We are asking that all scholarships be mailed directly to the agency offering the scholarship or an official contact person instead of turning them in to the counselor’s office; please help us with this matter. Please contact me at rtressler@salida.k12.co.us or 719.530.5407 with updated information or questions.

Rob Tressler

Counselor

Salida High School

The program is focused on on 6^th graders but will also be useful for 5^th graders who are advanced or  7^th graders who may need some extra help.

The program will be offered at the Boys and Girls Club Tech Center, 340 E. 5^th St. every Friday that school is not in session from 10am until noon, starting January 13 through March 16.  The program is free to members of the Boys and Girls Club. (only $25 to join for a year)

To register:  Complete the attached form and return it to Scott Hughes at the Boys and Girls Club by January 10.  Registration will be limited to a maximum of 15 students .

For more information: Contact Irv Broudy, volunteer coordinator of the program, at 539-3851 or Scott Hughes at the Boys and Girls Club, 539-9500.

final 2012 registration form Khan

Schedule of Events

11:30 – 12:00 - Presentation by the Governor’s Energy Office about the Sustainable Energy School Pilot Program

12:00 – 1:30- BBQ lunch and tours of the new Salida High School

For more information, check out the Salida School District Website at http://www.salida.k12.co.us

view a short video on progress here

School update #2 from DangerousCollective on Vimeo.

DOE Issues Report on Financing Solar Photovoltaic Systems for Schools

This analysis can help school administrators across the country select the best option for deploying solar technologies in their school districts. See  the complete report, 38 page report.  http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/51815.pdf

DENVER— Senate President Brandon Shaffer (D-Longmont) sent a second letter to members of the Legislative Audit Committee which included reports from media sources from around Colorado demonstrating the need for an audit of Colorado’s online schools. President Shaffer first called for an emergency audit of online schools on September 26, 2011 after serious problems with some of those schools were exposed in several investigative reports.

The members of the Legislative Audit Committee were initially asked to approve a small amount of staff hours to allow the Office of the State Auditor to examine the request and draft an audit plan for the Committee to approve. The request was approved on a 5-3 vote.

Today, in his letter, President Shaffer asked members of the Legislative Audit Committee to put politics aside and give serious consideration to the audit request:

“During a time of severe budget shortfalls in which crippling cuts to critical programs reduce the State’s ability to provide essential services to the people of Colorado, there is no excuse to tolerate waste of limited resources.

This is not a political issue.  It’s a simple matter of accountability and oversight.  Please put partisan politics aside and do the right thing by approving this audit request.”

The next meeting of the Legislative Audit Committee is scheduled for November 7-8.

Below is the full text of the letter sent to Senator Lois Tochtrop (D-Thornton), Legislative Audit Committee Chair, and the other members of the Committee:

October 19, 2011

Re: Online School Audit Request

/s/ Brandon C. Shaffer
Senate President

Below is some of the in-depth coverage the issue has received:

K12 Inc.: Public Online Schools, Private Profits
KUNC
By Grace Hood
September 21, 2011

CO Online Schools Get Audit Request
Associated Press
By Ivan Moreno
September 26, 2011

Senate President Shaffer Wants Audit of Online Schools
Longmont Times-Call/ Associated Press
By John Fryar
September 27, 2011

Auditor to Consider Online Schools’ Review
Education News Colorado
By Todd Engdahl
September 27, 2011

New Audit of Online Schools Gains Traction At Colorado Capitol
The Denver Post
By Karen Auge and Tim Hoover
September 28, 2011

Online Schools Take Tax Money but Fail Many Students (with Video)
KMGH 7 News
By Arthur Kane and Tony Kovaleski, CALL7 Investigators
September 28, 2011

Investigation Shows Troubling Student Data from Online Schools (with Video)
KUSA 9 News
By Jace Larson
October 2, 2011

Online Schools Investigation (with Audio)
Colorado Public Radio
By Jenny Brundin
October 3, 2011

Online K-12 Schools Failing Students but Keeping Tax Dollars
I-News Network and Education News Colorado
By Burt Hubbard I-News Network and Nancy Mitchell Education News Colorado

Achievement drops when K-12 students switch to online schools
I-News Network and Education News Colorado
By Burt Hubbard I-News Network and Nancy Mitchell Education News Colorado

Investigation Finds Lax State Oversight of Online K-12 Schools
I-News Network and Education News Colorado
By Burt Hubbard I-News Network and Nancy Mitchell Education News Colorado

Editorial: Tuning in, dropping out: Online schools troubled?
The Denver Post
October 9, 2011

Raffle tickets will be available from council members for $1 each or 10 for $5.  Winning raffle tickets will be announced at the halftime show during the SHS homecoming game on October, 22nd.  Winners do not need to be present to win.

The Youth Advisory Council is a group of students, two from each grade level 7 through 12, who help plan alcohol and drug prevention, distracted driving and seat belt campaigns for the middle and high schools.  YAC members also serve as a representative for the rest of their grade level in our community.

Members are Seniors: Preston LaGree and McKinnley Witty; Juniors:  Isaac Stackonis and Kendra Berndt;  Sophomores:  Ethan Coit and Samantha Sharrar;  Freshmen:  Jimmy Fontana and Charlotte Price;  Eighth: Nigel Kucera and Alexis Dewberry;  Seventh:  Caleb Barnes and Kyle Johnstone.

October 3, 2011 – Granby, Colo.

Riding against a backdrop of grey peaks and golden aspen leaves, Salida Racing rode to a 2^nd place finish in the Colorado High School Mountain Bike League’s second race of the season. The Snow Mountain Ranch Stampede offered a fast course through hay fields with single track that dipped in and out of aspen groves and dove across a creek allowing Salida Racing to have their most successful race of the season. The team had 17 riders entered into the race and other than one unfortunate mechanical issue that caused one rider to withdraw, all racers finished the race.

Freshman Kelsay Lundberg won the girls Junior Varsity category; her brother, Garrett Lundberg placed 2^nd in Varsity with Isaac Stackonis hot on his wheels in 4^th place. Junior Sage Kitson had a strong race that put her in 5^th place in the girls Varsity category and Jake Kastner, Cody Johnstone, and Jake DeKing placed a close 2^nd, 4^th, and 6^th respectively in the Sophomore boys category.

Combined, the team raced to a total of 2,551 points earned on the day, only 26 points behind last season’s champions Boulder High School. There were only 76 points separating the top three Division 1 Schools, Boulder High School, Salida Racing, and Fairview High School. The second place finish bettered Salida Racing’s 3^rd place finish at the Chalk Creek Challenge, which was September 18, 2011 in Nathrop, Colo. Full Results can be found at http://www.coloradomtb.org/events/results/

Salida Racing is coached by Fred Maxwell, Zach Moore, James Haarmeyer, Andy Reimenschneider, Jon Bailey, Heidi Slaymaker, Kevin Thomas, Kimberly Kershke, Josh Bechtel, and Tom Price. The team is looking forward to the next race, October 16, 2011 in Elbert, Colorado.

Coaches load the ABSOLUTE BIKES van, donated by Shawn Gillis for the weekend.

A record number of 255 student athletes hit the Chalk Creek racecourse on the McMurry Ranch in Nathrop, Colorado, for the first race of the 2011 Colorado High School Mountain Bike season on Sunday, September 18

The racers, which included 38 girls rode a fast, spectator-friendly course that climbed from the ranch’s flat grazing area, narrowed to singletrack, and wound along a picturesque plateau beneath Mount Princeton, a 14,000-foot peak. Kate Rau, Colorado League Director, credited the marked increase in riders to, “Many bike shops generously hosting outreach events this summer which provided a way for local community members to rally around forming new teams. Several existing teams doubled in size. This rapid growth is due to the incredible efforts of passionate coaches, and the fact that Colorado is a cycling-mad state!”

Yannick Eckmann of Boulder High School won the Boy’s Varsity event, beating Zane Godby of Monarch High School by 3 seconds. Eckmann finished 16th in the elite men’s category of the Cross Vegas cyclocross race on September 14, and raced in Boulder’s Valmont Bike Park Cyclocross on September 17. “My focus is mainly on road racing and cyclocross,” says Eckmann. “I haven’t been out for a mountain bike race in a long time. But I promised my coach that because I was home I’d come out for the team. This has been a great experience and a lot of fun. It’s excellent to see so many people supporting high school mountain biking.”
Eckmann is a senior who wishes he had more time to spend racing with his peers and classmates. He added that Sunday’s race was more challenging than he had anticipated.“It hurt a little,” he said, smiling. “I wasn’t expecting it to be so hard.”

Team sponsor and Subculture Cyclery owner Jason Shellman turned up to cheer. With partner Wade Veezy, Subculture contributed much needed support of trailers and vehicles.

Course setter Herschel Goldberg said that the Chalk Creek course is a perfect venue for first-time riders, of which there were close to 100 this season. “On the five-mile lap there are only three spots that are particularly challenging,” said Goldberg. “What we do, both to keep it exciting for spectators and to push riders at the end, is finish the course on an uphill. With a climb near the end, it’s possible for riders to gain two or even three places by digging in and fighting for the finish.”

Dominique Fenichell, also of Boulder High School, finished first in the Varsity Girls division, while McCauley Smith took third in the Girls Junior Varsity division.
Smith, 15, began racing with the Boulder Junior Cycling club when she was seven, and comes from what she calls a “mountain biking family.” She also races cyclocross, and hopes racing will lead to a college scholarship.
Her favorite thing about the Chalk Creek course was where it dropped off the plateau in a steep downhill and then wound along Chalk Creek through a stand of shady cottonwoods.

Brent Sites cheers on daughter Hannah in her first race.

Her father, Hunter Smith, called mountain biking a great family sport that gets kids out into beautiful environments. Smith’s aunt, who cheered her from the finish line, also likes the kind of people mountain biking attracts, saying, “You select the people you want to spend time with. People who love mountain biking are generally more laid back and not as interested in the rat race. I think those are good qualities to pass on to your kids.”

Kelsay Lundberg, of Salida High School, took first in the Freshman Girls division. Lundberg beat her nearest competitor by four minutes. She has been riding since she was very young with her mom and brother. She says she prefers mountain biking to other sports because she likes being outdoors and the camaraderie riding brings her.

Coach Steve Noel, the father of Fairview High School student Justin Noel, said, “The best thing about all of this is what it develops in kids. Mountain biking teaches them that although something hurts, or takes endurance, or gets uncomfortable, they can still do it. It takes full involvement — physical, mental, and emotional — in a way that you don’t get with sports that leave some players on the bench. With mountain biking, there is no bench. These are lessons they can take forward into their lives.”

The next race in the four-race series is October 2 at Snowmountain Ranch, Granby.
Abbreviated Preliminary Results
Place – Name – Plate Number – School
Varsity Girls
1 Boulder -Dominque Fenichell – 006 – Boulder High School
2 Colorado Springs – Laurel Rathburn – 002 – Cheyenne Mountain Composite
3 Durango – India Waller – 007 – Durango Composite
4 Golden – Arianna Dittmer – 005 – Golden High School
5 Salida – Sage Kitson – 004 – Salida High School
Varsity Boys
1 Boulder – Yannick Eckmann – 035 – Boulder High School
2 Lousiville – Zane Godby – 037 – Monarch High School
3 Vail – Christian Kloser – 039 – Vail Valley Composite
4 Salida – Garrett Lundberg – 041 – Salida High School
5 Boulder – Justin Noel – 043 – Fairview High School
JV Girls
1 Boulder – Ksenia Lepikhina – 107 – Fairview High School
2 Bayfield – Robin Austin – 117 – Durango Composite
3 Boulder – McCauley Smith – 114 – Boulder High School
4 Evergreen – Kylie Van Hoessen – 121 – Evergreen Composite
5 Louisville – Rachel Harris – 104 – Monarch High School
JV Boys Division 1
1 Boulder – Michael Dessau – 210 – Boulder High School
2 Boulder – Garrett Gerchar – 218 – Boulder High School
3 Colorado Springs – Kyle Bloesser – 203 – Independent – Doherty High School
4 Laramie – Collin Dickinson – 211- 7220 Racing
5 Boulder – Max Neuman – 242 – Fairview High School
JV Boys Division 2
1 Castle Pines – Audie Ryburn – 324 – Green Mountain Composite
2 Eagle – Clayton Davis – 344 – Vail Valley Composite
3 Arvada – Parker Lehman – 320 – Ralston Valley High School
4 Buena Vista – Jake Boucher – 307 – Buena Vista Composite
5 Gunnison – Taren Reinecke – 336 – Gunnison High School
Sophomore Girls
1 Lakewood – Maggie Cleaver – 403 – Evergreen Composite
2 Littleton – Erin Quinn – 409 – Evergreen Composite
3 Lakewood – Caroline Hardy – 406 – Independent – Lakewood High School
4 Edwards – Clare Baker – 401 – Vail Valley Composite
5 Evergreen – Bella Walz – 413 – Evergreen Composite
Sophomore Boys Division 1
1 Boulder – Maxx Chance – 504 – Fairview High School
2 Salida – Jake Kastner – 515 – Salida High School
3 Boulder – Ian McPherson – 523 – Faiview Composite
4 Laramie – Schuyler Vercuateren – 531 – 7220 Racing
5 Evergreen – Nial Irwin – 512 – Evergeen Composite
Sophomore Boys Division 2
1 Bellevue – Zack Jensen – 504 – Poudre High School
2 Carbondale – Cormac McGeough – 615 – Colorado Rocky Mountain School
3 Vail – John Bailey – 602 – Vail Valley Composite
4 Carbondale – Riley Ames – 601 – Colorado Rocky Mountain School
5 Durango – Connor Yates – 633 – Durango Composite
Freshman Girls
1 Salida – Kelsay Lundberg – 706 – Salida High School
2 Carbondale – Evelina Sutro – 709 – Colorado Rocky Mountain School
3 Durango – Sierra Trout – 710 – Durango Composite
4 Golden – Rae Lemon – 705 – Golden High School
5 Salida – Hannah Sites – 708 – Salida High School
Freshman Boys Division 1
1 Boulder – Adin Baird – 803 – Boulder High School
2 Boulder – Chris Key – 814 – Fairview High School
3 Golden – Sam Furness – 810 – Independent – Lakewood High School
4 Boulder – Bruce Kruetzer – 816 – Fairview High School
5 Laramie – Tilden Zars – 828 – 7220 Racing
Freshman Boys Division 2
1 Aravada – Henry Chapman – 902 – Ralston Valley High School
2 Colorado Springs – Trevor Von Boeck – 930 – Cheyenne Mountain Composite
3 Dillon – Joel Sawyer – 924 – Summit Composite
4 Fort Collins – Brannan Fix – 927 – Poudre High School
5 Edwards – Jackson Shanley – 927 – Vail Valley Composite
About the Colorado High School Cycling League
The Colorado High School Cycling League promotes personal development and teamwork through bicycle racing, and encourages the formation of teams at public and private high schools. With the cooperation of local race promoters and our sponsors, the League organizes a first class series of races designed for high school aged riders. The League makes high school racing the easiest route for youth to get involved in the challenging and exciting world of competitive cycling.

For more information on the League, visit link name or contact Kate Rau at kate@coloradomtb.org, Tel. (720) 272-9282.

WOW, what a generous community we have in Salida! Thanks to all the local businesses and individuals that support the Salida School District.

The Salida Middle School has been working very hard over the last couple years to enhance our school.

In the last two years, we have built a new school garden (including 8-4’x12’ raised beds) to help students better understand where food comes from and better eating habits, a new shed for the garden to store supplies and curriculum items, an irrigation drip system for watering the garden, two shade sails for students to enjoy during recess time, and all of the building materials necessary to build a new Snack Shack for the middle school student council concessions. All of these projects have and will continue to enhance the education of all students in the Middle School.

All of the previously mentioned projects could not have come to fruition without the incredible support of local businesses and individuals. The Salida Middle School staff would like to thank the following businesses for their generous donations.

Hylton Lumber Company (Roy Abbott)- Hylton Lumber donated all the lumber to build the eight garden boxes and the garden shed, all the materials for the Snack Shack and eight steel posts to erect the shade sails. Hylton Lumber has continually been incredibly supportive of all our projects. We could not have done it without them!

D and W Building Specialties (Pam and Jeff Denison)- Supplied all the shingles for the shed.

Diesslin Construction (Gary Olson) – Supplied equipment to dig eight post holes to set the shade sail posts and assisted with framing the Snack Shack.

Hard Rock Paving and Ready Mix (Fred Baldwin) -Supplied all the concrete to set the posts for the shade sails.

Sarah Whittington – Professionally designed the Snack Shack and met planners and inspectors to insure compliance with building codes and fire safety.

Brad, Beatrice and Graham Price-Built the Snack shack, helped install the shade sails, and many, many other contributions to the Salida Middle School. The Price family has been an incredible asset to Salida Middle School.

Brent, Valerie, Kaden and Cole Sites – Helped drywall the Snack Shack.

True Value Hardware – Donated primer and painting supplies to prime and paint the Snack Shack.

Alex Godina- Finished sheet rock for Snack Shack.

Brady’s West- Helped kick off another year of the garden by donating a large portion of our starter plants. This is the second year Brady’s has helped out with starter plants for the garden.

True Value- Assisted in design and donated towards the irrigation drip system for the garden. This was a huge contribution to allowing our garden to be successful this year.

Salida Greenhouse- Donated started plants to kick off our garden growing season.

Shavano Interiors (Brian) – Provided and installed base coving for Snack Shack.

Mike Aichle and Walt Sneddon- Supported staff and volunteers in completing and organizing projects.

Thank you again to all our generous donors and volunteers for making these projects possible for the students of Salida Middle School. Please support these businesses that are so supportive of our students.

Salida Middle School Staff