Over the past year on a half, I have come to learn of the great advantages our students at East Grand have.  Our students are successful both in school as well as when they leave Middle Park High School.  We cannot pinpoint all of the reasons for this success, as we are not more wealthy or privileged than other districts.  We can point to a few glaring advantages we have at East Grand that do not exist in many of the other districts I have been a part of.

One advantage is that there is an expectation of learning and growing both within each of our schools and within the community as a whole.  The best part of my job is walking through each school during the day and seeing a culture of learning.  I also enjoy meeting with parents and community members who not only support that expectation, they hold the schools accountable for success.  We sometimes get isolated in Grand County but I can assure you that this culture does not exist in many places.

Another advantage we have is that our teachers and staff are dedicated to continual improvement.  We often talk about modeling for our students and if we expect students to show growth everyday then we as a staff need to do the same.  This group of educators has embraced the idea of growth and work hard to improve their practice as much as they expect students to do the same.

One last advantage is that our community gives tremendous support to our schools.  In the elementary buildings we often see volunteers helping individual or small groups of students gain better understanding of the subject they are working on.  In the middle school you will often see community members as guest speakers or partnering with teachers on projects.  At the high school, our community supports our students as they begin to explore job and/or scholarship opportunities.

East Grand is considered a small district in the state of Colorado but we are providing our students a great education that rivals any district in the state.  East Grand School District is a District of Distinction as well as being recognized as one of the best districts for sending students to college and having success.  We have received many accolades over the past few years and they are all well deserved.   As long as we continue to use our advantages of having great staff, great students and community support we will continue to improve and become even better than we are now.