Principal’s message:
Dear Columbine Students, Parents, and Guardians,
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the 2023-24 school year. As we are getting under way, I want to invite all of you to participate in the events that are provided to our families this school year. If there are ever any questions or concerns, please know that I maintain an open door/phone/email policy that allows you to reach out to me at any time. It is my belief that open and honest communication provides us all with a pathway of understanding to do what is best for all our students.
Please pay close attention to the first day of school schedule. With the school year starting on a Monday this year, we want to provide our new 6th grade students an opportunity to navigate the building without the distraction of 7th and 8th graders. This the reasoning behind bringing only 6th graders in on Monday August 14, 2023. We know that we will have new 7th and 8th graders attending Columbine and want to provide them the afternoon of August 14th (from 1:00pm-3:30pm) to come in and meet their teachers and see the layout of the building. This means that the majority of 7th and 8th grade students will not have their official first day of school until August 15, 2023. We appreciate your understanding with the timing of the first two days, and the thought process behind why we are staggering the start of the school year.
This year, Columbine’s Action and Professional Development plan continues to align with the MCSD Strategic Plan. Our areas of focus will be co-teaching with our ESS and CLD student populations, purposeful lesson planning that align with the Colorado Academic Standards, and providing students and staff multiple opportunities to build on the high-quality climate and culture for which our school is known. CMS will also continue to leverage the Instructional Framework developed last year, as it is embedded in our district’s 9 PLP (Professional Learning and Planning) days.
While staffing across the district has been a challenge, Columbine continues to try and find the highest quality educators to work with our students. Currently, all core content areas are fully staffed apart from our half time GATE educator. Administration will keep making a good faith effort to find a highly qualified employee to fill that position.
As mentioned, please do not hesitate to reach out to the school if you have any questions regarding the start of the 2023-24 school year. We look forward to having a great year working with all our Columbine families.
Yours in service,
Eric Sanchez
Principal
Columbine Middle School