The first bit of good news came when the staff at the Dolores Elementary School learned they were the recipient of a grant from the Buell Foundation for a transition project. The grant will help ease children's transition from the Teddy Bear Preschool to the elementary school.
"The grant will help us better meet the needs of our students and their families as they transition from preschool to the elementary school," Dolores Elementary School Principal Sherri Maxwell said.
The grant will allow the schools to hire a transition coordinator to plan activities over the next few months. The program is expected to be fully implemented during this school year and a transition committee is expected to form. If you are interested in joining the transition committee, contact either Maxwell or the Director of the Teddy Bear Preschool, Valiena Rosenkrance.
Grant to help reading
The second grant is one from the Three Rivers Education Foundation in Farmington, N.M. The grant went to Dolores School District, Montezuma-Cortez School District and the Silverton School District because they were identified as areas of need for literacy development. The grant will likely expand summer school and after school tutoring. Currently, a county-wide coordinator position is being advertised. Once a person is hired, more details will be forthcoming about how the grant will be used.
It also looks as if this grant will get the schools more books and family reading nights.
Anonymous donor helps out
In addition, the school district also learned, thanks to a generous anonymous donor of about $10,000, the school will get a new sound system. The sound and speaker system will hopefully be installed before the secondary school's theatre production and before the winter program. This was a much-needed addition to the school. There is nothing more frustrating than to see kids work so hard for their programs and as a parent in the audience not able to hear them.
Enrollment near record high
The Dolores Re-4A official student count was handed out at the school board meeting last Thursday and it looked good. The Dolores schools narrowly missed beating its all-time high for student enrollment by one child.
According to the report, 796 students are attending Dolores schools this year. In 2002, the highest year ever, there was 797 students at Dolores schools.
Last year, 775 students attended Dolores schools and in 2012, 784 students attended Dolores schools. Those numbers are big jumps from 689 students in 2010.
Schedule
11/18 - MSBBB - St. Columba (B Team) @ Durango - 4:30pm
11/19 - Winter Sports Pictures.
11/19 - HSVB - end of season banquet - 6:15 - 8pm
11/20 - MSBBB - Moab (A,B,C) - Home - 4:30pm - Concessions by 6th Grade
11/21 Pickles and popcorn at the Dolores Elementary School
11/21 Character Day Assembly in the Aux. Gym at 2:30
11/21 - HS Wrestling - Scrimmage @ Durango - 5pm
11/22 - MSBBB - Tri-Nucla/Telluride @ Nucla - 10am
11/23 to 28 Thanksgiving Break
12/4 Dolores Elementary PTA meeting at 8:15 a.m.
12/5 - MSVB Banquet - Commons - 6pm
12/6 No School/ Staff PLC
12/18 Elementary Winter Program 7 p.m. in the Aux. Gym
12/22 to Jan. 5 Winter Break