SCZ Fall Community Newsletter

October 2022

From the Desk of Sean Dorsey

Sand Creek Zone Families,


It is unfathomable that fall break is right around the corner. The school year is off to a great start. During my workday, I attempt to find time to visit classrooms across the Sand Creek Zone. Inevitably, I leave each of my school visits impressed with the dedication of our staff, as well as the engagement of our learners. Thank you for supporting our teachers and schools. As a parent/guardian, you have the opportunity to send your student(s) elsewhere. Your trust in our schools and staff does not go unnoticed.


However, it is important our Sand Creek Zones continuously strive to provide a great place for students to learn. On an annual basis, our schools conduct a Family Experience Survey. Please know that our staff use the results to create strategic goals and action plans to address opportunities to improve the parents' experiences regarding our schools. In past years, as a result of the survey results, our schools have created systems to recognize students, increase positive communications to parents, and provide parents feedback on their student's learning. The survey is short. Please take a few minutes to provide us with valuable feedback. Responses are completely anonymous.


2022 Family Experience Survey


Each year, the Sand Creek Zone develops a scorecard composed of goals aligned with the Student Success, People, Service, and Innovation/Growth Pillars in our strategic plan. Here is the link to our 21-22 scorecard. The link provides a view of how well goals were attained (green) or not (red). You will notice some goals are earmarked in yellow. Yellow results indicate progress toward the goal, but the mark wasn't quite attained. Also, for your reference, you will find our 22-23 zone scorecard with goals, action plans and how we will measure our results on the same page.


Thank you for partnering with our schools and staff. Have a wonderful October.

Service

Woodmen Valley Visits HMS for City Serve Day

Volunteers from Woodmen Valley church spent Saturday, October 1st at Horizon Middle School for City Serve Day. They brought all of the needed supplies and painted the future Community Resource Center. Woodmen Valley has been a huge community partner with the SCZ schools, delivering over 40 food backs each week for families in need. Thank you, Woodmen Valley, for your service this past weekend!

SES Hosts Successful Fall Festival

Stetson Elementary hosted 200 families at their fall festival on September 29th. Families were able to meet with community partners, enter for multiple drawings, play games, enjoy a bounce house hosted by the PTA and visit a petting zoo. Families earned a free meal from Raising Cane's for each child that attended. Thank you to everyone who came out and make this a successful event!

Campbell Donates Instruments to HMS Program

Verne Campbell, community member, was thanked by Melanie Hawthorne-Long, Band teacher at Horizon Middle School, for his numerous instrument donations to their band program at last week's Fantastic 49 Celebration during the Board of Education Meeting. Read the full story here.
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People

Raiders Earn Golden Shoe Award

Since the Golden Shoe Award was created, Stetson Elementary has claimed this prize. The Golden Shoe Award is given to the school with the most participation in the D4.9K, held at Falcon High School annually. Stetson had almost 20 participants in the race. Congratulations Raider Community!
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EES Earns Spirit Award for D49

At the D49 Kickoff at the beginning of September, all schools from District 49 tried to earn the spirit award by dressing the same, bringing their mascot, using noisemakers, making signs or even having a theme within their staff. Evans Elementary had all of the above! They were loud, proud and made the atmosphere fun. EES staff earned a free breakfast provided by D49. Congrats Wildcats!

RES' Albers Earns $1000 from AFA

Elizabeth Albers, early childhood education teacher at Remington Elementary, proudly displays the $1,000 check she received as an honoree of the Extra Yard for Teachers Campaign.


Air Force Athletics honored three educators who teach in D49 during halftime AF's football game against Nevada. Albers was one of even honoree spots in the Pikes Peak Region, and each received $1,000 for classroom supplies. The recognition was part of the Extra Yard for Teachers Campaign sponsored by AF Athletics Air Force Falcons and the Mountain West Conference.

EES Staffulty Celebrations

Evans is Wild about their staff! The administration team celebrated teachers with a “treat” cart!


Principal Marcia Case and Assistant Principal Ryan Scott visited all classrooms to recognize and reward staff for their hard work so far this school year. The students were just as excited to see their teacher earn a reward, just like they do for working hard. Prizes included magnets, post it notes, expo markers, stickers and more!

RES Raises over $20,000 at Boosterthon


Remington Elementary School kicked off its fun run sponsored by Boosterthon on August 15. The goal was to raise $15,000 for a potential shade structure outside the building. The school raised close to $21,000. The admin team said that they would be willing to have the students turn them into human ice cream sundaes if they made the goal. Mr. Coddington allowed the highest grossing class to slime him. Mr. Doalan's 4th grade class raised close to $5,000 on their own. Thank you to all of our families and community friends who donated to RES!

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SES Runs For Funds For Tech Updates

On August 26th, Stetson Elementary held their fun run to raise money for Technology updates. SES was able to raise over $13,000 for Technology Updates! Thank you to the families that donated, the staff that promoted the event and the students that participated! We appreciate your support. A special shout out to Texas Roadhouse for sponsoring the Boosterthon this year!

Student Success

Creek Nation Kicks Off Celebrations

Sand Creek High School celebrates students that have earned a 3.0 or higher through their Renaissance Program. Students get their name on the Renaissance Wall and each qualifier earns a Creek Nation crewneck. Students will also receive free food, snacks, special events and more for qualifying. SCHS had over 500 students qualify this semester which is 100 more than the Fall of 2021. Way to go, Creek!
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HMS Band Plays with SCHS Band

Band students from Horizon Middle were invited to play with the SCHS Marching Band at the Homecoming Football game on 9/16. HMS students played the fight song and other band songs throughout the game. During halftime, they were also invited to play on the field after the high school performed for a packed stadium. We were excited to host our future scorpions and are proud of the work they put in for this event!

SCHS Homecoming Recap

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HMS Celebrates Renaissance

Renaissance is a huge deal at Horizon Middle. Students that qualify earn special rewards throughout each quarter. So far this year, students earned a Kahoot class break, were able to leave for lunch early, received congratulatory post cards home, exclusive assemblies for academic excellence, pizza parties and more. Recently, they've been participating in Josten's Renaissance "The Look", showing off their school pride at a national level. Follow them on facebook to stay up to date on all that they do for students.

Students Dance the Night Away at SES

The Stetson Elementary PTA held a dance for all students on September 9th. The gym was packed with students of all ages and their families. The Stetson PTA plans to host more events this year including a Holiday Festival in December. Thank you to the SES PTA for supporting fun events like this for our students!

SRES Students Celebrate Count Week

SRES brought in families and planned big events for Count Week. On 10/4, parents were invited in for Parents and Pastries to grab breakfast, check out hallway classwork and art and visited the book fair. On 10/5, they celebrated dress like your favorite book character. Pictured is Principal Jim Kyner dressed as his favorite book character from "A Bad Case of Stripes" by David Shannon. Tomorrow, is pajama day in order to curl up with a good book They will also celebrate student achievement with their STAR POP assembly and awards. Thank you Springs Ranch for making this a fun week for students, staff and families!

SCHS Student Recieves Free Helmet


SCHS security noticed one of their students that rides their bike to school had a helmet that was too small. Through our community partnerships, we were able to get a brand new helmet courtesy of the Pedal Station. The Pedal Station takes in broken or unused bikes and fixes them for community use for their generous donation of a brand new helmet for one of our students in need! If you are interested in volunteering at the Pedal Station, you can find more information on kidsonbikes.net.

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Renaissance Rally at EES

Evans Elementary has brought on Renaissance this school year through student recognition, staff rewards, some rebranding and most of all, a positive culture. On August 18th, EES held their first renaissance rally which was filled with games, school spirit and a challenge to earn perfect attendance next quarter. Rallies are a great way to get students excited about being a good citizen, academic growth and more. What a fun way to kick off the school year!

SRES Makes Math Fun For Families

On Thursday, 9/29, Springs Ranch had over 60 families attend Math Night. Families started in the gym with a presentation to learn about the importance of teaching math conceptually, the why behind many of the new math strategies students learn in school and the importance of having solid number sense foundation. Parents and students then moved to different locations to play math games together. Thank you to all that participated and the SRES staff for putting this on!

Bravo! Opera Singer Inspires at SCHS


Sand Creek High School celebrated National Hispanic Heritage Month on a high note on Sept. 23. Celebrated soprano, Cecelia López with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, shared inspiring words and a small sample of her sweet-sounding voice. Participants in the school’s female empowerment group, created last year to encourage female students to support and build up one another, attended to hear the singer’s story. Choir class students also listened attentively in the audience. López’s message: “It doesn’t matter what you decide to pursue … hard work always pays off.” “My hope is to give students a gentle reminder that what may seem impossible, really is possible,” said López.

Innovation & Growth

World Water Monitoring Day at HMS

Students at HMS celebrated World Water Monitoring Day on Friday, 9/30. Students learned why it’s important to understand a site by thinking about what’s upstream and the importance to be a good steward for those downstream. They were encouraged to live by the motto "Keep it Clean Cause We’re All Downstream". Thanks to our partners EarthEcho International and Jerry Cordova for taking the time to visit with our kiddos.

SCHS Students Selected for Coleman Park Planning

Business students from SCHS have been working with the City of Colorado Springs Park to plan the future Coleman Park, a 70 acre undeveloped park site near Tutt Boulevard and Barnes Road. The project involves three focus areas: active sports, Sand Creek and nature, and community park amenities. Students were able to give feedback on what should be in the park, what amenities should go where, and what the best layout could be. The organization held a community meeting later in the evening on 9/29 for anyone in the community that wanted to give feedback on the draft master plan.
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Upcoming Events

10/7: NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

10/8-10/23: Fall Break - NO SCHOOL

10/18: Mobile Market at HMS 4-5pm

10:28: Evans Trunk or Treat 4:30-6:30 | Remington Trunk or Treat 5-7pm | HMS Hauntcert 6pm

10/29: Boo Bash at SCHS 3-6pm

11/1: SCHS Dion's Fundraising Night

11/2: Parent Academy: Fentanyl and Other Drugs 6pm at SCHS

11/3: SES PTA Meeting 5:30pm

SCZ Family Experience Survey

Please take a moment to let us know how your family's experience has been in the Sand Creek Zone. We use this information to set goals, make action plans and evaluate how we are doing.

Family Education Opportunities

We will offer many opportunities for Family Education this year in the Sand Creek Zone. Check out some new offerings below:


  • Bullying - Stop the Cycle - Diversus Health on 10/13 at 6:30pm: Over the past several years bullying is a growing problem. Learn from Dr. Melissa Lopez-Larson as she teaches parents how to identify bullying, how to stop the bullying cycle, and strategies for prevention. This meeting is virtual via zoom. Register for the webinar here.
  • The Sand Creek Zone will offer its first Parent Academy: Fentanyl and Other Drugs on Wednesday, 11/2 in person at Sand Creek High School at 6pm. Join Lena Orcutt, D49 Nurse and Officer Dean Baird, D49 School Resource Office as they look at stats, signs/warnings of an overdoes, and more! Watch your email for more information on this event!
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