Coming Home — New principal is an EVMS alumnus

It seems like just last week that local residents began relaxing into the lazy days of summer.

But the summer of 2011 is nearly history as local kids prepare to return to their classrooms next week.

Eagle County Schools middle and high school students will begin the 2011-12 term next Monday, Aug. 29. Elementary school students should have appointments in place for assessment sessions on Monday and Tuesday and they will return to classes on Wednesday, Aug. 31.

The year ahead features many new faces at downvalley schools, including new principals at Eagle Valley High School, Gypsum Creek Middle School and Eagle Valley Middle School. At other schools, new facilities or programs await students. Here's a round-up of some of the changes in store as downvalley kids head back to school.

Katie Jarnot was a fifth-grader the year that Eagle Valley Middle School opened. Her class was the first to attend four years of middle school at the new building.

And now, a couple of decades later, she's come home.

Jarnot is the new principal at Eagle Valley Middle School. Her surname is familiar to lots of old-timers and new residents. The old timers remember her father, who taught at business classes at Battle Mountain High School. New residents are likely acquainted with her brother, Chris Jarnot, senior vice president and chief operating officer for Vail Mountain. But as she settles into her office at the newly remodeled EVMS building, Katie Jarnot plans to carve out her own identity in the valley.

For the past 18 years, she has lived and worked in New Hampshire, most recently as a middle school assistant principal. She was looking for a principal job at the same time her alma mater was searching for a new leader.

“Everything kind of fell into place,” said Jarnot.

Jarnot loves working with middle school students, even though it is a notoriously difficult time in kids' lives.

“A major philosophy of mine is that raising a middle school is a team sport,” said Jarnot.

She acknowledged the EVMS operation has received mixed reviews in the community in the past.

“I really think the first thing we need to do is to focus on the culture here. I think EVMS has gotten a really bad rap. I'm not sure why, because we have outstanding test scores and a great community,” said Jarnot.

She promised to ramp up communications between parents and the school as a first step in her efforts.

“I have an open-door policy, but if I'm not in a meeting, I'm probably not in my office. I'm more likely to be spending time with kids in classrooms.”

As she begins her EVMS leadership, Jarnot is thrilled to report that the school has undergone a remodel over the summer. She predicts students and parents alike with be thrilled to see the results.

EVMS will host an open house this evening, Aug. 25, beginning at 6 p.m. for any current, former or future students and families, as well as any community members. There will be a community barbecue and returning and new EVMS staff will be on hand to introduce themselves.

As she tours the building and points out the improvements completed since students left in June, Jarnot sees a bright future at EVMS.

“I truly believe the physical space has a major impact on kids' learning. We now have a school that kids are going to want to come to and feel good about. It's a good place,” said Jarnot.

— Pam Boyd

pboyd@eaglevalleyenterprise.com

Hot Stuff Honcho — Greg Doan takes over as new EVHS principal

Greg Doan, Eagle Valley High School's new principal, has devilishly high expectations.

“I believe high school is a balance of academics, athletics and activities,” said Doan. “We should offer kids excellence in the classroom and opportunities in athletics and activities to round out their high school experience.”

“What do you remember most about high school?” he asked. “I remember homecoming week and specific teachers I had. That's still what high school is about, connecting on all three levels.”

Doan comes to EVHS from Rock Canyon High School in Highlands Ranch were he worked as an assistant principal for five years. His family is settling into the community, including is 10-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son. Doan originally hails from Wichita, Kan., and is a die-hard Kansas State Wildcats fan. In fact, his college years included a stint at the KSU Powercat mascot. That fact offers a bit of insight into Doan's enthusiasm for his new gig.

“I looked around for a principal job and I was specifically looking for a community. I found it here at Eagle Valley High School,” Doan said.

What impressed him about EVHS? Doan cited the physical facilities at the school and its expansive programs. But what really sealed the deal was the quality of the people he met — students, parents and teachers. “It just felt right,” he said.

As he begins work at the school, Doan voiced appreciation for the history at EVHS.

“Mark Strakbein (former EVHS principal) did an incredible job of making this place feel great for kids and parents,” said Doan. He noted one of his first challenges will be to build on that strong foundation and maintain the high level of rigor that the EVHS community has come to expect.

“At this point, I have really asked a lot of questions about how things operate here,” said Doan.

But Doan said some changes are definitely on the way. He noted Eagle County Schools is in the process of a comprehensive curriculum redesign and he personally would like to see increased advanced placement options at EVHS.

“To teach an AP class ramps up the teacher's skills as much as a student's skills,” said Doan. “The more tools kids have, the more it helps them out.”

The former Powercat mascot also has one particular change in mind. “I am going to teach the kids a new cheer on Day 1. That's going to be part of the culture.”

After a couple of weeks of intensive training and a couple more of settling into his new office, Doan is plainly itching to have students back in school.

“I am super excited about the future of EVHS. It has tremendous potential.”

Directing the Devils —New EVHS athletic director hails from programs both big and small

Eagle Valley High School's new athletic director/assistant principal Rick Jensen has worked the sidelines at Syracuse University football games, served as the athletic business manger for Metropolitan State College in Denver and even sold tickets for a baseball Triple A affiliate.

His resume also includes a stint as an assistant football coach at Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver during the period when the team won four city championships, 42 straight league games and advanced to the 5A state playoffs for five consecutive years. Incidentally, during that period, 28 players from TJHS received Division 1 scholarships and seven of those players advanced all the way to the NFL. Two of them are still active: Daniel Graham, a tight end for the Tennessee Titans and Derrek Martin, a defensive back for the New York Giants.

But it was the opportunity to expand his skills beyond athletics that made his new EVHS post particularly appealing for Jensen. Of course, the local environment didn't hurt, either.

While he is a native of Pocahontas, Iowa, Jensen has lived around Metro Denver off and on since the early 1990s. But he never ventured to the Western Slope until his EVHS interview.

“I had never spent any time west of Summit County. I was just awestruck when I first came here,” he said. “I feel blessed just to be up here.”

Jensen is also ready to get to work.

“My expectations are very high. I pride myself that when I leave a place, it's better than when I got there,” he said. “It's really about getting everyone to pull together to be the best they can be.

“There's going to be a feeling-out period, getting to know the kids and the staff and the community,” Jensen continued. “I want to spend my first few weeks just finding out what is needed.”

Jensen said his first year on the job will be about assessing the EVHS program and evaluating his results. As he looks at EVHS sports, he will also keep an eye on the Devils competition. Jensen noted EVHS needs to first look at Battle Mountain High School then expand the vision to Western Slope schools and finally schools from across Colorado to find their pockets of excellence, imitate what can be replicated and target what can be exploited. He also wants to identify EVHS programs where kids are already demonstrating strong work ethic because that will be a building block for future success.

On a practical side, Jensen noted he has to find and hire a head coach for boys baseball, but he wants to get settled into to his new job before he tackles filling that post. Luckily, he noted that the baseball season is still more than six months away.

Right now, Jensen's focus is on the fall sports calendar and his assistant principal duties. With 19 sports and numerous club options available for EVHS students, Jensen said every student at the schools should be able to find something to spark his or her interest.

“I am sincerely excited to be here. I can't wait for the kids to get here. We want to get things rolling in a positive direction,” said Jensen.

GCMS welcomes new alpha wolf

Gypsum Creek Middle School has a new principal this year — David Russell.

Russell, 40, comes from a background of education and technology but didn't imagine he would ever be a school administrator until more recently in his career.

“I thought I would be a teacher forever,” he said.

Then he met Mark Strakbein, the former principal of Eagle Valley High School.

“Strakbein was a motivation for becoming a principal,” Russell said, citing Strakbein's positive relationships with students, teachers and parents.

Last year, Russell was a part-time assistant principal at EVHS as well as an instructional coach for Eagle County Schools' Enhancing Education Through Technology program. Before that, he taught at Battle Mountain High School for seven years.

Russell aims to continue Gypsum Creek's recent success after its selection as one of seven middle Schools to Watch in Colorado. That recognition was based on Colorado State Assessment Program test scores and individual student learning growth rates.

“We have such a strong staff already,” Russell said. “I want to build on the things we already do so well. Steve Smith — the school's former principal — really did a great job. He went out at the top of his game. Attention to detail and being able to formulate the right education setting for each child will be the keys for maintaining the school's success.”

This year, GCMS has 378 students and 27 teachers. Two teachers are new.

“We also have a very large sixth-grade class, with 147 kids,” Russell added. “I believe it's the biggest ever for the school.”

With his tech background, Russell intends to use social media to enhance the ties between the school and community.

“Certainly technology is who I am, as far as how I operate,” he said. “I use Facebook and Twitter, and our athletic director is using Twitter. It's a great way for parents to connect with the school.”

Originally from Kansas, Russell has lived in Gypsum since December 2000. He's been married for 12 years and has two children at Gypsum Elementary School. His daughter is a fourth-grader and his son is in kindergarten.

Russell taught in Kansas for two years before coming to work at Eagle County Schools in 1997. He earned his master's degree in 2006 from the University of Northern Colorado and is happy to be here in the mountains.

“I snowboard or telemark ski, depending on who I'm with,” he said.

A celebratory garden — Parents, local businesses build outdoor classroom to honor teacher's memory

In what was once a seldom used niche at the back of the Brush Creek Elementary School campus, a beautiful tribute as risen.

For the past several weeks, parents and kids have been building the Ruth Moroney Celebration Garden — an outdoor classroom to honor a longtime local teacher who passed away last year.

Parent Kathy Aalto, who is a landscape architect, designed the space and headed up the volunteer effort. One day she was walking around the school building with BCES principal Ann Heckman when she spotted an opportunity on the west side of the building. At the site, the school lawn extended into a U-shaped part of the building that was bordered by a sidewalk and could be accessed directly from a door on one side of the space.

“I was a completely dead space, but it had potential,” Aalto said. “It had clear boundaries to incorporate a garden.”

She put pencil to paper and designed a garden that featured a rock-lined channel for water to drain away from the building, bench seating, several trees and bushes and six log totems standing upright to symbolize the years kids spend at elementary school. She figured that cords could be laced between the logs so copper artwork by students could be hung “almost like Nepal prayer flags.”

With a proposed design completed, BCES petitioned the Eagle County Schools administration to approve the plan. The school promised to complete the design with volunteers and the school district granted its approval.

A volunteer corps then went into action to get materials donated for the garden and to find workers to complete the design. For several weeks, parents and community members, including the Moroney family, donated hours of labor to bring the memorial garden to life.

“Craig Large and Yuri Kostick were critical in getting the garden built. They organized all the labor for the project,” said Aalto.

Additionally, she cited the following businesses who donated materials for the project:

B&B Excavating

Bruce Cohlwey — Willow Creek Logging

Eric Eves — Red Mountain Land

Grand Junction Pipe and Supply

John Gerber — Today's Nursery

Jud Shoup and Ned Hays — Shoup Land Development

Land Designs by Ellison

Landmark Environments

Lyons Trucking

Mike Stevens — Stevens Home Care

Mike Suhadolink — Backyard Irrigation

Siloam Stone Quarry

Scott Fritzler — American Lawncare

Steve Jewett

RSC Rental Company

“It was a neat community effort getting this done,” Aalto said. “It's funny how excited the kids have been. The kids really want to be in the garden and I am super excited about that.”

Swabbing the decks — Eagle Valley Middle School remodel unveiled

Last year a group of Eagle Valley Middle School parents approached the Eagle County School Board with a video detailing concerns about the physical condition of the facility.

This summer, teams from Eagle County Schools worked to put those issues to rest.

“When I came to the school, I looked around and saw there was some work to do,” said EVMS Principal Katie Jarnot. “I was of the opinion that if it was just me with some rubber gloves on and a bottle of beach, we needed to get this done.”

Luckily for Jarnot, it didn't come to that. Eagle County Schools allocated surplus bond money, which must be spent on capital projects and cannot be spent on classroom operations, for the EVMS remodel. Jarnot has been pleased that the construction team found ways to stretch the dollars available.

When EVMS opens to students next week, the school will unveil a remodeling project that features new flooring, additional equipment, a reconfigured office and more. Community members can get a sneak peak of the work during an EVMS Open House tonight.

The first thing students will no doubt notice is the linoleum floors are gone. Carpet now covers the school floors and new ceiling tiles brighten the hallways. Railings are now painted gold in keeping with the Pirate's colors.

The entire EVMS office space has been gutted and rebuilt and students will pass by the glass-enclosed space at the EVMS entrance. Additionally two new classroom spaces have been equipped.

The first is a health and nutrition room that has both exercise equipment and kitchen appliances for fitness classes and home economics instruction. A large science lab located on the north side of the building will go into service beginning this fall as the school's eighth-graders take over classroom space that was formerly assigned to sixth-graders.

Beyond the big changes, the school has been repainted and deep cleaned.

“Now we have a building that we can take pride in. We are going to take care of it,” pledged Jarnot. “I am really hoping community members will come by and see what's happened here.”

Eagle Valley Middle

School Open House

When: Thursday, Aug. 24

Time: 6 p.m.

Details: The school will host a community barbecue and parents and students can meet with returning and new EVMS staff members. Everyone is invited to tour the remodeled school and help celebrate.

Buses use praise to teach — Program favors rewards over discipline

There are different opinions of how to get children to behave properly.

Disciplinary actions such as spanking were once common when a parent or teacher wanted to discourage bad behavior. These days, praising good behavior and ignoring bad is the method preferred by some.

Employees at the Eagle County Schools Transportation Department think they have a program that helps teach kids how to act properly on the bus. It's called the Positive Behavior and Intervention Support program.

“We're trying to get away from punishment,” said Lark Masten, a bus driver and transportation support specialist with the school district. “Behavior that is acknowledged is more likely to occur again. By using praise and tangible rewards, we are acknowledging good behavior.”

The “tangible rewards” in this case are usually small items such as pencils and stickers. Last year, as an extra incentive for school bus riders to behave, each child who was recognized had his or her name entered into a raffle for a pizza party and other prizes at the end of the year.

PBIS has been adopted by 10 of the county's 20 public schools during the last three years. Each school has its own way of paying for and implementing the program. The transportation department adopted its latest version of the program — called BUS: “Be respectful, Use good manners and Stay safe” — last year with a $2,000 donation from the town of Gypsum.

“The transportation department has been doing a form of (PBIS) for the last three years but didn't have many tangible rewards to offer back then,” Masten said.

Gypsum Town Council members voted to donate another $1,500 to BUS at their Aug. 9 meeting. They will also consider budgeting an annual donation of $2,500 at a work session sometime in the next few months.

So far, the town of Gypsum has been the only source of income for the BUS program. That is why the district transportation department is campaigning for more support.

However, the program has critics to address along the way.

Tom Edwards, a Gypsum Town Council member, voted against the town's donation both times.

“I guess I'm the conservative guy who thinks you don't pay (reward) kids to do what they ought to,” he said. “Kids are obligated to behave on the bus and if they don't, they won't be able to ride it.”

Results so far

At the Aug. 9 meeting, Masten presented some data that suggests the BUS program is accomplishing its goal. Compared to the 2009-10 school year, 2010-11 had fewer referrals and hours spent handling referrals. A referral is a disciplinary action. Masten said 20 days of administrative time were freed up.

In one case there was a student who never used his seat belt but then got in the habit of buckling up after being rewarded for a while, Masten said.

“Often I don't even need to give a reward — praise is often enough — and when a child is recognized in front of peers, the other children emulate him or her,” Masten said. “Parents also enjoy receiving notifications that their children have been good.”

John Widerman, a fellow bus driver of Masten's, agrees that there has been a positive change in bus behavior.

“It's a huge shift for the drivers,” he said.

Biz op

Masten said the program creates business opportunities as well.

“Maybe a local restaurant donates a coupon for free ice cream to be used as a reward,” she said. “Then the parents will take their child there to redeem it and probably buy other food as well.”

Widerman said the PBIS team is also looking to partner with department stores that could offer gift cards.

“That could be a cheaper way to fund this program, instead of buying items at retail using money that's been donated,” he said.

Whether the method is effectively molding good citizens or warping them in yet-to-be-seen ways is debatable. However, at least one thing is certain: if more funding isn't found, the BUS program won't continue much longer.

“The good behavior shouldn't be taken for granted and we are very grateful to the town of Gypsum for its support,” Masten said.