Jeffco Schools Quarterly May 2014 Vol. 7 No. 1
A Jeffco Schools Publication
www.jeffcopublicschools.org Our Mission
Warren Tech students practice for real life Chatfield High School and Warren Tech student Jacob Gilchrist was in command. He led his fire science team towards a car on fire at the Jeffco Sheriff and Fairmount Fire Joint Training Center off of Highway 93. With sirens blaring, the fire engine raced by victims, being played by students pretending to be injured and unconscious. Gilchrist and his team dragged out the hose to fight the fire. Once it was out, fire science instructor Tim Vaninger stepped in. “When you came straight into the scene you had tunnel vision,” explained Vaninger. “We should have stopped and thought it out, “Hey, this isn’t just a car fire, we’ve got way too many people who are hurt. Let’s stop and evaluate, but, now it’s too late because you are all contaminated with sarin gas.” The emergency scene was all part of a mock emergency exercise that included 20 Jeffco high schools and 240 Warren Tech students spanning over 12 educational programs including fire science, emergency medicine and cosmetology. Warren Tech partnered with the Fairmount Fire Protection District, Jefferson County Sheriff ’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, St. Anthony Hospital, Flight for Life, Stadium Medical, Arvada Police Department, Adams County Sheriff ’s Office and the Colorado State Patrol. “I love how real it is,” said Warren Tech cosmetology student Grace Roberts, as she applied red, blood-like makeup on another student who played the part of an accident victim.
To provide a quality education that prepares all children for a successful future. Jeffco Public Schools is home to nearly 86,000 of Colorado's finest students. Step inside one of our 154 schools and you will see a staff dedicated to building a bright future for every student. Our staff is supported by a committed school board, involved parents and a caring community that combine to provide a quality education that prepares all children for a promising future.
“Everyone’s coming together. This is an awesome opportunity.” It was the first time Warren Tech had staged a field exercise this large. “This exercise is such a large scale,” said student fire commander Gilchrist. “It is more real life, more realistic, so you get a feel for what the job is actually going to be like.” Warren Tech science instructor Arlie Huffman said the exercise played an important role in the students’ educations. “It’s the most important piece of all because it takes everything they have been learning over the last year or two at Warren
Warren Tech fire science student Jacob Gilchrist leads his team while instructor Tim Vaninger observes. Warren Tech cosmetology student Grace Roberts applies make up on Paul Grubb.
Tech and puts it all together,” she said. Student commander Gilchrist discovered he failed to thoughtfully approach the car fire. “Hopefully, I can learn from it,” Gilchrist said.
“Better here than in real life.” Warren Tech emergency management instructor Chris Mailliard answered, “We want to fail in this exercise, so we don’t fail in real life.”
The gift of graduation
Wheat Ridge High School Assistant Principal Ken Trager and senior Taylor Roberts teamed up to keep Taylor on track to graduation.
Wheat Ridge High School (WRHS) senior Taylor Roberts hit an obstacle on the track to graduation. Her personal life had become overwhelming and she wanted to give up – but, the people in her life weren’t ready to give up on her. Taylor had dropped out. “I was struggling a lot with life in general, friends, family and just everything,” she said. “I thought I would dropout, get my GED and start working and that didn’t work out, it’s not that easy.” Her mom, Julie, didn’t know where to turn. “I ended up on the Jeffco Schools website searching to find another option for her and I stumbled across the dropout prevention site.” She called Jeffco’s Dropout Prevention and Recovery department where she met Jason Firestone. “Without Jason I don’t know where
Taylor would be,” she added. “He’s a great motivator and there’s no way she would be back in school without him.” Jeffco’s 2012-13 on-time graduation rate for neighborhood high schools moved from 88.3 to 89 percent. The increase shows the district’s emphasis on maintaining an upward trend in graduation rates while lowering the district’s drop-out rate. “In 2011-12 we had 853 students who dropped out and last year we had 710 students,” said Dave Kollar, director of Dropout Prevention and Recovery. “We’re excited about the reduction and that is Jeffco’s lowest dropout rate ever.” Kollar and Firestone said the positive change in Jeffco’s dropout rates can only be achieved when schools, programs, community agencies and interventions work together.
“We play the role of the mediator and our goal is to remove any obstacles in a student’s way that may discourage or distract them from their goal of graduating,” said Firestone. He scheduled a meeting with Taylor, her mom and WRHS Assistant Principal Ken Trager and within a few days, Taylor reenrolled at Wheat Ridge. The WRHS staff will admit they took risks with Taylor by allowing her to return to school. “We went through a pretty rough stretch and some tough decisions before we could take another chance on her,” said Trager. “We didn’t give up and put some tools in place to help her get through the tough times.” Trager and Principal Griff Wirth sat down and talked about what they teach their students. “Our staff has talked a lot about perseverance and grit and how
those characteristics are lacking in some of our students because they quit and give up too easily.” They decided to practice what they preach and not quit on kids. “It doesn’t work for us as a staff to teach that, if we’re not going to live it as well,” said Trager. Taylor’s mom said her daughter was so grateful to the Wheat Ridge staff for giving her another chance. “She told me she wanted to get Mr. Trager a present,” she said. “I told her that the biggest gift she could give him is graduating.” Taylor can’t wait to have her mom watch her accept her diploma in May along with the other graduates. With her degree in one hand and an acceptance letter to Community College of Denver in the other, Taylor’s dream of becoming a veterinarian is closer than ever to becoming a reality.