Our Students are being Shortchanged in their Education

Everyone knows that the education that our children receive has a direct impact on their future. The education they receive will determine the types of jobs available to them, the amount of money they will earn, and the stability of their lives.  Individuals with a high school diploma make less money than college educated individuals.  People with PHD’s make more than those with Bachelor degrees.  We all know these facts.

the committee wanted to discover where our students ranked in comparison to the rest of the state so they asked for the district’s help in looking at the CSAP scores.  Instead of helping, they received a district letter stating that the district didn’t have the data, and referring the committee to the Department of Education Website, and suggesting that they were on their own. 

The data on the education our children are receiving is troubling.  In Math the situation is bleak.   92% of the state’s 10^th graders score higher in Math than our 10^th graders.  89% of the 9^th graders score higher than the Ellicott Students, 82% of the 8^th grade students and 84% of the 7^th grade students score higher in Math than our students.

Our reading scores show that 84% of the state’s 3^rd grade students score higher than our students. 78% of the state’s 6^th graders score higher than our students.

Our writing scores are not good either, as 79% of the state’s 4^th graders score higher than our students. And 74% of the state’s 9^th graders score higher than our 9^th grade students.

There is no doubt that the Ellicott district has a problem.  The problem is directly related to the curriculum.  The problem is not a teaching problem.   As soon as the committee makes that statement, someone will want to jump up and say something like “you cannot make statements like that based on just one year’s data.  OK, so here are our 5 year average scores.

In the education system, the community has 12 years or so to prepare our children for adulthood. It appears that as a community, we are severely handicapping our students, by giving them we are giving our children skills and abilities that give them a severe handicap in getting good jobs and pay as adults.

There are solutions, but there is no record that the board or the district administration has even discussed them.  For example, there is the 20 minute lesson plan program that takes the well documented attention span of young adults, and then has lessons plans that focus on using that attention span.  There are team teaching solutions that have proven an increase in test scores of between 40 and 60%.  Almost all the schools in Colorado who have high 80+ CSAP scores year after year use solutions such as team teaching and attention span lesson plans.  However, there is no evidence that the superintendent has ever explained these solutions, or that the board has ever asked about solutions to the problem.  Why not?

There is no reason why our students should not be scoring 85% and better on CSAP tests.  Our teachers have the skills and abilities to teach the subject matter.  Our students have the ability and skills to learn the subjects.  All it takes is the school board commitment to getting the job done.  All it takes is the boards direction and guidance.   The board should mandate that our students will not remain in the bottom 1/3 of the state in receiving an education.  When will the board direct the superintendent to make the necessary improvements?  Or will the board surrender the students to a life of “what could have been”.

Think back to when each member ran for the school board.  Each one said that they had some changes that they wanted to make to improve the education of our students.  Can any board member name one thing that they have accomplished in the time they have been on the board that actually improves the education of our students?

Ellicott Educational Improvement or 12 Months of Effort

Two board members have been on this board for three years and their term will expire in about 11 months. Two board members have been on the board for 1 year. One board member has been on and off the board so many times it seems like a yo-yo.

Review of all the minutes for the last 12 months shows what has been accomplished.   Each of board member has expressed their desire to improve the education of the district students.  However, it seems like the board has lost its way, or that they are being held back from doing what you want to accomplish.  Here is what the record shows:

In the last 12 months, the board has approved 29 policy changes as recommended by the Colorado School Board Association.

The board has approved spending $6,596,832.32. and approved 5 other budget actions.

The board removed 17 staff members and hired 25 staff members.

The board approived 12 meeting minutes and approved 6 grant applications. 

The board approved attendance of 1 outside meeting, and approved 3 handbook actions.

The board approved 1 refinance action and approved 1 calendar action. 

The board approved 5 teacher evaluation actions

The board approved 4 contracts.

The board approved the 4 day work week and approved 5 committee appointment actions.

The board approved 3 signature authorizations. 

The board renewed the Superintendents staff, and principal’s employment, then approved the teacher salary freezes.

The board approved 5 signature change actions and approved 1 audit report, and oh yes, the board went into executive meetings 9 times.

That is all the board has accomplished in the last 12 months.  Where are there any educational improvements that each of the board members wanted to make? Where are the new classes, or the discussion on improving CSAP?   Where are the teacher retention fixes. The new district goals or even the superintendent’s goals?   Where is the board discussion on getting a MOLD evaluation?  

There is only one goal to keep in mind, and that is "Do what is best for the students"      

Will any of you take responsibility for your lack of action?  Will you continue to sit here and pretend you are helping students become well educated adults?

It’s all about the students and not pretentious egos.

CSAP scores are a problem we need to fix

The committee asked the District 22 offices to provide some information on last years CSAP scores.  The district responded with "we don't have that information".  That bothered several members on the Excellent Ellicott Schools committee.  So they went to the Colorado Department of Education web site and gathered the data themselves.  The data collected shows we have a real problem with the district's CSAP scores.  This is what the committee found out:

84% of all 3rd graders who took the 2010 Reading CSAP scored better than the Ellicott 3rd graders.

82% of all 3rd graders who took the 2010 Writing CSAP scored better than the Ellicott 3rd graders.

92% of all 10th graders who took the 2010 Math CSAP scored better than the Ellicott 10th graders.

67% of all 10th graders who took the 2010 Science CSAP scored better than the Ellicott 10th graders.

In almost every grade those who took the 2010 CSAP tests for reading, writing, math and science, scored between 60 and 80% better than our Ellicott students.

The committee members then went back to 2009, then 2008, then 2007 CSAP scores, and found that the data was consistent across all the years.  Almost every grade, and in almost every test, the students in the state score between 60 and 80% better than our Ellicott students.

Our teachers are not worse than other teachers in the state.  Our students are not less smart than other students in the state.  The problem is the way we teach the core subjects.  We need a better teaching curriculum.  We need to find better ways to help the student learn .

The committee will now begin finding better methods, and a better curriculum and present that to the school board.

To join the Excellent Ellicott Schools committee call 719-683-2520 or email excellentellicottschools@hotmail.com


2007 to 2010 CSAP Score Comparison
Percent of all students scoring higher than Ellicott Students

Source = Colorado Department of Education

Reading	2007	2008	2009	2010
Grade 3	74.4%	65.4%	45.8%	84.5%
Grade 4	74.7%	71.1%	62.1%	61.7%
Grade 5	82.8%	77.6%	84.3%	56.3%
Grade 6	59.5%	79.2%	68.7%	78.7%
Grade 7	81.9%	80.5%	79.6%	68.3%
Grade 8	78.9%	75.1%	67.1%	69.9%
Grade 9	66.1%	70.8%	60.5%	56.3%
Grade 10	81.0%	68.3%	52.4%	40.7%
Writing	2007	2008	2009	2010
Grade 3	68.4%	70.9%	68.8%	82.4%
Grade 4	75.3%	75.0%	55.8%	79.0%
Grade 5	91.9%	75.5%	87.7%	40.4%
Grade 6	53.2%	70.6%	71.2%	64.3%
Grade 7	67.0%	68.4%	75.1%	64.4%
Grade 8	77.7%	78.4%	71.2%	72.8%
Grade 9	71.5%	73.5%	71.3%	74.4%
Grade 10	86.6%	82.0%	76.5%	72.8%
Math	2007	2008	2009	2010
Grade 3	62.5%	43.6%	53.7%	64.7%
Grade 4	51.6%	50.5%	25.8%	36.1%
Grade 5	59.6%	69.3%	84.9%	38.8%
Grade 6	65.8%	70.6%	73.0%	46.9%
Grade 7	79.3%	82.3%	75.1%	84.9%
Grade 8	88.5%	87.7%	73.9%	82.1%
Grade 9	93.3%	90.3%	91.4%	89.2%
Grade 10	95.7%	94.2%	92.3%	92.4%
Science	2007	2008	2009	2010
Grade 5	n/a	72.2%	77.3%	48.2%
Grade 8	n/a	69.4%	48.4%	51.7%
Grade 10	n/a	58.3%	40.8%	67.8%
25% or less scoring higher
26 - 50% scoring higher
51-70% scoring higher
More than 71% scoring higher

No salary increase - no new school, no recall

The recall effort was dealt a fatal blow when the county clerk ruled that the 400 plus registered voters in district 22 who signed the recall petition were mislead.  I'm sure that the voters were not happy to learn that they were so stupid as to not be able to determine what was true or not.  But that is the way the law is written, so lets move on.

To the teachers in District 22, the failed recall means that you will not be getting any salary increases because the same policies and same school board is in place.  But the Committee for Excellent Ellicott Schools will not stop trying to get you the salaries you deserve.   

To the voters of District 22, the failed recall does not mean we should stop trying to make the Ellicott Schools the symbol of Excellence in El Paso County.   The committee believes that the current school board is one of the major problems in improving the schools.  They talk about caring for the education of the students, but haven't done anything to improve the schools or the education of the students.

There will be no salary increase for the staff - there will be no new middle school and there will be no recall of a school board so we can get new ideas and new methods to provide the students the best education possible.

However, next November, there will be another chance to begin the process of making District 22 the best district in the state - a place where parents and students can say with pride "I graduated from the Elliott High School".

Afraid of the Future

Why is the District 22 School Board and Superintendent so Afraid of the future?

The current District 22 school board and Superintendent are afraid of the future.  They are afraid of things that MIGHT happen.

The current District 22 school board is sitting on a large cash reserve fund – almost $5 million dollars, but don’t know what to do with it. They point with fear to something that might happen in 2012 with property values as a reason to do nothing now.  They point to possible school funding cutbacks as a reason to do nothing now.

By doing nothing now – they have passed on building a new middle school, which would have required less than ½ of the current reserves.

By doing nothing, they have decided not to pay off current school debt and wait 6 more years to pay off the current Certificate of Participation (a $244,000 dollars per year expense).

The District 22 middle school may have MOLD – but the school board and superintendent have not had the building tested – they are afraid they might find a problem.  The problem is 9 years old, and it was only after months of public demand, that they finally did something  – They chose to LIE about getting an assessment – when caught in the lie, they decided to actually have a test done – maybe - if they can agree on a date in the future.

The current District 22 school board is afraid of the future – so they froze teachers’ salaries – and even after having a large cash reserve hasn’t restored the salaries.

The District 22 school board and the superintendent are afraid of the future.  How do I know this?  They have told me so.  Their fear of the future makes it them so scared, that they are unable to make good decisions.  They are afraid that spending the reserves will give them a BAD financial report – so they keep hording money afraid of spending it.

The District 22 school board and the superintendent are afraid that the state might reduce school funding next year and they don’t know what to do. Spending the reserves, might give them a bad financial report – and if they do spend the reserves, they won’t have any money to spend.   Apparently they did not hear the Governor make a statement a couple of weeks ago, that school funding for next year would be about the same as last year – no major reductions

The District 22 school board and the superintendent are so afraid of the future, that when an opportunity to get a brand new middle school, with the state paying for 87% of the total cost, if the district would pay the remaining 13% (about $1,300,000) of the 4.8 million dollars in reserve, they decided not to participate.  Apparently no one told them that spending 1.3 million to get a 10 million dollar school was a great deal.

The District 22 school board and the superintendent are afraid of the future.  When the opportunity to pay off the “Certificate of Participation” and save the annual payment of $244,000 per year for the next six years was available, they chose to re-finance the loan, and save a total of only $140,000 in six years.  Apparently they did not realize that paying off our debts, would mean no possible foreclosure as we would own the buildings and be debt free.

The District 22 school board and the superintendent are afraid of the future.  Apparently they just don’t understand that being afraid is no reason to not make good decisions now. We can get out of debt, and get a new middle school, but we need to quit being afraid of what the future might hold.

What do we do with the money?

What do you do with the Money?

How bad do we need a new middle school?

 Here is the reason for the question.  There is a strong possibility that there is MOLD inside the ceiling and walls of the current middle school.  No assessment has been done to determine if MOLD is a problem or not.

The middle school is the oldest school in the district, and has lots of issues such as classroom sizes, lighting, safety, and general layout.

The estimated cost of a new middle school is between 10 and 18 million dollars.  The exact price depends on what “bells and whistles” are added to the base design.

The state offered a possible BEST grant to pay for 87% of the price of a new school, if the district would pay 13% of the cost.  The District decided not to use any of the $4.8 million dollars in reserve to cover the cost of the new school.  The state said that if the district would not participate, then the grant would go to some other district – and it did.

We might be able to get another grant offer, but we will need to agree to pay the 13% cost of construction rate. We currently have reserve funds in the amount of $4,810,333 dollars, and depending upon the final cost of a new school, the 13% will be between $1,300,000 and $2,340,000.

How bad do we want to pay off our current school district debts?

The district has two types of long term debts.  First there are 2 “bond” debts, where the district has borrowed two large amounts of money to build and repair the middle school and elementary school, the district also has a “certificate of participation” loan.  One bond has a remaining balance of about $91,000 dollars, and is scheduled to be paid off in 2012.  The second bond is in the amount of about $3,140,000 and has over 20 years remaining.  The “certificate of participation” has a balance of about $1,135,000 and will not be paid off for 6 years.  The payment for the two bonds is about $400,000 per year. The payment for the “certificate of participation” is about $244,000 per year.  There is a “bond reduction account” with about $2,135,000 in it and other reserve accounts, that total about $2,675,000.  We have sufficient funds to pay off all the debt, and still have a small reserve balance of about $445,000. Payoff of the debt will result in about $665,000 per year savings, although almost $400,000 of that would be in the form of lower property taxes.

How bad to we want to pay teachers and get new equipment?

At the beginning of this school year, the district froze all teachers’ pay because funding may have been a problem. 

To do a better job in teaching, many teachers want additional new equipment and teacher’s aids in the classroom.  The current estimate for the additional equipment and aids and to restore the teacher’s salaries is about $1,150,000. 

We have the reserve funds to cover the cost, but if we use the funds for new equipment and aids, then there will only be sufficient funds to either pay off all the debt, or to build a new middle school, not both.

Or we could do nothing and wait

What choice would you make?

Well it could be worse - I guess

According to a national school rating service - great schools.org, our believe that the Ellicott schools needed a lot of improvement in our CSAP scores has been validated.  This national organization rates the Ellicott District at 4 out of 10.  Miami Yoder is rated at 5, Calhan, and Falcon at 7's and Peyton at 8. The district administration say we are growing - but this national school rating services says we are failing. Check out the site:  http://www.greatschools.org/colorado/ellicott-school-district-22/

Oh, and for the record, channel 13 news just reported, that the Governor has announced his plan for next years school funding program - bottom line - what you got for the 2009/2010 school year is what you will get for the 2010/2011 school year.