Voice
LONE TREE 2.28.13
Lone Tree
Douglas County, Colorado • Volume 12, Issue 7
SNOW MUCH FUN
February 28, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourlonetreenews.com
Adult shop sues city over ban Merchandiser says ordinance unconstitutional By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com
Jody Stephens-Ho, of Parker, gives her son Tanner Ho, 3, a push down the hill at Centennial Ridge Park in Lone Tree on Feb. 21. In the background, Kathi Nelson, Alex Schultz and Konner Nelson also get ready for a trip down the snowy hill. Several rounds of snow moved through the area in the past week, slowing commutes, delaying schools and enticing kids to play outside. Photo by Courtney Kuhlen
Teachers zero in on ‘world-class’ targets 160 educators help develop system to enhance learning By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com The phrase “world-class education” can be difficult to put into tangible terms. Its definition centers on a method of instruction designed to meet a technologycentric, rapidly changing and increasingly global economy. Imagine then, the daunting task given to the 169 Douglas County teachers recently tasked with defining their own world-class education targets. The teachers spent four Saturdays establishing the standards they and their peers will aspire to meet, and upon which their pay will be partially based. The world-class targets include 12 phrases, among them “sustainable learning,” “backward planning,” “21st-century skills” and “student engagement.” Teachers, who were paid for their outside-the-classroom time, helped flesh out and bring life to those terms. “It was hard work,” said Pine Grove Elementary School teacher Kathy Lucas, “hard in the sense we were doing something out of our comfort zone.” The targets are part of the district’s world-class education curriculum, which also includes a pay-for-performance system in which teachers are paid based on their effectiveness. It’s a shift away from pay based on experience levels and extended education. And while it’s similar to a new state-level system, DCSD believes its evaluation is more rigorous and, ultimately, will produce better-prepared students. The ratings range from “ineffective” to “highly effective,” and are outlined in a teacher evaluation system called Continuous Improvement for Teacher Effectiveness, or CITE. Teachers evaluate themselves, as do supervisors, according to CITE guidelines. The 12 world-class targets go a step beyond CITE.
Douglas County School District teachers, including Robin Murray, Nancy Spreigl, Katie Jones and Karin Stanforth, discuss the world-class targets during a recent Saturday work session. Courtesy photo WORLD-CLASS EDUCATION TARGETS
12 – Number of world-class education targets 169 – Teachers helping develop criteria 4 – Saturdays teachers spent on the work
$125,425 – Dollars paid to teachers for their work 768 – Water bottles consumed during the work 420 – Cups of coffee consumed 120 – Cups of tea
The 12 world-class targets: Leadership, Sustainable Learning, Advocacy for All, Backward Planning, Alignment, Professional Growth & Development, Restorative Practices, 21st-Century Skills Integration, Student Engagement, Authentic Assessment, Student Satisfaction, Parent Satisfaction “If you attained the highly-effective rating at the end of any year, you can then go and earn extra incentive for hitting some of those world-class education targets,” said Lucas, who is in her 20th year of teaching. It’s confusing in the best of times, but even more so because the Douglas County School District is on a fast track to make over its educational standards. “This year is probably the biggest change,” Lucas said. “I think it’s because
there are so many things rolling out new at the same time. It’s change, and it’s a little scary. “Nobobdy has given us a script. We’re building this system as we go along. That doesn’t give teachers a lot of comfort, but if you’re a good teacher, you don’t let that get in your way.” Lucas used her fourth-graders’ book project as an example of putting the worldclass education targets into action. Her students studied character traits, with a focus on bullying. Each of them then wrote a book about bullying, which they shared with kindergarten students. Now, students are converting the paper books into e-books, which they’ll share with students in New York who are their pen pals. Those fourth-graders may in turn share the books with kindergarteners in New York. The long-term project ties together all 12 targets. School board president John Carson said the teachers’ results are exciting. “All the board has ever said is we believe compensation and ratings and evaluations should be improved to measure results in the classroom,” he said. “We have always said we want it to be a system developed by the teachers — the education professionals.”
Fascinations adult merchandiser filed a suit against the City of Lone Tree for a hasty change in its rules that barred the business from its family-friendly Entertainment District. The only information available about the case is from a U.S. District Court filing that pits BH Ventures, dba Fascinations, against the city. Fascinations representatives did not return calls for comment. And city officials, who discussed the suit during a Feb. 19 executive session, are saying little. “We will vigorously defend our ordinances,” said City Attorney Neil Rutledge. But the documents say plenty. In them, Fascinations claims Lone Tree cost it thousands in earnest money, architectural fees and potential business and deprived the company of rights guaranteed by both the state and U.S. constitutions. Fascinations wants portions of the city’s municipal code and the ordinance regulating sexually oriented businesses declared unconstitutional, as well as an unspecified amount of money for both perceived damages and attorney’s fees. Fascinations proposed in mid-2012 converting the former Blue Rox restaurant in Lone Tree’s Entertainment District into a store selling lingerie and sexual devices, among other items. The city council approved an application last month from pizza restaurateur Mellow Mushroom for that same Park Meadows Drive building. In accordance with state law, the city designated an area north of C-470 near Home Depot for sexually oriented businesses. That area is more appropriate for such a use than the movie-theater-anchored Entertainment District, officials believe. Fascinations already had obtained a business license, paid a $15,000 non-refundable deposit and scheduled a June 29 closing on the property when its plans in the Entertainment District were halted, according to the court documents. On June 26, eight days after Fascinations submitted a site improvement plan, the city council adopted an emergency ordinance that changed the definition of sexually oriented businesses. It effectively disallowed Fascinations from moving forward with its plan. The amended ordinance expanded the definition of sexually oriented businesses to include those selling sexual devices, in addition to the already included adult books, novelties and videos. It also defined such a business as one that devotes at least 5 percent of its stock or floor space to, receives at least 5 percent of its revenues from or spends at least 5 percent of its ad revenue on sexual devices or items related to sexual activity. Fascinations claims the stricter ordinance was adopted despite its offer not to sell any DVDs, videos or publications in its proposed Lone Tree store that would meet the city’s definition of adult materials. City Manager Jack Hidahl told a Fascinations representative that council members were concerned about the proposal, “and since Lone Tree was a conservative town, Lawsuit continues on Page 6
Printed on recycled newsprint. Please recycle this copy.