-5th grade, are studying models and systems during their literacy / science block. They are learning how to design their own models and create systems where parts work together to achieve an end goal.
· 3rd-12th grade students are becoming more familiar with Canvas, as teachers transition and begin posting assignments, discussion boards, and videos on their classroom web pages.
Family-Centered Early Education Program (FCEE)
· Students, in Julie Vinikoor’s morning literacy block, recently began a chapter book read-aloud. Each morning,students listen to a little bit of the story, and then they talk about what happened. They are doing great with the comprehension questions and really enjoying the book.
· Students, in Julie Vinikoor’s afternoon literacy block, started off the school year with the unit “My World”. The first week, the students got to know each other, and they each made an “All About Me Box” for homework and brought them in to share with their friends.
· Students, in the preschool program, completed a 3-week space unit, in August. The students made rockets using a variety of straw and other materials. The students then flew their rockets, measured the distance they flew, created tactile space books, and explored like an astronaut by examining rocks, thermometers, and moon sand.
Student Services
· We have 20 new students enrolled, thus far.
· Student Health Services supported 19 students with sports/Special Olympic physicals, through both the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile and our nurse practitioner.
· Nineteen Bridges to Life (BtL) students and 4 staff have successfully completed a CPR/ First Aid training and are now certified.
· The BtL students have been participating in vocational assessments and training and will be starting off-campus work.
Student Life
· Football and volleyball seasons have begun! The high school football team had it’s first game against Branson High School and lost to them in the final minutes, 26-30. The middle and high school volleyball teams played their first matches and lost to Hanover. The goalball team has begun practice, this week.
· Extra-Curricular activities began, August 28. Special Olympics bowling, crafts, and survival club are provided, for students who are blind/visually impaired. There are several clubs provided, for students who are Deaf/hard of hearing: to include Girls on the Run, sports club, Bible club, tennis, biking, intramurals, and survival club.
Outreach
· Outreach has contracted with 5 BOCES, 4 charter schools, and 7 districts to provide services for 103 students across the state.
· Registration for upcoming ASL community classes is closed as we’ve reached our maximum capacity. We’ve opened registration for ASL Immersion for Educational Professionals to be held October 14.
· The Distance Learning team has completed the FCEE video, a new Deaf Hard of Hearing Role Model video and the CSDB PR video will soon be finished.
REPORTS FROM SUPPORT SERVICES
Finance
· The FY18-19 decision item requesting salary experience step increases and a one percent (1%) one-time, non-recurring, across-the-board compensation for employees on the teacher salary scale, has been submitted to CDE who will make the submission to the Office of State Planning and Budget by October 1.
· CSDB accounting has completed all of the year-end entries for FY16-17. The State Controller’s Office is currently working on their closing entries, and the final year-end close should be completed within the next few weeks. CSDB has completed the year-end financial exhibits and submitted them to the State Controller’s Office.
· CSDB has begun receiving audit requests from the State Auditor. The requests to-date are regarding purchasing card expenditures and fixed assets. As of now, there have been no issues brought to our attention, regarding the information provided.
Personnel
· To date, a total of twenty (20) positions have been filled for the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year, to include five (5) re-assignments of current staff. Currently, there are eighteen (18) vacancies: two (2) vacancies for Non-Classified positions; sixteen (16) vacancies for Classified positions.
· New Employee Orientation occurred August 2-7, with 12 new staff (and their mentors and/or program administrators) participating. Feedback relative to New Employee Orientation has been solicited via ‘SurveyMonkey’, with a response rate = 83%. The feedback received is primarily positive, and respondents provided extensive, thoughtful feedback.
· A variety of schoolwide ‘Back-to-School’ Professional Development activities occurred August 8-11.
· CSDB Human Resources staff participated in the following:
- State Human Resources Director’s Forum, facilitated by State Personnel Director; and,
- Unemployment Insurance training, facilitated by Corporate Cost Control (the State’s 3rd party vendor for UI).
· Monthly New Employee Orientation will occur September 11-12, for new staff and substitute employees.
Facilities/Security/Technology
Facilities
· The Jones Hall project is struggling, and we continue to work with all of the contractors to complete the project.
· The Safety project has bid and will be under contract by mid-September.
· The Stone HVAC project will be under construction, September 7.
· Palmer Hall asbestos removal is underway, and we anticipate the general contractor will start the last week in October.
Technology
· Several updates were completed to the network.
Safety
· Fire and lockdown drills have been held with students and staff.
· Staff training has been provided specific to crisis response.
Public Relations
· Gazette has featured CSDB in several articles, recently.
- August 17, 2017 “Football coach Keona Maki looking forward to first season at CSDB”
- August 21, 2017 “New tools help blind students experience eclipse”
- August 25, 2017 “9 historical facts about Colorado Springs you probably didn’t know”
· Gazette video on-line featured a different angle to the story of students who are blind viewing the eclipse.
· KRDO presented a film on our students who were happy to have the eclipse accessible.
· Constant Contact, an email marketing tool, continues to be helpful for message distribution. Recently, Constant Contact was used to send out mass emails for the 2017 Fall Community ASL classes and the 2017 Deaf Resource Fair. Pikes Peak Early Years and Denver Metro Early Years also were featured emails, as was the Deaf + Autism workshop, the ASL Immersion for Professionals training and the VIIB 101 event. This is an effective way to meet our business communication goals.
IMPORTANT DATES
September 15 Professional Development
October 12 Board of Trustees Meeting
STUDENT SERVICES
As of September 5, 2017
Total Number of Students Currently Served Statewide / 660Total Number of Students Served on Campus since August 2017 / 196
Current Campus 3-21 Enrollment / 196
School for the Deaf / School for the Blind
FCEE / 17 / 12
3rd – 8th Grade / 43 / 27
High School / 44 / 21
Bridges to Life / 19 / 10
Dually Enrolled Students / 2 / 1
TOTAL / 125 / 71
Day Students / 116
Residential Students / 80
Parent Option / 7
District Option / 189
Teacher: Student Ratio / 1:5
CHIP (Deaf) / 328
CHIP (Deafblind) / 15
Blind: Birth – 3 / 18
Direct Outreach / 103
ELDI Programs / 111