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Apple Awards finalists profiled
The 19 Apple Awards finalists will represent more than 3,400 teachers in Douglas County School District at the upcoming 2010 Apple Awards celebration. In the weeks leading up to the Apple Awards, Newsline will profile the 19 finalists. Ed Anderson has taught Social Studies for grades 9 to 12 at Chaparral High School for the past 10 years. Anderson earned his B.A. in History from the University of Northern Colorado and anticipates completing a M.A. in Political Science from the University of Colorado-Denver next fall. Anderson considers making a positive connection with his students his greatest contribution to education. He says that making “[a] lasting, positive impact” and finding evidence that he “truly did make a difference” are the greatest rewards of his career. This is the third consecutive year he has been nominated for the Apple Award. Kelly Bruetsch teaches all subject areas for fifth graders at Heritage Elementary. She has a B.A. in Elementary Education from Knox College in Galesburg, IL as well as a Masters degree in English Literature from the University of Colorado-Denver. Bruetsch has been teaching in the Douglas County School District for the past 10 years. In her time teaching in Douglas County, she has learned that one of her strengths is her ability to “advocate for students' educational needs and communicate that information effectively to parents.” Bruetsch writes, “By effectively advocating for my students and focusing on their particular needs, I help them become more successful learners and more confident in their abilities.” Mary Ann Burns teaches fifth grade Reading, Vocabulary, Social Studies, and Science at Legacy Point Elementary. Burns has both a B.A. in Elementary Education from Wichita State University in Wichita, KS and a M.S. in Creative Arts and Learning from Lesley University in Boston, MA. “My greatest accomplishments as an educator are in the area of literacy,” says Burns. “Excitement for reading new material, defining new vocabulary words, and creating responses for all forms of literature is an indication of my accomplishments as a literacy educator.” Sally Collins teaches Mathematics for grades 9 to 12 at Castle View High School. She has a B.S. in Mathematics from Colorado State University and an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction in Secondary Mathematics from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Collins began teaching in the DCSD in 2007. Six years ago, she partnered with a colleague to implement a standards-based grading system for all students in their classrooms. “What we have learned in this implementation confirms what all of us in education implicitly know: the quest to provide an environment that supports all students’ learning is never achieved but is continually refined and improved through the collaborations of many talented teachers and wonderful students.” Donna Goodwin has taught English for grades 9 to 12 at Highlands Ranch High School since 2000. She has a Masters of Education in Instructional Leadership from Colorado State University. Goodwin’s teaching philosophy is based upon a strong value for each individual student and a determination to see them reach their potential. “The best way to describe my teaching is to say that I am student-centered and challenging,” Goodwin states. “I try to create a space that allows kids to be kids, while also pushing them to expand their thinking.” Ginger Hodges, an educator for over 35 years, currently teaches Art at Larkspur Elementary. Her B.S. is in Education from Texas Tech University; she also has an Elementary Education endorsement from the University of Colorado-Denver. An artist and dedicated art education supporter, Hodges incorporates art into the regular classroom at Larkspur. “I integrate art with science, literacy, and mathematics,” Hodges says. “The relationship of one subject to another should be constantly shown to students. Through this process, students will begin to draw their own conclusions about comparative relationships in their lives, thus providing a lifelong learning skill.”
21st century learning requires 21st century infrastructure By Randy Weldon, Chief Information Officer
A local parent told me recently that his son’s high school class was having so much difficulty getting and staying on the District network to study certain internet websites his teacher had to go home every night, print screen shots of the desired webpages, copy them on the school copier, and pass them out to the students so they could discuss the lesson. Every week, I hear many variations of this same theme from teachers, parents and administrators. The primary problems are our greatly underpowered and overburdened network, and the lack of adequate bandwidth connecting schools to the internet. This serious bottleneck on 21st Century Learning is unacceptable. National studies forecast bandwidth needs of about 1 Gigabit/second (i.e., 1,000 Megabits/second) per 1,000 high school students in the next few years; we deliver a small fraction of that today – one high school now has about 12 Mb/sec bandwidth total. Even in these times of financial shortages, virtually every other district in the Front Range has already solved this problem by investing in high speed, fiber-optic (broadband) Wide-Area Networks (WAN), which deliver 100 to 300 times the bandwidth to each of those schools compared to our schools. The District is listening to the complaints of parents, teachers and students. In our recent community survey, 80% of respondents were in favor of upgrading our technology infrastructure so DCSD can offer the educational opportunities students need. To alleviate this severe bandwidth shortage, the DCSD Board of Education recently approved a WAN contract award to Qwest Communications, a large employer of many of our County parents. Qwest’s bid of $17.6M over ten years (~$1.7M/year) will provide this broadband service to approximately 90 facilities spread over nearly 900 square miles, including District non-charter schools, non-school facilities, and charter schools choosing to join the network. While $1.7M/year sounds like a lot to spend during a time of budget constraints, for comparison, we currently spend over $700,000/year and growing rapidly – we estimate $10+M over the next 10 years – for our low speed, low capacity network. We are reimbursed about 39% of that amount from a Federal program called E-Rate, while most other districts receive a significantly higher percentage reimbursement. The WAN will increase our net spending for this most critical infrastructure component by about $.5M in the first year, but we will receive 100 to 300 times more bandwidth now, and more later when needed. In other words, to solve the bandwidth problem will cost less than $5,000 per site per year, or less than $500 per site per month. The District understands that it's difficult to consider spending extra money during tough economic times. But spending that money on our technology infrastructure will buy our students, teachers, and the District far greater instruction and learning opportunities than they are able to receive now, and put the District in line with almost every other district in the area. The new WAN will also save significant costs in several areas, allowing the District to: Centralize around 150 computer servers and data storage based in the schools into our central data center onto a fraction of the number of physical servers, saving around $1M, including saving the schools the cost of keeping their servers cool. Virtualize many desktop computers onto central servers, thus enabling us to use older computers longer and utilize less expensive computing devices such as “netbook” computers, etc. Allow students to bring laptops and other computing devices from home, and attach to the District network. Employ eTextBooks to replace many expensive hardcopy textbooks. Use Video Conferencing in place of spending time and fuel for principals and others to attend central or Feeder meetings. Save the costs of buses, fuel and drivers by viewing virtual tours of top local, national and international museums, businesses, laboratories, universities, medical centers, and more, right in the classroom. Centralize imaging, management, support of desktop computers. Take advantage of cheaper computing, storage, peak computing needs, etc. over the internet (with security). Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to replace need for landline phone line costs. The WAN will also allow us to take advantage of powerful 21st Century, differentiated instruction and learning opportunities. Students will be able to: Collaborate (via live video) with students in other countries and states to learn about their cultures, languages, similarities and differences. Tour (virtually via live video) the world’s greatest museums, laboratories, universities, businesses and governmental institutions. Meet and discuss (virtually, via live video) with authors, artists, government officials, adventurers and others. Interactively tour (via virtual simulations and videography) the inside of the solar system, atoms, bodies, organs and more. Connect their own SmartPhones, laptops, netbooks and other computing devices to the District WAN for numerous educational purposes in classrooms. Choose multiple learning modes according to their best learning styles, on an individual basis, progressing at their own speeds rather than the speed of the whole class. Access e-Textbooks and other unlimited, current learning resources from anywhere at any time, rather than carrying around heavy, expensive, limited and outdated hard cover books. Learn math and other subjects in new, more engaging ways using modern educational video games and other technology. Check out any type of computing device needed for projects at school or at home. Store and access their e-Portfolio of work for their entire time in our District, across school boundaries. Douglas County School District prides itself on being one of the top districts in Colorado. To continue to be the kind of district that delivers a top-notch education, we need this crucial upgrade, which will allow our schools to utilize available tools that will make each classroom a 21st century learning space. It's an investment in our District, in our students, and in the future of our entire community.

Also in the news...

6,200 Volunteer Hours Used to Support DCSD Vision and Hearing Screening

STEM High and Middle Charter School Now Enrolling Students for August 9 Open Date

Apple Awards finalists announced

Nineteen teachers representing each of the DCSD feeder areas have been named as finalists for the 2010 Apple Awards!

Representatives from DCSD, the Board of Education, Douglas County Educational Foundation (DCEF) Board of Trustees, Douglas County Federation (DCF) and the community selected the finalists from a pool of 78 teacher representatives nominated by parents, administrators and peers as stand-outs in their profession. The committee based their decisions on candidates’ credentials, instructional philosophy and personal reflections.

The Apple Award finalists are:

Dawn Lang, Buffalo Ridge Elementary, 2nd Grade, all content areas
Sally Collins, Castle View High School, 9th – 12th Grade Mathematics
Ed Anderson, Chaparral High School, 9th – 12th Grade Social Studies
Kaylynn Johnson, eDCSD, K – 3rd Grade Online Teacher, K–12th Academic Advisor
Jennifer Radford, Flagstone Elementary, 3rd – 4th Grade Intervention Resource Teacher
Angel Wolf, Fox Creek Elementary, 6th Grade, all content areas
Kelly Bruetsch, Heritage Elementary, 5th Grade, all content areas
Donna Goodwin, Highlands Ranch High School, 9th – 12th Grade English
Erin Smith, Hope Online Learning Academy, K–12th Grade, all content areas
Ginger Hodges, Larkspur Elementary, K – 6th Grade Art
Mary Ann Burns, Legacy Point Elementary, 6th Grade, all content areas
Jay Zimmerman, Legend High School , 9th Grade Biology, 10th Grade Chemistry
Kristy Lathrop, Mesa Middle School, 8th Grade Physical Science
Catherine Mumper, Mountain Vista High School, 9th –12th Grade Guidance Counselor
Linda Horn, Pine Lane Intermediate, 4th –6th Grade Building Resource Teacher
Paul Molé, Ponderosa High School, 9th –12th Grade Social Studies, Government, U.S. History
Mike Stroman, Rocky Heights Middle School, 6th – 8th Grade Instrumental Music
Amy Rahne, Stone Mountain Elementary, 6th Grade, all content areas
Erik Prouty, ThunderRidge High School, 9th –12th Grade Science, Physics, IB SL Chemstry

Finalists will be honored during the 5th Annual Apple Awards celebration at the Wells Fargo Theatre in Denver, on Saturday, March 6. The event, which is the DCEF’s marquee fundraiser, will include an awards ceremony and keynote speaker. Funds raised benefit Douglas County School District through the DCEF’s Fill the Gap program which includes grants, school supply donations and other supports. For more information, visit the website at http://schools.dcsdk12.org/dcef.

News, Information and Resources

Honor Choir concert February 9
The Douglas County Honor Choir is a group of auditioned 6th grade singers from all around the District. On Tuesday, February 9, they will perform a concert at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Rock Canyon High School.

Ethiopia Reads penny drive at Arrowwood
AWE will hold it’s second month-long fundraiser for this school year for Ethiopia Reads, a non-profit organization based in Denver. It will take place February 24 to March 24.

Founder Yohannes Gebrigeorgis has opened numerous libraries for the children in Ethiopia. In addition, he oversees donkey mobiles that bring books to the rural areas of Africa. In the past 2 years, AWE has raised over $ 5,000 for Ethiopia Reads.

For more information, contact MaryBeth Henze at marybeth.henze@dcsdk12.org.

Community Univ. seminar on paying for college
The Community University, in partnership with J. P. Morand & Company, is offering a free two-hour seminar titled, How to Pay for College Without Going Broke. This seminar will be offered at ThunderRidge High School, Thursday, February 25, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The presentation will include information about scholarships, student loans, debt management, and many other “insider” college funding secrets.

To register for this free seminar, go to the District website at www.dcsdk12.org and select the Community University link from the menu on the left.

Used book and media drive to benefit DC Oakes
Help support DC Oakes High School! There will be a used book and media sale at DC Oakes, 961 Plum Creek Blvd. in Castle Rock, on March 12-14 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Textbooks, CDs, DVDs, Old Books, Newer Books, VHS tapes, Records, Audio Cassette Books, all priced $3 or less.

DC Oakes is currently accepting donations in preparation for this sale. There is a collection box outside of the school. For large donations, please leave a message at 303.949.8451 and include the number of boxes to be picked up.

Spotlight

District schools raise funds for Haiti

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District Publications

2009-10 Student Learning Goals (2.09 MB PDF file)	DCSD at a Glance (276 KB PDF file)
2009 Mini Annual Report (3.31 MB PDF file)	Newsline Archive
2009 The ONE Report	Foundations Archive
School Annual Reports	Published Materials Archive