Garfield Re-2 News You can Use
A quick update on District happenigs
We can't WAIT to see you!
We will be waivin' flags to welcome in the new year! We'll see you tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. for delicious cinnamon rolls and we will kick off the new year at 8 a.m. See you there!
You won't want to miss these WONDERFUL vendors here to see YOU!
- Marathon Health Clinics
- Alpine Bank
- Rifle Bear & Coal Ridge Titan Cards for purchase
- CEBT
- Sunlight Mountain Ski Resort
- Western Rocky Credit Union
- Garfield County Libraries
- DoTerra Essential Oils
- Jean's Printing
- Sandy's Office Supply
- Teacher's Pension
- Aflac
- WGEA
Garfield Re-2 School Board Reorganizes
RIFLE - At the July 24, 2018 School Board meeting, the Garfield Re-2 School Board reorganized with the resignation of Anne Guettler as Board President. Re-elected to her second term in November 2017, Guettler will remain on the board as vice-president.
“As some of you may know, my husband passed away unexpectedly in March,” Guettler read from a prepared statement. “I think it’s fair to say that I have found the last several months very challenging and I do not feel like I have the energy or capacity to lead this district through the great opportunities and challenges that are before us. I feel very fortunate to serve with such a kind and caring board, and I have had conversations with each of them and with our superintendent prior to tonight’s meeting. I know they all support me in this decision.”
Read more about the school board reorganization here.
Moving Forward with New English Language Arts Resources
Last April, the School Board approved the English Language Arts adoptions of SuperKids for kindergarten through 2nd grade and ReadyGen for 3rd through 5th grades. The decision took nearly 775 man hours as the committee became grounded in standards, student achievement data and and evaluated several different resources to be sure they would meet the needs of Garfield Re-2 students.
Since then, much has happened to prepare. All of the materials have been ordered and most have arrived in classrooms or are in transit.
In addition, we hosted 14 introductory webinars for teachers in June, July, and early August. Overall, 92 teachers attended these webinars and picked up their teacher kits. Many thanks to the academic coaches and elementary principals who facilitated the webinars, and many thanks as well to Lori Hinkle and Crystal Marquez for ensuring the materials and space remained organized.
Training for full implementation occurs on August 7th, and back-to-school nights will unveil the new materials to parents.
Throughout the year, trainers will return to answer new questions that have come up and to deepen the implementation even further.
Finance Department update
As you may know, our Director of Finance, Christy Hamrick, is leaving us after 17-years of service. She will become the Finance Director for the Town of Basalt and we wish her well in her new ventures! Thank you Christy for your dedication to our students and our staff!
While we conduct our search and interview prospective Finance Director candidates, we will have an Interim- Finance Director. Her name is Stephanie Juneau and she has been in District training with Christy this week. Stephanie is a Certified Administrator of School Finance and Operations, has a wealth of knowledge in school finance and will be with us two to three days a week and we appreciate her willingness to help.
In addition, we are pleased to announce that we have three finalists for the Director of Finance position!
- Ty Minnick is a CPA and currently the Manager of Financial Reporting for Bowie Resources in Grand Junction;
- Michael J. Rynkiewicz is currently the Director of Finance and Operations Accounting with Total Merchant Services in Basalt.
- Stephen Swanson is currently the Chief Financial Officer for Homecare & Hospice of the Valley in Glenwood Springs;
COME AND MEET THE FINANCE DIRECTOR FINALISTS!!! On Thursday, August 16 we will host a Meet & Greet here at the District Office at 6:30pm with the three finalists. You are most welcome and encouraged to attend! We will be conducting the finalist interviews on Friday, August 17, beginning at 7:30am and will wrap up by noon that day.
WE WANT YOU. . .on the Human Resources Design team!
Have you ever wondered about how our insurance benefits are determined? Do you want to see a more robust wellness policy? The HR Design Team may be for you!!! This committee will be tasked with reviewing our current health insurance and enhancing our benefits, and much, much more!!!
We will be sending out a survey regarding our current benefits to assist in guiding our work around insurance. All employees currently enrolled in CEBT health benefits will receive a survey link on or about August 20, 2018. Please keep an eye on your email for this link and other information regarding the survey. If you should have any preliminary questions regarding this survey please contact Elizabeth Rinaldi at erinaldi@garfieldre2.net.
DID YOU KNOW. . .you have access to counseling resources?
Through the TRIAD Employee Assistance Program, you and your spouse have access to:
- Up to 3 free counseling sessions per year per incident.
- Financial experts for advice on a range of financial issues
- Legal help by phone or with a local attorney; includes a free 1⁄2 hour consult and discounted rates if further help is requested for many issues.
- On-line counselor profiles and thousands of legal/financial articles & tools:
Check out the flyer below!
The fast and furious Garfield Re-2 data speeds!
There have been a couple of technology projects this summer that the technology team would like to make sure you are aware of.
We were able to expand the Wide Area Network (WAN) connections from your school to the District Office from 100Mbps to 1GB (a ten-fold increase) at all elementary schools, and from 200Mbps to 1GB (a five-fold increase) at all middle and high schools. Additionally, the Internet circuit for the District has been increased from 500Mbps to 2GB (a four-fold increase). Ultimately, this means that neither you nor your students should face any bandwidth issues or limitations with using digital devices in your lessons throughout the District. We were able to achieve these improvements while realizing significant cost savings to the District for the services.
In order to make sure that our district-wide wireless network is able to support our students and staff with these increased speeds, we are completing a full overhaul of our wireless access points and cabling in every school. You will likely see folks in your schools working on this for the next few weeks. They will only be working after school hours and nights and weekends, and we do not expect any wireless downtime during this process. Once complete, this network will allow us to support your instructional wireless needs for the next several years.
Check out the training Colorado River BOCES has to offer
Colorado River BOCES has organized several trainings for the upcoming school year. CPI trainings are available and recommended for staff working with students with behavioral challenges. Additional trainings are centered around behavior and IEP writing. It's an easy to use calendar with links for registration. Check it out at
www.crboces.org.
For questions about information contained in this newsletter. . .
