Hello everyone, and welcome to the 2024-25 school year in PCSD Re-2! Over the first month of the year, I’ve enjoyed getting to meet our students, families, and staff from across the district. I’ve spent a lot of time observing, asking questions, and digging into the many ways that make Park County so unique and so incredible as a district and community. It has been a wonderful experience for me. Now that fall is settling in here in the gorgeous mountains of Colorado, I’m starting to feel that I might be too as your new Superintendent.

I want to take a brief opportunity to share a snippet about myself as your new Superintendent. My goal in doing so is to be transparent about what makes me tick and so those who I team up with on this journey for kids understand the perspectives in which I lead from, make decisions, determine action, and collaborate with others. There are five bone-deep beliefs I've uncovered about myself and built upon over my 20+ years in education. I lead by these beliefs, which I define as follows:

1. Relationships Matter: I believe that building and fostering strong, trust-based relationships is fundamental to creating a supportive and inclusive school community. Meaningful connections among students, staff, families, and the wider community enhance collaboration and create a sense of belonging and support to drive student success.
2. Collective Accountability: I wholeheartedly believe that every member of our educational community shares the responsibility for student outcomes. By working together—students, parents, teachers, administrators, and additional community members—we create a culture of mutual support and collective commitment to excellence.
3. Lead by Our 'Why': I am dedicated to leading with purpose. Communicating the purpose behind action is essential. By clearly articulating our ‘why’, I strive to inspire our community and guide decision-making that prioritizes the well-being and growth of our students. It’s always about the kids!
4. Stewardship: I recognize the responsibility I have to our community to carry out the mission and vision of PCSD Re-2, always maintaining strong community relationships, resource management, and ethics, in order to serve current, past, and future generations effectively.
5. Empower Resiliency: I believe in the power of resilience as a vital skill for success. Cultivating resilience in students and staff is critical for navigating challenges and achieving long-term success. By fostering a growth mindset and providing support, we prepare individuals to adapt and overcome challenges so they can thrive in an ever-changing world.

These core beliefs guide my work as your district's Superintendent, and I value a collective and holistic approach to education that prioritizes community, accountability, purpose, responsibility, and resilience. I look forward to teaming up with all of you on this journey with the first and foremost goal of always putting kids first!

This newsletter will serve as a monthly Superintendent communication for our community in which I will address District-level issues, events, and other important news. I hope throughout our work together that our partnership will continue to grow.

With thanks~ Dr. J.

To begin our year in PCSD Re-2, our staff spent time reflecting on what it means to be a hero. What is the definition of a hero? What qualities make a hero? Who comes to mind when you think of a hero? Our staff defined a hero as someone who is selfless, does remarkable things for others, sacrifices for the greater good, leads by example, stands up for others and positive changes, overcomes adversity, and stands in the gap in a moment of crisis to serve others. Public servants, pastors, educators, family members, and our military came to mind as heroes amongst others. As a staff, we dug into what it looks like to be a hero in our roles, identifying the following characteristics and behaviors: responsibility, leading by example, doing what’s best for the community, putting our best foot forward, following the Golden Rule, and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable when it comes to growth. Overall, a hero is someone who consciously and actively chooses to do good, who chooses to go above and beyond, and succeeds in doing so. A hero is someone who takes the ordinary and elevates it to a whole new level. Our mission for this year is just that, taking what we have done every day and thinking about how we can take it to the next level with all our stakeholders involved. This year, we are striving to elevate the ordinary! I hope you begin to see how we are striving to do so in what we are doing with students and with building partnerships and trust with our Park County community.

The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) recently released the State assessment results from the 2023-24 school year. These assessments include the Colorado Measures of Academic Performance (CMAS) for English Language Arts, Math, and Science as well as PSAT and SATs for third grade and up across all schools (charters included) in our district. Overall, Park County Re-2 dropped in scores, but still was rated as Accredited, which in other words means we met expectations by falling in the 56.0% - 73.9% range of total points earned. Pulling out the key areas of the many factors that make up the Accredited point totals, PCSD Re-2 fell within the Approaching Expectations range in the areas of academic achievement, academic growth, and postsecondary and workforce readiness. Approaching expectations can be defined as not meeting expectations, but close to getting there, and that students may need academic support to successfully engage in further content areas. Celebrations from the data include our students meeting expectations on the CMAS-English Language Arts assessment for grades 3-5 and for 8th grade CMAS-Science. Students collectively also exceeded growth expectations on CMAS-Math for middle school and the CO PSAT/SAT- Math for high school.

For a closer look at the state, district, and school level results, you can visit the CDE 2024 CMAS Results and 2024 SAT/PSAT Data and Results pages . In the next month our team will be diving deeper into the data and developing a plan to address the identified deficits and student needs. From there, I plan to host a parent and community event in-person and streamed where I will share the results of the data in more detail as well as present our plan for improvement. Please look for more information on that in the next couple of weeks.

Our leadership team has been working diligently on developing a more comprehensive communication plan to bring more consistency, clarity, and transparency to what is happening within the district and at individual schools. We want to make sure families are up-to-speed on current initiatives and conversations. This has included attention to school-home, district-home, news media, and social media communication.

As a district and at the individual school level, our goal is to better streamline electronic communication into more comprehensive communications as opposed to sending several emails with minimal information in each. We recognize that emails can become cumbersome when so many are sent home from various entities throughout the week, so we are shifting to a focus on quality versus quantity. We have also partnered with the Park County Advocate and The Flume news outlets to increase coverage of the district for all of our schools. The Park County Advocate provides a digital platform for news while The Flume provides us a print platform. Our goal is to be able to reach as many members of our community as possible through the various news outlets. Our PCSD Re-2 Facebook page is also a great source for information and our LinkedIn page will soon be up and running to support with staff recruitment, marketing, and student enrollment. We hope that the increased attention to communication will help keep our community better informed and more in-step with all PCSD Re-2 has going on.

Finally, we are also digging into our website to find a better option that provides easier access to information, a more efficient means in which to keep information updated, and provides us with more flexibility with its design. We are very interested in the feedback of our community as we start the revamping process, so if you haven’t already, we ask for your participation in completing our Park County School District Re-2 Website Feedback Survey. The survey will close on September 27th. You can also reach out to our District Administrative Office to offer feedback on how we can improve our communication plan. There has also been a big request to add an app for mobile devices and we've found the ability to do so. From your mobile device go to www.parkcountyre2.org and look for the new banner on the bottom of your screen to add a button to your home screen. Go to the new green PCSD Re-2 logo for quick access to District and school-level information.

PCSD Re-2’s District Accountability Committee (DAC) is made up of parents, teachers, District

staff, the Superintendent, and community members and serves in an advisory capacity to the

Park County School District Re-2 Board of Education. In Colorado, it is a statutory requirement

for every school district to have a DAC. The committee meets monthly throughout the year and

makes recommendations to the Board of Education regarding specific topics at-large. Topics

may include but are not limited to the spending of District money, improvement plans, and

community engagement efforts. The committees members also make recommendations for

areas and issues for study. The committee strives to work together to better our District’s community, and is always looking for parents, business owners, school staff, and other community members to join its efforts.

We are always looking to add more stakeholders to DAC. Formally, however, DAC is looking to fill a vacancy requirement with one person involved in business in the community within our district boundaries. If you are interested in learning more about DAC, please visit

www.parkcountyre2.org and the DAC- District Accountability Committee page. You can also contact Dr. Harrison at jistine.harrison@parkcountyre2.org

The PTO is a group formed by parents, teachers, and staff at Edith Teter Elementary to promote collaboration and support for the school community. The PTO works to enhance the educational experience for students through fundraising, organizing events, and providing resources. It creates a sense of community among parents, teachers, and students, encouraging involvement in school activities. Activities utilized to accomplish the goals of the PTO may include fundraising, events, and volunteering. The benefits of our PTO include enhanced resources, community building, and parent involvement. ETE's PTO serves as a vital link between the school and the community, enhancing the educational experience for all of our students. Please visit their Facebook page or reach out to ETE's principal Kimberly Lanham at kimberly.lanham@parkcountyre2.org for more questions on how to join!

SPAA is a non-profit organization that supports all extracurricular activities at South Park Middle and High School (not just sports). They fundraise year round in order to pay for the things that are not covered by the budget. Things they pay for include, but aren't necessarily limited to: new uniforms, record boards, gymnasium floor covering, signs, money to help with travel, new equipment, scholarships, and so much more than there is room to list. Please visit SPAA's Facebook page or reach out to South Park Middle/High School's principal Kevin Sellars at kevin.sellers@parkcountyre2.org for more information on getting involved with SPAA.

School Specific Websites:

Edith Teter Preschool

Edith Teter Elementary

South Park Middle/High School

Guffey Community Charter School

Lake George Charter School

Additional Information:

Employment in PCSD Re-2

PCSD Re-2 District Calendar 2024-2025

Food Services (menus)

Park County School District Re-2 Facebook Page