You know it's going to be a great day when these friendly faces greet you! #VikingWelcomeWagon
February 23, 2025
Focus on Our Fabulous Students
Viking students—past and present—have been shining all over the state this past week! From academic competitions like Knowledge Bowl and Mock Trial to middle school athletics, our Vikings continue to showcase their problem-solving skills, hard work, effective communication skills, strength, and empowerment!
We had four high school students who competed in the 2025 Mock Trial Competition: Noah Swanson, MJ Varos, Ahyari Fimres, and Elijah Swanson. Our students performed well, and out of 48 attorneys, Ahyari was selected as an outstanding attorney, and out of 48 witnesses, MJ was selected as an exceptional witness. Great job, Vikings!
The middle school wrestling season started and our athletes competed in Alamosa on Friday and Gunnison on Saturday. Several of our middle school grapplers, including Elijah and Oceana Garcia, performed well and made it to the podium!
At the national level, we are incredibly proud to celebrate Aucencio Martinez, who was recently named to the Class of 2025 USTFCCCA NCAA DII Athlete Hall of Fame. Aucencio, a former Viking who ran for Coach Schoenfelder at CHS, went on to compete at Adams State University, where he dominated the 1500-meter and mile events at the NCAA Championships. From 2004-2007, he was a three-time All-American, a back-to-back NCAA mile champion, and an anchor for the 2006 DMR championship team.
We are so proud of all our Vikings continuing to shine after high school, college, and beyond! Congratulations Aucencio!
Focus on Our Fabulous Staff
One of our staff members has also had an accomplishment worth bragging about. Congratulations to Pauline Olivas, who successfully passed the challenging ServSafe examination and received her certificate. ServSafe is a food and beverage safety training and certificate program required for food services program through CDE and the USDA. The training helps ensure our food services department does its part to prevent foodborne illnesses based on set guidelines to improve safety and hygiene in food preparation.
Board member Miguel Rios represented our district at the State Capitol earlier this month. Miguel had the chance to meet with other Board members across the state and discuss educational issues with legislators.
District Ownership Plan at Work
On Wednesday, the DOT had its monthly meeting. We reviewed all of the feedback and data from the mid-year survey. We will be spending time on how we can best use the information to continue to move the district in a positive direction.
Priority #1- Curriculum and Instruction: CCSD staff lead rigorous, engaging, collaborative learning experiences in every classroom aligned with CCSD Instructional Expectations.
We’ve had some fantastic PD throughout the year. The mid-year survey feedback shows an overall PD rating of 3.89. It was great having our staff share their expertise to support learning for all students. Friday will be our last PD day of the year. This day will be devoted to staff appreciation and wellness.
Our ELD team completed another round of ACCESS testing for our students a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to Anna, Amanda, and Alex for their hard work in making that happen. Thanks, too, to all the staff who helped during that time. (I’m still working on getting everybody’s picture on the team..so I made Anna do multiple poses alone- the rest of the A-team... I'm heading your way!)
The last week that sweeps were done, we had 100% in the elementary, 90% in the middle, and 100% in the high school. Let’s keep aiming for 100% district-wide! That is our expectation.
As of last week, the administration had conducted a total of 210 observations this school year. This is a part of the culture in our district. Getting into classrooms to support instructional staff and ensure that we are working together to provide our students with high-quality instruction daily is embedded in our core beliefs.
Observation Feedback Totals:
Priority #2 Post-Secondary and Workforce Readiness (PWR): CCSD seeks to develop hard-working learners who are contributors, problem solvers, effective communicators, future-ready, and empowered with the skills necessary to meet and handle the challenges they will face in today’s world.
Survey Feedback Summary for PWR:
Priority #3- Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS): CCSD will maintain high student learning and behavior expectations. Structures are in place to support the academic and behavioral needs of all students.
Survey feedback for MTSS:
Priority #4- Recruitment and Retention:
CCSD is committed to attracting the best and brightest to teach our students. Our goal is to recruit, train, and retain highly qualified teachers. Effective educators are the single most important school-based factor in determining student success.
Survey Feedback for R & R:
The R&R team has worked hard to prepare for this coming week’s staff appreciation! The Mardi Gras fun kicks off on Monday with special treats each day!
Fast Forward
Per usual, there are a lot of activities going on this week. We are excited to see how the seeding for district basketball turned out. We will be announcing district play as soon as schedules are released. Projected rankings from Mile High Prep as of February 21st had our Viking Boys ranked at 25th and our Lady Vikings ranked 11th. Let’s go, Vikings! Let’s finish the season strong!
Calendar Dates
Monday, February 24th- Wear Purple and get your Mardi Gras Swag in the library! Happy Staff Appreciation Week! 1st day of Track and Field practice, Meeting with ASU
Tuesday, February 25th—Wear Gold, Drift Away Coffee Truck will be providing free drinks for staff starting at 7:30 am, First round of district play- Lady Vikings @ Home- 6:00 pm, CHS Boys @ Sangre @ 6:30 pm
Wednesday, February 26th- Wear Green, Fried Pies will be delivered, Massages available, Rural Alliance Advocacy, Opportunity Coalition, SLV Superintendent PLC with CDE
Thursday, February 27th- Wear Mardi Gras Colors- Purple, Gold, or Green- or all three! Frosty Acres Rolled Ice Cream Truck will be here, massages and facials available, ICAP/PLC- Early Release for Students; Weekly OAC Meeting with Spencer and Alcon; District Basketball- Lady Vikings @ Home, CHS Boys @ Sierra Grande
Friday, February 28th- Wear all your Mardi Gras Swag, Staff Appreciation- no students- enjoy the pampering, fun, games, and relaxation; SMS Wrestling @ Sierra Grande
Saturday, March 1st- SMS Wrestling @ Pagosa
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