May 12, 2016
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Teams look toward the post-season as spring sports start to wind down on PAGE 19.
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ARVADA’S BUDDING ARBORISTS
ADVOCATE FOR VICTIMS For one Arvada teen, fighing against sexual abuse is a personal mission. PAGE 5
Jeffco schools budget explored Board of Education prioritizes pay, mental health in new plan By Crystal Anderson canderson@coloradocommunitymedia.com To make Jefferson County school district jobs more competitive, the school board has allocated $24.5 million for compensation increases to all employees. “I believe our directive has been very consistently that we want to compensate comparably all employees across all groups,” said board President Ron Mitchell. “I hope that we have put enough money in the placeholder that will do that.” On June 2, the board is scheduled to approve the 2016-17 school year budget, including the placeholder for additional employee compensation, pending the outcome of ongoing negotiations with the teachers’ union and the classified workers’ union. This year, the district has a roughly $1 billion budget to operate from, a number that staff said is not reflective of the actual spending, but rather represents each dollar which moves through the district. For information about what is funded, refer to the draft budget at www.jeffcopublicschools.org/finance/index.html. Jeffco as a whole Jeffco is the state’s second-largest district with 86,000 students and 14,000 staff, of which 5,000 are licensed professionals. Currently, 77 percent of the district’s budget goes toward compensation, a major item in the budget and one on the minds of teachers and professional support staff across the district. General Fund The General Fund is the district’s largest individual fund and is responsible Schools continues on Page 6
“I want to help the environment with more oxygen,” said Peck Elementary sixth-grade student, Beto Garza. “There’s less trees in the city than there are in forest or farms.” On Friday, May 6, some 50 students from Peck Elementary paired up with 11 city parks and forestry workers to plant trees in Ladybird Park, 6560 Dover St., in celebration of Arbor Day and Arvada’s 25th recognition as a Tree City USA. “We in Arvada take a lot of pride in our trees and we like to take good care of them,” said Craig Hillegas, the city’s forester. Photo by Crystal Anderson
Time traveling through words Writing challenge recognizes student writers in Jeffco By Christy Steadman csteadman@coloradocommunitymedia.com An awards ceremony for the Education Nonprofit Corporation’s third annual Jeffco Writing Challenge took place May 3 in the student center at Colorado School of Mines in Golden. The theme this year was time travel. Some students wrote about meeting dinosaurs or famous people. Some wrote about where they’d like a to travel. Others wrote about building a time machine or why they would travel back in time — or to the future. About 45 K-12 students from the Jefferson County school district were Writing continues on Page 7
ABOUT THE SPONSOR The Education Nonprofit Corporation is an organization dedicated to the advancement of education. It is based in Golden and serves students and schools across Jefferson County. To learn more, visit www.educationnonprofitcorp.com or call 800-978-4290.
Ninth-grade students hold up their certificates for winning the Education Nonprofit Corporation’s third annual Jeffco Writing Challenge during an awards ceremony which took place May 3 in the student center at Colorado School of Mines in Golden. From left is first place winner Madisen Hallsten of Dakota Ridge High School in Littleton and second place winner Alex Abarro of Arvada West High School. Third-place winner Marlena Ramirez of Wheat Ridge High School was not pictured. Photo by Christy Steadman