Weekly Superintendent Update, Feb. 18
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I want to start off by expressing my deepest condolences to everyone who knew and loved Rocio Roybal. Rocio, who was an assistant principal at Fruita Monument High School, passed away this week. Rocio was a D51 graduate who worked in our district for more than 30 years and was a valued member of the D51 Family. Counseling services are available for students and staff are encouraged to utilize our Employee Assistance Program.
I also want to celebrate our KIC Week (Kindness is Contagious) organizers for all they did to spread kindness in their schools and in the community this week. Participating schools had theme days all this week, including wearing green on Wednesday for Mental Health Awareness. Fruita 8/9 students painted messages of positivity on Mesa County Sheriff’s Office patrol cars on Monday. Even our littlest students got involved in spreading kindness - Dual Immersion Academy had a T-shirt design contest and printed up shirts for each student celebrating kindness.
In addition, I want to celebrate our students and faculty who participate in clubs across the school district. I recently had the honor of skiing with one of our clubs at Grand Junction High School and was amazed at the organization, preparation, and dedication that went into making the trip possible for many students. Our students benefit greatly from the variety of clubs and activities we have in our schools, and the staff (in this case, Steve Brown and Justin Whiteford) and parents who oversee these clubs do exceptional work and work hard with the resorts so the cost is very reasonable for our students!
Also, I would like to wish our boys and girls wrestlers and bowlers luck; the CHSAA State Wrestling Tournament is taking place Feb. 17-19 in Denver and the CHSBF State Bowling Tournament is taking place Feb. 19-20 in Grand Junction. Plus, our basketball teams are heading into games over the next two days that will determine qualification and seeding for the state brackets in the weeks to come.
Finally, I want to make sure you all have a chance to read the Winter 2022 State of our Schools report. This quarterly update has great information about our schools, our students and staff, the Board of Education and district initiatives. The report is available to the public on the front page of our website, d51schools.org.