Diverse offerings, unity of purpose

The St. Vrain Valley School District has faced its fair share of financial hardship during the past few years – not unlike any other school district in the nation – but that hasn’t slowed districtwide diversity in educational and technological offerings.

“We were helped by the ($188 million) bond in 2008, and because of that all of our schools are connected by fiber-optic lines,” said Chief Information Officer Joe McBreen.

“We’ve leveraged virtual desktops, and serve about 1,800 pages daily in that way, he said, adding that the district maintains “a minimum of one computing device (desktop and laptop computers, as well as mobile devices) for every three students.”

In addition to the bond for capital improvements, voters also approved a $16.9 million mill-levy override in 2008 to restore teaching positions, reduce class sizes, add Focus Programs and other more advanced courses, as well as update and improve technology. While the district continues to fight declining revenues and is facing about a $2 million budget shortfall for 2012-13, administrators point to those recent changes as part of a leaner district which actually has diversified its offering to students in the 51 schools it operates.

Thirteen communities make up the district, including Longmont, Broomfield, Dacono, Erie, Firestone, Frederick, Hygiene, Lyons, Mead, Niwot, Peaceful Valley and Raymond. Parts of Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer, and Weld counties fall within its boundaries. This district includes 26 elementary schools, nine middle schools, one middle/senior high school, seven high schools, two alternative schools and six charter schools.

Today, 29 of those schools now feature at least one Focus Program, which has increased the diversity and intensity of the district’s course offerings, according to Connie Syferd, the assistant superintendent for achievement. Those programs range from core knowledge and integrated arts programs offered at different elementary schools and advanced-placement preparatory programs at middle schools to high school programs concentrating on science, technology, engineering and math, or leadership — and even a Mandarin Chinese program available in Erie schools.

Syferd said the programs have not been budget busters, but they have taken some effort to fund. “We used what funds we had available, but we also wrote every grant we could possibly find,” she said.

The district also partners with local industry and business partners to diversify educational offerings, such as the Innovation Academy for a Smarter Planet, a summer program designed in partnership with IBM Corp. The program is taught collaboratively by district educators and IBM employees, and in its second year has expanded the opportunity for the district’s middle-school students to work on various community-related issues.

The variety that exists in program development is something the district also would like to see duplicated in the methods used to teach traditional curriculum, a place in which technology is playing a part. The district has put in place programs to enhance technology in the classroom, first by making sure teachers understand their options, McBreen said.

“Teachers compete to go into a two-year development program (the Digital Learning Collaborative) that meets at least twice a month to integrate technology into the classroom,” he said. “It’s not so much on how to use technology – these are not skill classes – as to determine when technology is important.”

Students at all St. Vrain schools can log into the district’s wireless network or a wireless network designed for public Internet options. Smart phones can go from being a classroom distraction to an educational enhancement, McBreen noted, when their apps interact with web-based educational resources being viewed by the entire class.

Because the district serves so many small communities, most of which have a proud history of supporting their high school sports teams, it can often seem that the district does not support a large diversity of sports programs. However, when a sport is not offered at the school a student-athlete attends, there is no problem with competing at a school which does offer the sport.

Kathleen Leiding, the athletic director for Lyons Middle/Senior High School, said that can be important for students at smaller schools, such as her own, which may not offer programs such as lacrosse or hockey. A student can compete in those sports at a different school, but could still be available to continue the proud tradition of the hometown football team, for instance.

“Our kids are not remotely hindered by what they can do,” said Leiding, who has taught in Lyons for more than 20 years. “We stay true to what we offer and try to keep competitive at it.”

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