Guffey Community Charter School

ANNUAL REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY

By Martine Walker, Administrator

Teachers:

Ms Stacey Knutzen, grades K-2

Mrs Lynda MacDonald, grades 3-5

Ms Jenny Hartman, grades 6-8

Prepared in September 2020 to report on the 2019-2020 school year

The 2019-2020 school year was certainly an interesting one! Or perhaps that is the sentiment every year? The year started outdoors with an all school field trip to Big Bear Ranch (see picture on the cover) after which we decided would be a really cool new tradition to do every year. But here we are now, in what feels like a zillion years later, not going anywhere, and just being grateful to be at school, together, at all. Writing this report always offers a welcome opportunity to reflect on the previous school year during the beginning of a new one. There is so much to be grateful for in this school and community! Last year was no exception in that we did what we do and we did it well and we grew together in so many ways. And most importantly, we learned. Here, within this little school we all have a love of learning, children and adults alike, and that is just how we get on and revel in life, each other and this magical little school.

2019 - 2020 SCHOOL YEAR HIGHLIGHTS

In order from July 2019 - July 2020

● Our school served as a meeting place for Cover Mountain Association’s annual potluck.

● Yoga classes, taught by Bill O’Connell, at the school continue on Sundays for the community and on Tuesdays for the school kids.

● Lots of Guffey kids participated in the Summer Reading Program at the Guffey Library.

● Our ancient and huge pine tree in the front of our school building developed a “tumor”. A very large tumor was growing up high in the branches, threatening the life of our tree.

Chief Farmer came with his ladder and chainsaw, cut it down and dragged it to where it could be destroyed. Our tree’s health was restored!

● We had so many wonderful community member teach elective classes:

○ Computer Science & Coding with Kristie Satterly ○ Woodworking with Tim Rucker ○ Sewing & Quilting with Kathie Boucher, Pam English, and Dorothy Tyler ○ Cooking with Ken Walker ○ Art with Dana Peters ○ Yoga with Bill O’Connell ○ Messy Science with Lani Gossett, Mike Brandt, and Heather ○ Zumba with Rita Mick

● Messy Science FUN!

● An all school field trip to Big Bear Ranch to wrap up our 100-year celebrations from the previous school year. Dave Rhodus and Bruce Tweeten of Big Bear hosted our school and provided quite the tour of 3 restored homesteads. Pam Watanabe guided us through the cemetery while sharing information about her family members who are buried there.

● Ms Hartman arranged a trip for her middle school class to go to a ropes course & outward bound course in Florissant to do some team-building and to build relationship cohesiveness of the middle school class.

● Another all school activity was our Wheel Rally held during our second month of school. Students decorated their bikes, scooters, skate boards and such with streamers and

other decorations. We paraded around town in our creations while greeting people in our community along the way.

● We held our annual Open House in October. Students and teachers prepared their presentations for all of our school families to come and learn about what they are learning about. We had a really big turnout and held a potluck dinner with some pretty delicious creations!

● A volleyball court was installed on our school grounds in memory of Barry Anderson, a long time Guffey local and school supporter who passed away. A love of Barry’s life was volleyball and now we have a sand court at school for the community and our students to enjoy.

● The Guffey Steampunk Society donated a generous amount of money to help pay for the school supply fees that are not affordable to all families.

● Pat Shepard from Park County libraries came out to our school on a regular basis during the entire school year to help our K-2 class implement a supplemental reading program called FastForward.

● We hired two bus drivers who agreed to drive the school bus until a permanent driver could be found. They both worked incredibly hard preparing for this task by putting in countless hours of training in order to pass their CDL tests. A big thank you to Kristie Satterly and Elizabeth Rogers!

● Peg Larson came and presented a program called Book Rescue. She put this together for all students by covering the cafeteria tables with stacks of books, organized into sections and students were allowed to choose 4 books to “rescue”. The students really loved getting to pick out some books to take home and keep.

● We had our annual Halloween Parade. After lunch, the whole rest of our day was dedicated to Halloween fun. We got into our costumes and lined up outside and went to

the haunted house at The Guffey Garage, then to the library for Trunk or Treat, and to the Freshwater for carnival games and pumpkin decorating and finally, to The Bakery for treats!

● We got our Art Tile Wall erected to commemorate the school’s 100 year anniversary. Thank you to Judy Fresard and Ken Walker for tackling the job of hanging these beautiful tiles in the hallway to the multipurpose room.

● We held a luncheon to honor our local Veterans on Veterans Day.

● Park County library provided the K-2 class with Chromebooks so students can work on their supplemental reading program in the classroom instead of the computer lab.

● Mrs Mac took her class on 2 field trips to supplement their classes. They went to Florissant Fossil Beds and to the Dinosaur Museum in Woodland Park.

● The talented Alexi Alfieri came out to Guffey School to organize our Winter Program play. She customized a play she previously wrote to accommodate our very large student population.

● Mrs Mac’s class had another successful cookie sale. This is done every year for students to learn about counting money. The community really comes out to support this sale every year. This year they raised about $300 to help pay for their field trips.

● The Guffey Threads group donated lots of hats and scarves that they knitted. We set up the cafeteria to display their handiwork and students were able to choose hats and scarves to suit their individual styles!

● This school year the middle school class took over the firestarter production. They made a few batches which sold out each time within days.

● Our winter program was a huge success as it is a favorite of many. The kids performed a play to the audience’s great appreciation. Santa came for gifts for everyone. Norma Farmer arranged for all of these gifts for our students through the Toys for Tots program. Bryan Sanford was our Santa Claus again!

● Mrs Mac took her kids on a trip to the Dinosaur Experience in Canon City.

● The Mountain Aries Market supplied the kids with beautiful and intricate wooden Christmas ornaments and glitter glue to decorate them with. The kids decorated the ornaments which the market then sold to the community with the funds coming to the school.

● The Bakery held another Santa’s Workshop for the students which is one of the kids favorite things of the school year! Thank you to The Bakery!

● The Rotary Club visited our school again this year to donate dictionaries to all of school’s 3rd graders.

● The Anderson family, who owns local business Sundance Leather, a local shoe and slipper making shop came to our school with a pair of handmade shoes or slippers for each student! The kids were so incredibly excited and LOVED this gift! Thank you to Jean and Dylan Anderson for such a thoughtful gift.

● Elizabeth Jackson (who is now our new K-2 teacher) came in last school year to guest teach an art class to the K-2s. She did a presentation on dragons and then led the kids in an activity to learn how to draw a dragon.

● Doug Boucher came in to give a guest art lesson on graphic arts.

● MarGas is steadfast supporter of our school and came to deliver their $435 donation to our school. This donation is made possible by everyone who provides a copy of their MarGas fill up receipt to the school since MarGas donates a portion of each bill to the school. Please send your bills to our school and we greatly appreciate the donation we receive in return.

● The K-2 class put on a very attractive art show to school families! Ms K led the students to learn about multiple artists and styles of art which the students got to proudly present.

● Mrs Mac took her students to Cave of the Winds and Manitou Cliff Dwellings.

● Pie Palooza was such fun this year! We made some changes to the event that seemed to be good improvements on the flow of things. The pies were plentiful and delicious. We raised $6700 and the talented Mrs Erin VanEgmond took the grand prize!

● Guffey School received 4 awards from The Flume! The paper representative came out to award us with “Best non-profit”, “Best Winter Event with Pie Palooza”, Ms Hartman won “Best Middle School Teacher in Park County” and Mrs Mac won “Best K-5th grade Teacher in Park County”! Pretty amazing!

● The middle school held their annual Spaghetti Dinner on March 12th. It turned out that this was our last event of the school year and also marked our last day of being at school in-person for the school year. Little did we know that this would be the case but right after the spaghetti dinner ended, all schools were closed by executive order due to the COVID pandemic.

● The teachers really pulled together to pull off a Remote Learning Plan with zero notice. We are so lucky to have the best teachers here in Guffey!

● Our school graduation was celebrated outdoors this year due to COVID. The Bakery allowed us to do a “drive-up” style graduation ceremony using their parking lot which was followed by a very noisy and celebratory car parade around town.

Student Achievement

Guffey School measures student’s overall and academic achievements using a combination of standardized tests and our school’s Ends Policies. It is always our goal that each student achieves at least one year of growth for their grade while also understanding that not all students start the year at their grade level. This year our school used the following standardized testing tools:

● DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills), for grades K-4th. This test is administered individually to students by teachers.

● PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College Careers), for grades 3rd-8th. This is a State of Colorado Assessment.

● CMAS (Colorado Measures of Academic Success) for Science, for grades 5th-8th. Students test individually online.

● MAP (Measure of Academic Progress), a NWEA test for grades K-8th. Students test individually online.

Achievement by Teacher Classroom

Stacey Knutzen, Kindergarten - 2nd grade

● A’s: 4 ● B’s: 1 ● C’s: 6 ● D’s: 0 ● F’s: 0

Lynda MacDonald, 3rd - 5th grade

● A’s: 1 ● B’s: 8 ● C’s: 3 ● D’s: 0 ● F’s: 0

Jenny Hartman, 6th - 8th grade

● A’s: 4 ● B’s: 2 ● C’s: 3 ● D’s: 4 ● F’s: 1

Our multi-grade/age classrooms, and our small student to teacher ratio allows us to closely monitor the progress of individual students. Because of this, the teachers see significant academic growth for the majority of their students. The students are given many opportunities to succeed, receive 1:1 support when needed, and are offered any other support needed to succeed.

We receive the state provided PARCC and CMAS test results until the following school year so we cannot use those tests to measure academic improvement within the school year that the

test was taken. We do rely on the DIBELS assessment, the MAP testing, and student report cards each trimester.

The school successfully maintains several intervention plans to help students who might be struggling, academically and/or socially, or achieving outside of their current grade level. They are:

● IEPs (Individual Education Plan)

● ILPs (Individual Literacy Plan)

● READ Plans (Reading to Ensure Academic Development)

● ALPs (Advanced Learner Plan) which has outlined the criteria used to identify students who excel in Language Arts, Reading, and/or Math

● RtI (Response to Intervention)

Students who have internet access at home are able to work on both reading (LEXIACORE) and math (IXL) using a school provided log-in. These programs allow our teachers to monitor student activity and access student growth.

School Strategies to Improve Student Achievement

Individual student data is collected from student state standardized test scores and are tracked by the CDE (Colorado Department of Education). This data is how the state measures a school’s AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress). However, our student population remains under 100 students, so a statistical measurement of AYP is reported as either, YES or NO. To date Guffey School has always received a YES at both the Elementary and Middle School levels. Guffey School staff and board monitors the school’s educational program (EL-13 in September), Academic Accomplishments (E-2 in October and March), Personal Skills (E-3 in September and February), and Social Skills (E-4 in November and April).

Accountability Committee’s Year End Report 2019-2020

The work of our school’s accountability committee further supports our school’s strategies for improvement. Here is a list of the accomplishments of this year’s accountability committee, which was chaired by middle school teacher Jenny Hartman last school year.

Accountability Committee End of Year Goals Report 2019-2020

Goals for the year:

1) Review and Discuss District Unified Improvement Plan

As a school, Guffey Community Charter School is too small to be given statistically accurate reports. We did not receive a UIP from the district to review.

2) Review 8th Grade Project and adjust rubrics

Changes to the 8th grade project include:

● Adjusting the time frame from 1 hour to 30 minutes with a 10-minute question/answer period after the timer has stopped.

● Adjust the grading in the rubrics to include multiple headers with different point values for each section of a rubric. This will allow certain parts of a subject to be weighted more heavily than others. For example, obtaining the 20 hours of community service and 8 observation hours in the career research will be weighted more heavily than other components of the rubric.

● Verbiage on the service project rubric changed from stating “3 learning objectives” to “3 goals to accomplish.”

● Instead of needing ONE overall service project, students need one overall goal/theme for their service project, and if that includes multiple smaller projects along the same goal, that is ok.

● “Dress for your profession” as you would for an interview has been added to the Presentation rubric. However, if your life skill requires you dress differently than you would for your profession’s interview that is allowed.

● The time of presentations will start at 11:00am and end at about 11:40am. The evaluation panel will meet from 11:40-12:40, and then the evaluation panel will meet with the student from 12:40-1:00pm to discuss the evaluation with the student.

3) Review and give input into the science curriculum

Each year the accountability chooses one curriculum subject to review and update the 3-year rotation for. This year we focused on science. Ultimately, we decided on having a table with columns for each year, what type of science ‘genre’ is being taught, and specific topics being taught that year. We also added resources that are used in each science rotation.

4) Review monthly ENDS reports

The monthly ENDS reports are posted on the school's website for all to review. There is an opportunity at each meeting for the accountability committee to ask questions and give feedback on these reports

5) End of year Parent Survey

Normally, we would have had an Accountability Meeting in April to create the End-Of-Year Parent Survey. This year, we were required to switch to remote learning in mid-March and therefore did not have a traditional Accountability meeting in April. We met as a staff and discussed what types of survey questions we had for our families, mostly focusing around feedback from distance learning. One of the goals from this survey was to take the feedback from families to see what worked and what didn’t work so we could adjust accordingly if we need to implement distance learning next year. These surveys were sent out digitally to all of our school families.

6) Possible ideas for next year's committee include:

History curriculum, 8th grade project accommodations due to COVID, technology/remote learning plans, District UIP, review ENDS reports

Fiscal Management

Colorado law requires charter schools to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management, and to annually complete a governmental audit that complies with state

requirements. In addition, the law requires all public schools, including charters, to post comprehensive financial information online. Guffey School financial information, both the Fund and Foundation, is reported monthly to the Guffey School Board in the monthly consent agenda. We also have the following current information on our school’s website: Adopted Budgets, Audited Financial Statements, Financial Statements, Accounts Payable, Check Registers (Sunflower Bank), Credit Card Statements (VISA), Investment Performance Statements (COLOTRUST) and our Teacher Salary Schedule.

School Consultant Services

So that we can better identify the needs of all students, Guffey School’s Special Needs Consultant, Monica McNamara, continued another year at Guffey School. She assisted us to navigate academic and social needs for students with special needs and lead us through the process for students with an IEP, 504, RTI plan, READ plan etc.

Also, Nancy Roth continued to offer her speech therapy services to Guffey School students in need. Nancy visits our school bimonthly to assess and provide speech therapy to students who require those services. She also assists Monica with serving students with special needs.