Tag Archives: curriculum

Update on Curriculum Review

With Tina Cassens leaving the district, it raised the question of, who will be reviewing the curriculum as dictated by our board to make it comply with the American Birthright Standards?

The answer is Lis Richards, who is charging us $4700 for this work. You can read the description of the work to be done in this proposal (note, only phase one has been authorized at this point). Or read the highlights here:

Attend an introductory and organizational meeting at the district in regard to
the curriculum alignment to the American Birthright Standards.
• K-6 Review – Evaluate the vertical alignment of curriculum to the American
Birthright Standards, their relation to the Colorado Academic Standards thus
assisting the District in demonstrating that they are following the prescribed
educational program approved and are meeting or exceeding state standards.
• 7-12 Review – Evaluate the vertical alignment of curriculum to the American
Birthright Standards (ABS), their relation to the Colorado Academic Standards
thus assisting the District in demonstrating that they are following the
prescribed educational program approved and are meeting or exceeding state
standards.
• Provide a report to the Superintendent which would include:

• Grade level report on social studies curriculum providing a matrix of
completion toward vertical alignment and any lacking content (Some content
may be covered in different grade levels and this may be noted.)
• Recommendations to the Leadership provided in writing.

This work is being done through Lis’ consulting company, Helping Schools Thrive.

But wait, there’s more!

Lis Richard is also the president of the board for ERBOCES, the company for which our interim Superintendent Ken Witt works for as Executive Director.

District statement on NCAA class eligibility

A parent in the district recently noticed that because of the district’s adoption of the American Birthright standards, some classes at the high school no longer met NCAA eligibility requirements. The district’s response is below, in an email sent to parents today. In summary, they’ll be submitting the new class info for review this summer, and also note the timeline for that review is uncertain. It doesn’t sound like parents will get an answer in time to decide whether to enroll their student here or elsewhere for this next school year, though it’s expected there will be online classes offered that would meet NCAA requirements.

Yet another example of the avoidable chaos that this school board and interim superintendent seem to embrace.

2/5/23 Weekly Update

Here’s what happened this past week

  • Third Future Schools submitted a letter stating their intent to apply to open a “partnership charter school” using the Gateway Elementary building. (link1, link2)
  • On Monday, the WPEA (local teachers’ union) held a meeting open to all teachers. A video of this meeting was obtained and promised to be leaked online. (link)
  • More news coverage of the district’s decision to remove the book “Between the World and Me” from the high school elective class “Civil Disobedience”. (link)
  • Colorado Public Radio published an in-depth article about high school teacher Sara Lee. (link)
  • MSNBC covered David Illingworth’s board interview question about the book, “Between the World and Me”, then interviewed its author, Ta-Nehisi Coates. (link)
  • Ken Witt sent an email to staff and parents saying that Third Future Schools has decided not to submit an application after all. (link)

Here’s what’s going on this coming week

  • Regular school board meeting Wednesday, 2/8, in the district offices. (agenda)
  • Look for our district to appear in multiple new media channels this week; we’ll post here when that happens.