PSD Planning for New School Year

Welcome to a New School Year in Poudre School District

Teachers, principals, support staff and administration in Poudre School District are excitedly preparing for the new school year!  School begins August 20 for students in grades 7-12, and August 21 for students in kindergarten through grade 6. (Exceptions: Poudre and Fossil Ridge high schools and Polaris Expeditionary School--all classes begin August 21.)

The Bus Schedule will be online by August 10.  Check back here for complete information.

Here’s a look at what’s new for 2007-08.

New Schools Welcome Students

• Rice Elementary School will open fall 2007 west of I-25 in The Knolls housing development inside the Town of Wellington limits.  As the Wellington community’s second elementary, Rice Elementary will relieve overcrowding at Eyestone Elementary.   The new school is named for Ed Rice, Jr., a long-time teacher and principal in the Wellington community and Fort Collins schools.
  
• Polaris Expeditionary Learning School, (formerly the PIONEER School for Expeditionary Learning charter), will open at Fossil Ridge High School, 5400 Zeigler Road.  During the 2007–08 school year, the Pioneer program will be housed at Fossil Ridge High School, using the “school within a school” concept.  The program is for students in grades 7-12, and combines rigorous academic content and real world experiences and includes exciting adventure programs that take students to places like Moab, Mexico and Santa Fe. Joe Gawronski has been named assistant principal to direct Polaris Expeditionary Learning School.
  
• New Elementary School planned for Timnath.  A new elementary school is under construction in the Timnath area, and the building is scheduled to open Fall 2008.  The building will be designed around the district's current "prototype" elementary school and will be named to honor a prominent educator this fall. PSD will accept nominations for names in September.

PSD will move forward with major initiatives in the coming year

The PSD Board of Education adopted a plan to move to Kindergarten-5th grade, 6th-8th grade, and/or Kindergarten-8th grade, and 9-12 high schools in a three- or four-year phase in process.  These changes will allow PSD to:

• Encourage more students to complete Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) and dual-enrollment college classes;
• Better prepare students for post-secondary challenges and options;
• Assure more students complete high school;
• Design graduation requirements that present students with additional pathways; and
• Create more early childhood education opportunities.

In addition, task forces will come together to make recommendations regarding boundary changes, small schools, and school choice transportation.  Watch for monthly updates in school newsletters and online at www.psdschools.org. 

Changes In Leadership Announced

• Kevin Hahn, Ph.D., formerly Director of Student Achievement in Aurora Public Schools, has been selected as Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Schools, replacing Ron Maulsby, who is retiring.  During his 23 years as an educator, Kevin has served as an elementary and middle school teacher and principal in Weld County #6, St. Vrain, and Cherry Creek school districts. 
  Dr. Hahn will oversee PSD’s 31 elementary schools and 2 charter schools, and work closely with Manny Ortega, the Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Schools.
  
• Jan Borman, formerly a principal and student achievement coach in PSD, has been selected as PSD’s executive director of student achievement and professional development.
  
• Chuck DeWayne, currently serving as PSD’s director of assessment and accreditation, has been named director of curriculum, instruction and assessment.  In this new position, DeWayne’s primary job will be to integrate the important roles the department of curriculum and instruction have filled with the assessment and accreditation duties of his current department. 
  
• Scott French has been named director of transportation.  French has been involved with the transportation industry since 1975 and most recently served as director of transportation for Aurora Public Schools, where he directed the transportation of approximately 11,000 students and managed the scheduling, dispatching, and fleet maintenance operations of the department.
  

New Principals Named

• Scott Nielsen is the new principal of Preston Jr. High School. Mr. Nielsen has 15 years of teaching and administrative experience; during the last 10 years, he has taught and coached at Preston and Lincoln Jr. High schools.
  
• Monique Flickinger, formerly principal at Evanston Middle School in Evanston, Wyoming, is the new Principal for Lincoln Junior High.  Flickinger has 5 years of experience as a middle school principal or assistant principal and 9 years as a teacher in language arts and deaf education.  Before becoming Principal in Evanston, Flickinger was an Assistant Principal for 3 years at a middle school in Washington.
  
• Guillermo Medina brings 20 years of teaching and administrative experience to his new role as interim principal at Irish Elementary School.   Medina has taught primary and special education students throughout the district and has served as administrative assistant at Laurel, Irish, and Shepardson elementary schools.  
  
• Steve Apodaca brings 9 years of administrative and teaching experience to his new position as principal of Putnam Elementary School of Science.  Apodaca has served as assistant principal at Lincoln IB World Jr. High School since 2004.
  
• Karen Koehn had been named principal at Rice Elementary School, scheduled to open fall 2007 in the Wellington community. 
  
• Hayden Camp, currently serving as interim principal at Werner Elementary School, has been named ongoing principal at Werner beginning with the 2007-08 school year.  
  
• Bob Kulovany, formerly principal of PSD’s three Mountain Elementary Schools for the past eight years, has been named principal at McGraw International Baccalaureate (IB) World School.  Kulovany replaces Cindi Way, who is retiring.
  
• Patrick Kind has been named new interim Mountain Schools principal for Red Feather, Livermore, and Stove Prairie elementary schools. Kind has served the past two years at Red Feather Elementary School as their head teacher and 5th and 6th grade teacher. Prior to his current assignment, Patrick taught at Dunn Elementary, Werner Elementary and helped open the new Bacon Elementary School.  Kind is replacing Bob Kulovany.
  
• Kristin Stolte has been named interim principal at Shepardson Elementary for the 2007-08 school year while principal Mary Kay Sommers serves her term as president of the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP).  Stolte, currently a 5th-grade teacher at Shepardson, taught school in Owatonna, MN., and Bettendorf, Iowa, before joining PSD in 2006.  She has served in a number of leadership positions in the areas of curriculum and instruction, staff development, school improvement, and community and parent involvement.