Juniors Go online or ask for essay portion of the SAT or Contact me.

Thank you,

Adele Alfson

Hello Center Parents/Guardians-

I am going to write this letter as the Principal of CHS and our URGENT times for educational opportunities. We all know that we are fully engaged in a worldwide pandemic right now. In education it would be easy to just blame the systematic circumstances for our students lack of education. Using that excuse of the pandemic is not in my personal DNA.

We can and have educated our students during these times. We can continue to improve. Our teacher’s and support staff continue to show up 4-5 days a week. We have a system that increases expectations for students to work independently on Monday and Tuesday’s. Students who are coming on campus on Wednesday and Thursday… we expect our teachers and students to get a good solid educational experience for those 2 days. I am holding myself accountable for each individual student. I am challenging our teachers to contact you if we fall behind in attendance, effort and grades with a parent contact. Looking at our data in the fall, students that had poor attendance and did not do their work at all had poor grades and fell behind in their high school credits.

This must change and we are implementing ZAP (Zero’s Aren’t Permitted). We will be holding Friday school for students that are not finishing their work. We want to do everything in our means this spring to give students content knowledge and help move them on their track to graduation. I am asking that ALL parents and guardians hold themselves and their students accountable for this systematic approach.

I will be personally doing a bunch of virtual home visits during and after school. Please be willing to talk to your student about their schoolwork, attendance, assignments, assessments and check their grades on Infinite Campus often! If you do not know how to do this. Please call 719-754-2232 and ask for Debra.

At CHS we will continue to have Monday and Tuesday assignments that are done virtually. Please encourage your student to be here on Wednesday and Thursday. WE are in this together. If you have any questions, please contact me.

Thanks-

Kevin Jones

Center High School Principal

As a scholar growing up I dreaded doing and submitting homework. Back then I thought that the homework I was completing was repetitive and did not really teach me anything new. I was wrong! Homework is not about simply practice and repetition. In fact, it is about mastery of skills which can then be applied and transferred to new situations. The promise of education is not about teaching students a bunch of facts they can recite from memory. It is about activating our thinking potential to be able to navigate through life and figure things out. Homework is part of that. It helps teachers know what students learned and what they need more instruction on. I look at homework similar to an X-ray at the doctor’s office. X-rays are meant to let the doctor know what bone I have broken and needs healing.

Think of homework as an X-ray of a student’s learning. Now, imagine a doctor putting a cast on my leg when I broke my arm. Does that sound ridiculous? I hope it does because it is. If students do not complete homework, teachers are unable to assess their learning and in essence they might be putting a cast on a leg when the arm is really what is broken. As a principal it worries that this might be happening because we do not get enough homework submitted. I am asking parents and students for help in making sure homework is getting submitted. It is not just about passing classes and getting a good grade, it is about laying the foundation for adulthood and future educational endeavors. Thanks for reading.

Luis Murillo

Middle School Principal