For school districts across the state, the deadline to readopt the 2009-2010 budget is fast approaching and the state is expected to take back the 1.9 percent emergency reserve, which is just over $2.7 million for District 51. Additionally, school districts, including District 51 are seeing less students and a decrease in the anticipated revenue.

    When the Board of Education readopts this year’s budget however, there will be an additional $1.8 million less than expected when originally adopted in June.  This reduction is a result of a decrease in student enrollment of nearly 120 full time equivalent students and loss of revenue from fees the district collect from vehicle registration and license fees.  This $1.8 million reduction is in addition to the $2.3 million cut from last year’s budget before June. The Board is expected to readopt this year’s budget on November 17th.

     “School District 51 is in a much better position than many districts across the state,” said Melissa Callahan deVita, executive director of Support Services. “We’ve been doing a lot of work here to remain financially sound.”

     As the District looks to next year, however, the outlook is even more challenging.

     “Right now we are anticipating the State cutting K-12 education by $160 million and our portion is expected to be $3.6 million,” said Callahan deVita.  “In addition to this reduction, we are also expecting to see increases in the salary schedule and educational increments, greater PERA employer contributions, and Federal Stimulus expenditures. In all District 51 is anticipating a reduction of $8.3 million in the 2010/2011 general fund budget.”

     This equates to about 5.5 percent of this year’s general fund budget of $156 million. Currently 82 percent of the budget is spent on salaries and benefits and 18 percent on non-employee costs, such as utilities, transportation, text books and building maintenance.

     “To expect the cuts to be made just to the non-salary expenditures would severely impact our ability to maintain and support the operations of our schools. So we are anticipating that salaries and people will be impacted,” added Callahan deVita.  “The question remains ‘how do we impact people?’. Our goal is to see the burden shared by many and not just a few.”

     The hope is to reduce costs without layoffs, but through attrition and retirements. “The District does not want to impact individuals and families.”

     No decisions have been made with respect to where the District will find the anticipated $8.3 million. The process of determining these decisions involves working closely with diverse work groups that include staff, building principals, representatives from the teacher and classified associations, in addition to administration and the Board of Education.

     “We have to know what our plans will be by December 15th , so we have six months to implement and plan for impacts to changes made in personnel or programs. We are frankly planning for the worst and hoping for the best,” added Callahan deVita.  “Protecting our instructional core and staying focused on student achievement is truly our commitment in light of these financial difficulties.”

     In November, communication about budget challenges is being shared with all District 51 schools and staff. The presentations are intended to provide factual information about the State Budget challenges and impact on District 51 as well as encouraging all staff and faculty to ask questions and participate in the process.

     The District is also planning to communicate with community groups over the next month as well.  Anyone can and is welcome to e-mail budget suggestions, concerns, or questions to budget@d51schools.org.

1. What skills will our students need to be successful in their next steps following their high school graduation?
2. What’s the one thing that stands out on a cover letter, resume, or application?
3. Name three skills employees need to be successful at any job, no matter the trade, industry, or field.  Are these skills that can be taught in a classroom or school setting?
4. How do you know a high school graduate has what it takes to succeed? What do they have that makes them ready for the next step in life?

1. What is the difference between teaching a subject and learning a subject?
2. Do you think all students can learn a subject if given the right amount of time?
3. Are you familiar with the J-curve?  Do you know how it compares to the traditional Bell Curve?
4. Do you believe the goals of No Child Left Behind are possible?  Do you think they will be reached?

Leon at his desk in the Support Services modular at 2115 Grand.

Safety Coordinator Tim Leon has been with District 51 for about a year now. In that time, he says the biggest change and improvement is that all the schools have a consistent understanding of the safety terms lock-down, shelter-in-place, reunification, and evacuation and what the procedures are for each of those concepts. “A year ago, we weren’t quite as consistent,” says Leon. (for Key Communicator reference of these terms, see other blog post)

Leon says the thing that is helping School District 51 prepare and stay prepared for emergencies is not his expertise, but having a full-time position like his dedicated to such a task.   Leon is the first Safety Coordinator for District 51. “Having a liaison to the other safety agencies in the valley, to invite them in, be a part of our procedures, and keep the line of communication open between them and us is key to our improvement in safety preparedness,” he says.

Another aspect of improvement over the past year has been increased involvement of other agencies at all levels. Just last spring, District administration held a Table Top with other top-level administrators from safety agencies around the valley, including law enforcement and local fire departments. Crisis teams, of which there is one at every school, also practice Table Top exercises four times a year and are encouraged to invite officers from law enforcement agencies to join them and help them walk through their scenarios. With guidance from Leon, who has served 26-years as a police officer in Grand Junction and Fruita, schools have a more improved understanding of how to work with law enforcement and emergency response teams during a crisis.

Leon’s goals for this year are three-fold and all include communication and education. He’s working more on communicating with and training staff on safety terms and procedures so that all staff are comfortable with responding during an emergency. He’s working on making videos and other educational tools for students and staff so they have visuals presented to them on scenarios and how to handle a crisis. 

Leon is also working with the City of Grand Junction to improve and increase communication with parents both before and during an event through a system called Everbridge. This nationally utilized software is used mostly by city governments as an extension of reverse 911 alerts. Any citizen can sign up online to receive alerts when there is a critical incident occurring near their home, school, or work.

When you sign up for Everbridge, you have the option of being alerted via home phone line, cell phone number, text message or e-mail. Everbridge should be up and available to parents and the community on October 1 and people will be able to access it and sign up off the City’s Web site. 

It is a nationwide program that is focused on law enforcement and primarily used by city governments.  It is free for School District 51 to use and parents to participate.  The only costs will be if registrants include text messaging information, in which case they may be charged for text messages by their cell phone provider.  There is also a translation mode to Everbridge, so that parents can be alerted in their home language should they prefer.  On the back-end administration side, Everbridge will also alert School District 51 officials with reports of who was notified of a certain situation, who received the calls, who responded, all within minutes of pushing the send button on our end.  For a preview of the login screen, Key Communicators can visit https://www.everbridge.net/OptIn/citizens/optin.action?party=136691

In a typical year, at least one of our schools will go into a “lock down” or “Shelter-In-Place” scenario.  Aside from that, a school could require “reunification” of students with their parents in different circumstances.  There is also the last-resort of “evacuation” of a school for different reasons. These four emergency-related terms are important to know!

Lock Downs are initiated by the School Principal, District Administration, or Law Enforcement when there is an internal or external threat to the school or building that requires all people remain in a secure classroom or protected area of the school.  Students, staff, volunteers, and other visitors are ushered into a secure room and held safely until the Lock Down is lifted and they are released physically by building administration, law enforcement or fire personnel. 

A Shelter-In-Place is used when the student population needs to be safely managed inside a locked facility and after it has been determined a full scale Lock Down is not appropriate.  A Lock Down is always initiated first in order to get students into a safe and secure classroom or location.  A Shelter-In-Place allows for students to move through a secured school when authorized while keeping students, staff and visitors safe from any threat outside the building.

The most typical uses of a Shelter-In-Place would be:

• Severe weather
• Reports of a law enforcement concern in the vicinity of the school
• Dangerous condition of the school grounds
• Outdoor air quality issues

While evacuation is the last resort, it is sometimes necessary to keep students and staff safer by removing them from the site.  During an evacuation, students and staff have specific instructions on where to go based on a predetermined evacuation plan.  Each school has one or more sites to which they can safely evacuate students. 

Reunification is a process of making sure that each child is reunited with the appropriate parent or guardian once the emergency situation has been safely stabilized, which could be during and/or after a crisis situation.  While parents’ and guardians’ natural tendency is to rush to the scene, it’s important to know and understand that each school has a reunification plan and to understand that process in case of an emergency.

During an emergency, it is critical for parents to pay attention to the established lines of communication to increase awareness of the situation and what a parent’s role is in responding.  A new tool to enhance communications will be available in October.  This tool is called Everbridge and will allow parents and community members to receive direct notifications via cell phone, text, or e-mail with information about emergency situations. Parents will initially be able to login, establish a home and school address that they want to be notified about if any situation occurs there, and then set how they would like to receive notifications (e-mail, text, cell phone, home phone calls, or all of the above).  More information about this system and how you can sign up will be coming out soon.

Keeping calm and staying informed are critical to the success of the end of any crisis and we appreciate your cooperation in advance.

It is with great joy, enthusiasm, and passion I begin as Superintendent of Mesa County Valley School District 51. It has been my honor to serve this district as a teacher, principal and central office administrator for the past 27 years. Through these years I have experienced many successes and a few failures, but never have I waivered in my fundamental belief that all students can and will learn. I am committed to this community, and I intend to work tirelessly with our Board of Education, dedicated staff, volunteers, community leaders and partners for the success of every student.

I will hold myself and others accountable to high standards, ethical behavior, and collaboration, while maintaining high visibility and personal engagement in schools and community. Although high expectations and measures of success are critically important, we must remember behind all data and test scores are the students we serve. Behind these students are the families, teachers, administrators and staff members who need meaningful support for success as well. Structure in isolation will be fruitless unless we develop and maintain a culture that celebrates diversity and emphasizes the importance of rigorous instruction, relevant curriculum and meaningful relationships. Our resources – people, time and money – must create a laser focus dedicated to raising achievement and improving growth for students and staff.  I am confident together we can realize our promise of success for every student.

As a Key Communicator you are an important part of guaranteeing this success. Thank you for your commitment to partner with District 51. You are part of an exclusive group of community members who plays a critical part to ensure our community receives clear and accurate information about District 51. Thank you again for sharing the information sent this past year with your family, friends, and associates and I trust you will continue to share this valuable information. It is important this is a two-way conversation, and I encourage you to provide us direct feedback. We also encourage you to consider others who might join this effort and help us “spread the good news” about the importance of education in the Grand Valley. Please e-mail names and recommendations to keycommunicators@mesa.k12.co.us.

Steve Schultz

Superintendent