Dear Students, Staff and Parents,

Welcome to the 2015-2016 school year! We have so many wonderful new staff members and students to embrace as we propel toward the first day of school, Aug. 19. There are many celebrations to embrace this school year:

Our outstanding students out-performed the state average and much of the region with their eighth-grade Colorado Measures of Academic Success Science assessments!

We completed the largest remodel and renovation project our K-12 campus has experienced in decades last winter. Thanks for your support!

We're adding a landline phone system to increase communication and safety for all classrooms and offices.

We're implementing a 1-to-1 laptop program for all high school students to increase engagement and relevance.

We're adding air conditioning and a new middle school roof to the secondary side of campus.

We're replacing gutters on our K-12 campus with new rainwater-displacement systems.

We're replacing the old "Crow's Nest" with a structure designed to provide a safer and more advanced viewing, announcing, and recording of all field events.

I want to thank our dedicated, volunteer school board members for their patience, understanding, and trust through the challenges of preparing for this school year.

Big thank-you to our admin team and maintenance crew for the extra effort in preparing for the school year! A special thank-you to Karen Andrews for returning from retirement to support and lead our business office. She will be with us until Dec. 31. During this time, we will continue to search for the next business manager, who will train with Karen.

We're asking voters to renew our mill levy funds in November. To learn more about this need, please join us in the back room of the Ponderosa every Wednesday at 4 p.m. Hopes and dreams for our school district drive my work and I want to be able to add yours to the vision, so please do not hesitate to share them with me. I look forward to our future work together.

Scott Cooper

Dolores School District Superintendent

Spreading positivity

High school students are in for some "Locker Love" when school starts on Aug. 19. Teresa Howell, of the Pony Expresso, has handwritten 250 positive messages for students for every high school student, who will be greeted by the message on their locker when they enter the school. One of her favorite messages is, "Knowledge is not wisdom. It is what you do with that knowledge that brings forth wisdom."

Open houses

There will be an open house at the secondary school from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 17, the same day as the elementary open house.

This is a great opportunity for kids and parents to meet the new teachers. There are 21 new teachers at Dolores Schools this year.