Herald HRH 5-16-13
Highlands Ranch
Douglas County, Colorado • Volume 26, Issue 26
May 16, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourhighlandsranchnews.com
Budget to boost teachers’ salaries District also proposes higher per-student funding By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com
SkyView Academy fifth-grader Madison Barton grips the American flag during a Civil War re-enactment May 7 at Chatfield State Park. Fifth-graders from Colorado Academy and SkyView participated in re-creating the Battle of Antietam, which took place in 1862 in Maryland. Photos by Ryan Boldrey
Skyview students go to
‘battle’
Fifth-graders re-enact noted Civil War fight By Ryan Boldrey
rboldrey@ourcoloradonews.com
T
he battle lines were drawn as Union soldiers charged into Confederate territory and partook in the re-creation of the single bloodiest day in American history. And for the SkyView Academy fifthgraders, who got to act out the Battle of Antietam May 7 at Chatfield State Park, it will no doubt be a day they never forget. “Sometimes learning about history can be a little boring and tedious, but getting to act it out is really fun,” said Cambrie Vergeire, who played the part of a private in the Confederate army. “I’ve always wanted to be an actor so it was a chance to see what that’s like and we also got to learn about what it is like to be a soldier, all the walking and marching and having guns. It’s good we don’t have to go through what they did.” Cambrie will not only take her lessons learned with her, but will have the chance to watch her acting debut after a 30-min-
ute DVD of the battle is compiled. The school, which joined up with Colorado Academy on its field trip, partnered for the second consecutive year with You Can Live History, a Colorado nonprofit that has reached more than 100,000 students in 22 years throughout Colorado and Wyoming, putting together re-enactments, filming them, and educating the students about the battles. “There were 23,000 soldiers killed, missing or wounded during 12 hours in the Battle of Antietam,” said Darrell Osburn, president and founder of the organization. “To put it in perspective, on 9/11 we lost 3,000 people in one day, and the population of the United States was almost exactly one-tenth what it is now back then. People don’t realize what a big deal it was. It affects our nation and our politics to this day.” Osburn said the goal of the re-enactments is to get the students excited about history, and that the more they learn about war, the more he hopes they will work for peace.
That goal resonated with fifth-grader Maxim Grenier, who entered the re-enactment with a passion for history and a desire to someday become a soldier. Afterward, Maxim said he no longer wanted to be a soldier. “I comprehended what it was like being right in the middle of battle and getting to feel what the soldiers felt with all the casualties and people dying around them,” said Maxim, who portrayed a Confederate sergeant major. SkyView teacher Erin Bidwell doesn’t remember what side she was on as a Denver Christian student in 1997, but she did recall participating in one of Osburn’s battles, which prompted the inclusion of his field days to the school’s lesson plans. “It was one thing that I still remembered from fifth grade,” she said. “It’s fun to get the students excited about history and to know they get to experience it rather than just read about it in a book or watch a video. This is what it would be like, or at least as close as we can get it to.”
The Douglas County School District plans an average 4 percent pay increase for teachers in 2013-14, one of several good-news budget recommendations announced May 7. But under the district’s new pay-forperformance program, not all teachers are guaranteed an increase. Teachers rated “ineffective” would not get more money, according to DCSD. Pay for performance is “a bit of a change from the past,” said school board president John Carson. “But we expect, by and large, teachers are going to do well under (pay for performance), so on average it’s going to be 4 percent.” Carson DCSD cites the improving state economy and in-district savings for allowing the budget changes, which also include more money for students and the elimination of a $25 parent-paid technology fee. The expected state-provided per-pupil revenue will increase by about $165 per student. The district also will add its own money to that pot for a total funding increase of $200 per student, which totals $11.2 million. “We’re going to be able to put $200 more (per student) into the classrooms because we’ve found efficiencies in the overall budget, so we can do even a little better than what we’re getting from the state,” Carson said. DCSD plans to cover the $2.2 million annual increase in contributions to the Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado, and the $1.2 million increase in medical plan costs for all teachers. That leaves $12 million — or 4 percent — for salaries, half of which will be a permanent pay increase and the other half a one-year, one-time bump. “This will be our second consecutive year of raises after a number of years where the economy didn’t allow for raises,” Carson said. “Now we’re back on track to where we think we’ll be able to continue giving our teachers regular raises.” How much — or whether — each teacher’s paycheck will grow hinges on a complex set of factors. DCSD’s new, controversial evaluation system categorizes an educator’s teaching style on a range from “highly effective” to “ineffective.” Pay increases are based in part on that rating. Pay also is determined by a teacher’s placement on the market-based pay scale. It established a salary range based on subject matter, with higher salaries given to those who provide instruction in more complex or specialized areas. For instance, a social studies or business teacher falls into a lower-paying salary band than a science or Chinese language teacher. The two scales are tightly enmeshed. So Budget continues on Page 13
From left, SkyView Academy fifth-graders Patrick Allpass, Karson Hanak and Earl Stephens prepare for a mock battle May 7 at Chatfield State Park. The boys were playing roles of Confederate soldiers during a re-enactment of the Battle of Antietam, the Civil War’s bloodiest single-day battle.
“Union soldiers” from SkyView Academy and Colorado Academy prepare to march into Confederate territory during a re-enactment of the Battle of Antietam.
Printed on recycled newsprint. Please recycle this copy.