Greetings Thunderhawks!

 

I hope this finds everyone enjoying the summer break! My sincere thanks to our students, community, school and district staff, and the Brighton Police Department for making our 2010 Graduation Ceremony a wonderful evening for all! It was a lot more enjoyable without the rain! Students, if you dare to look at the calendar, you will see that summer is already half over and you will be returning in about six weeks! 

 

 

In our second year as a high school only, we again had much to celebrate. We began the year celebrating our CSAP results from 2009 with several staff members shaving their heads at our back-to-school assembly, making good on a promise to do so if our students improved their proficiency in every CSAP exam and the ACT. Prairie View High School students were the only students in District 27J to improve proficiency in every CSAP exam tested in 2009! We have increased the ante for 2010. If our students again increase their proficiency levels on all CSAP exams, I and other staff members, have promised to shave our heads AND our beards. For added fun, if our students’ proficiency levels on CSAP exceed those of BHS students in all CSAP exams in 2010, I and other staff members have promised something more “permanent.” Ask your student if they remember what that is. I suspect they do! 

 

In 2008, BHS out performed us in all seven CSAP exams. In 2009, we closed the gap by scoring equal to or greater than BHS in 3 out of 7 exams. I am excited to receive our results in August and am hopeful to make good on all the above promises! Frankly, I am less concerned about the “permanent” promise than I am about having to shave my head and beard. Can you say Uncle Fester? For more information regarding our school’s academic performance and the Colorado Growth Model visit Schoolview at http://www.schoolview.org/ .

 

In January, the Colorado Department of Education released graduation rates for 2009.  We again had cause to celebrate as PVHS had the highest graduation rate of any comprehensive high school in Adams County at 88.8%! Our graduation rate was higher than other Adams County high schools such as Legacy, Horizon, Mountain Range, and Brighton.  For more information regarding 2009 graduation rates visit http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdereval/rv2009GradLinks.htm.

 

Our second graduating class, the Class of 2010, set high expectations in terms of achievement by earning over $1.2 million in academic, athletic, and performance scholarships including our first ever Daniel’s Fund Scholar. As a staff, we focused our staff development on continued improvement upon teaching and learning through the use of the 27J Instructional Model and the Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning as well as work with Stan Perea on Customer Care.

 

Additional sources of pride during the 2009-2010 school year included our very first Homecoming, a continuation of our Give Thanks for the Troops donations, our second year designated as a “No Place for Hate” school, and our “Day of Respect,” which was a tremendous success. Our music programs shined. Once again, the Madrigal Feast was a tremendous success with Superintendent, Dr. Rod Blunck and Spanish teacher, Sarah Korb serving as King and Queen. Our bands continued to grow and make PVHS proud! My personal favorite from our theatre department this year was “The Wizard of Oz.” We also had two students qualify for Nationals in Theatre this year!  Our sports teams were victorious over Brighton High School this year in volleyball, boys basketball (twice), girls soccer, and baseball. We continued to improve and were competitive in every contest.

 

Like all public school districts in Colorado, District 27J has been forced to implement cost containment measures and budget cuts for the 2010-2011 school year. The budget reduction in District 27J totaled $6.9 million for the coming school year. This will impact PVHS this fall in a couple of ways. First and foremost, athletic participation fees will be reinstated at the middle and high schools and academic course fees have been established at the high schools. Information on athletic participation and academic course fees is available on the District 27J website at http://www.sd27j.org/ .

 

The second budgetary impact upon PVHS is in the number of staff and staff changes. An increase in the staffing allocation formula from 20.5 to 1 to 24 to 1 for the high schools will result in a reduction of six staff members at PVHS despite our student enrollment increasing from 1,410 as we ended the year in May to a current anticipated enrollment of 1,565 when we return in August. We will also welcome several senior staff members from other schools in the district due to staff reductions in other buildings. Our custodial staff has been reduced from eleven members to eight. Finally, we have essentially reduced our administrative staff by one as Rich Affleck will be serving as District Athletic Director and will oversee athletics at both PVHS and BHS for the coming year. Mr. Affleck will not be performing any assistant principal duties, i.e., teacher observation and evaluation, student discipline, etc., at either building.

 

 

Despite what I honestly believe to be unprecedented economic times for public education, at least during my eighteen year career, our promise as a staff at PVHS is to continue to provide our students the best education and experience possible. We are blessed by exceptional students, staff, and community members and I look forward to building upon our past successes as we soar to even greater heights!

 

 

We are anxious to welcome everyone back! Enclosed, please find information on student check-in dates and times as well as the other important information for 2010-2011 school year. As with last year, information and check-in materials are available online at http://pvhs.sd27j.org/ or will be available during student check-in. 

 

We are looking forward to seeing freshmen on Thursday, August 12^th and all students on August 13^th! I’m looking forward to an even more exceptional year as we work to make Prairie View High School the absolute best it can be!

 

 

Dare to Soar!

 

 

Chris Fiedler, Ed.D.

cfiedler@sd27j.org