mead high school grand opening

m7/30/2009yTCkkritter


2 Times-Call Publication August 2, 2009

Kristi RitterSpecial Sections [email protected]

303-684-5275

Summer StairSpecial SectionsAssistant [email protected]

720-494-5429

Contributing WritersKate Frasure

Lauren SeatonBrian Smith

CoverDesign byTrish AllinPhoto by

Paul Litman

Jim SundbergMead High School Principal

n behalf of the St. Vrain Val-ley School District and thenew Mead High School, wewelcome the community and

students to a great new opportunity for learning.Many long hours of planning and collaborationhave gone into planning a building that willhouse academic excellence and student achieve-ment. A partnership between parents, communi-ty, students and the school staff will certainly goa long way toward developing excellence. Ourmotto is: Ignite, Inspire and Challenge! And, aswe prepare our young people for their lives afterhigh school, we will focus on the goal.

Mead High will open with approximately 300students in grades nine and 10, and will addgrades in succeeding years to a full high schoolcapacity of 750. Academically, Mead will be acomprehensive high school with a full array ofcore area honors classes in language arts, scienceand social studies. Advanced placement courseswill be offered to students in the 2010-2011school year, with the goal of several advancedplacement courses available as we grow to ca-p a c i t y.

Mead High will also begin traditions and ex-pectations surrounding co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. We believe we have hiredan excellent group of teachers and coaches to

lead and inspire young people. Band and musicclasses will begin immediately to establish a dis-ciplined and creative program. Athletically,Mead will initially compete in a junior varsityschedule and will advance the following year tovarsity competition in the Patriot League.

The Mead High staff anxiously looks forwardto the opening of the school year. The Meadcommunity has been very supportive and oftenview Mead High as a focal point. As many inMead are quick to point out, this is not an inau-gural opening, but rather a rebirth of Mead HighSchool which closed in the 1960s. In fact, plansfor a homecoming are underway. Truly, I believeMead will be a source of pride and accomplish-ment for both the school district and the com-munities that provide students to our new highschool.

Traditions and responsibilities can and will bedeveloped with an exciting opportunity to opena new and impressive building. Mead will befilled with technology and shiny newness, butthe priority is, and will be on the people that fillit, work in it and support it. We will not losesight of the goal to Ignite, Inspire and Chal-lenge!

Jim SundbergMead High School Principal

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Construction Manager/General Contractor

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August 2, 2009 Times-Call Publication 3

Feeding the first class of Mavericks

SchoolsFe e d i n g

intoMead High

By Brian Smith

Longmont Times-Call

Mead High School seems to be at the rightplace at the right time. Skyline and FrederickHigh Schools are bursting at the seams tocontain the influx of new students as thesurrounding area expands and prospers.

The newly founded high school will providerelief for both Skyline and Frederick HighSchools, as well as a shorter drive to school anda boost to the community spirit of a small, butnot forgotten town. Most of all, it would revivethe Mead High School traditions that were lostin 1961 when the original school was forced toclose.

The boundary lines that determine which stu-dents will feed into Mead go from Weld CountyRoad 17 to North 107th Street and stretch near-ly to Colo. Highway 52, placing Mead Highright in the middle of previous boundaries thatfed Skyline and Frederick.

Although the new high school and its bound-aries made sense to the district, some familiesfelt cut off from the high school they thoughttheir middle schooler would attend.

Within those boundaries, the district decidedto break the Frederick High feeder system al-ready in place and divert Coal Ridge MiddleSchool along with Mead Middle School studentsto the new high school.

For more than a year, the school district re-searched the area and its current and futureneeds. According to district planning directorScott Toillion, factors such as school crowding,transportation, long term growth projections

and other socioeconomic factors went into theschool board’s decision to draw the lines wherethey lay.

“When we sat down and looked at the longrange plans in the area, we determined thatthere was a strong need for a high school in thisa re a , ” Toillion says. “The areas of Frederick andFirestone have grown into the Mead-Skylinefeed.”

And while the boundary lines seem wellfounded, some families still fell they didn’twant their high schooler leaving their currentschool or their middle schooler diverting fromthere predestined high school of Frederick orSkyline.

District planning secretary Judy Ruskexplains that almost any time a new school isbuilt their will be controversy.

“Parents are going to ask ‘why do my kidshave to go?’” Rusk says. “I think that when thedistrict takes a chunk of a small, tight-knitcommunity like Frederick, it is going to irritatesome people.”

Last February, former St. Vrain Valley SchoolDistrict superintendent Randy Zila addressedthe controversy in a letter to parents andguardians explaining the Board of Educationhad voted to let students “opt back” to theircurrent high school or open-enroll to Skyline orF re d e r i c k .

As for the first freshman and sophomoreclasses of Mead High School, they will findthemselves mixed among Coal Ridge and MeadMiddle school graduates and transplants fromSkyline and Frederick High Schools.

Coal Ridge Middle SchoolEnrollment: 750Mascot: DynamiteColors: Black, Red and SilverPrincipal: Paul TalafuseLocation: FirestoneFeeders: Frederick, Legacy or Prairie Ridgeelementary schools

Mead Middle SchoolEnrollment: 318Mascot: BulldogColors: Orange and BlackPrincipal: Joshua BarnettRecently expanded and renovated to meet an increas-ing number of students in the area, Mead Middle re-ceives students from the Mead Elementary school.

Courtesy St. Vrain Valley School District

Congratulationsto the Mead High School Mavericks& St. Vrain Valley

School District

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Courtesy Fred Lai

Courtesy Fred Lai

Courtesy Rob Price

Construction on MeadHigh School started inMay 2007. This fall theschool will open tostudents. (Photos at leftcourtesy Rob Price)

Buildingthe FutureNew high school embraces

latest technologies,while offering ‘green’

building practices

By Lauren Seaton

Longmont Times-Call

On May 7, 2007, constructionbegan on farm land east ofLongmont. Twenty-three monthslater, the district’s newest highschool was finished.

The $30 million facilityincludes a synthetic turf footballfield, running track, field house,softball, baseball, and soccerfields and six tennis courtsdeveloped on 68 acres in Mead.The school building is 162,000square feet and incorporatesacademics, athletics andadministrative offices.

The performing arts wing of-fers music and drama classroomsand an auditorium complete withan orchestra pit. A two-storyrotunda in the building’s centerhouses administrative offices andthe library media center

equipped with computers and aview of the mountains. There is amain gymnasium, weight room,wrestling gym and locker roomsin addition to classrooms occu-pying both the first and secondfloors. Throughout the building,large windows provide naturallight.

While more than 67 majorsubcontractors were involved inthe building process, several localcompanies oversaw the project.H+L Architecture of Denverdesigned the structure andLongmont’s FCI ConstructorsInc. was the general contractor.According to Rob Price, projectmanager with FCI Constructors,the entire process took approxi-mately 371,000 man-hours tofinish and was completed

on-time, within budget andwithout any injuries.

Regional materials were usedwhen possible to support the lo-cal economy and reduce trans-portation costs and environmen-tal impacts, Price adds. The areais designed with water efficientlandscaping and there is an on-site irrigation pond and irrigationpump station that will be used towater the area. “Due to the loca-tion of the school, the district canuse irrigation ditches to fill thepond which eliminates the use ofpotable water,” Price says.

The building was alsoconstructed using low emittingpaint, stain, linoleum, adhesivesand sealants – materials thatinclude low levels of volatileorganic compounds, or VOCs.



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Nick McCormick,computer supporttechnician with St.Vrain Valley SchoolDistrict, installs 31computers in one ofthe Mead HighSchool’s computerlabs. (PaulLitman/Times- Call)

Education excellencethrough technology, staff

By Kate Frasure

Longmont Times-Call

“Our mission is to ignite, inspire and chal-lenge,” says Jim Sundberg, the principal ofthe new Mead High School. Driving downthe dirt road of Country Road 7 and seeingthis colossal building sitting in the middle ofnowhere, one would question if this newschool could provide the resources needed tocreate leaders for the 21st century. This is notthe case. Longmont area high schools willhave a huge challenge to keep up when thenew high school opens its doors to incomingfreshmen and sophomores this fall.

Most of the academic classrooms thatoccupy this building will have what areknown as SMART boards. “Teachers canwrite on it, print what they wrote, pull upWeb sites in class and have students interactwith the screen,” says Sundberg. SMARTb o a rd s are the new interactive whiteboardthat is connected to a computer or digitalprojector to display what is on the screen. Bysimply using a finger, a teacher or student

can control computer applications, writenotes, pull up charts and images, search theInternet, play videos and save the work.

This exciting new technology will have theflexibility to engage all learning styles. Stu-dents who are visual learners will be able tosee colorful, movable images and diagramsdisplayed even from the back of a classroom.For those who are more hands-on learners,students will be able to interact and exploreby moving letters, numbers, words and pic-tures. This is certainly a step above the dayswhen the only interaction was with a piece ofchalk and a chalkboard.

According to Sundberg, classrooms arealso expected to have document cameras – atechnology that for the past couple of yearshas only been found in college lecture halls.The camera shares the look of an overheadprojector, but instead of having to maketransparencies to view text, teachers can sim-ply put a piece of paper or a book under thedocument camera and have it projected onto

Continued on 7

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a screen.As if document cameras and SMART

boards weren’t enough, classrooms willhave speaker systems installed. “Te a c h e r swill have a cordless microphone so theycan be heard from all areas of the class-ro o m , ” says Sundberg. The classroomamplification system distributes soundevenly throughout the room.

These technology installations are stilljust a small part of what Mead HighSchool will offer its student body foryears to come. Classes like graphic de-sign and the music department will havetheir own labs with the latest up-to-datetechnology. Students will also have ac-cess to iClickers, which are devices thatallow students to vote for an answer to amultiple choice question and then seethe statistics of the class at the end of thevoting period. The interactive clickerswill also provide a more engaging learn-ing environment for students.

The new high school is expected to of-fer honors classes this year. These classesare meant to challenge and prepare stu-dents for higher level learning as theycontinue to grow in school. Mead willhave five honors classes to offer, three atthe freshman level and two at the sopho-more level. Sundberg says advancedplacement courses will be offered, but

not this year since those courses are de-signed for juniors and seniors.

Sundberg notes that Mead is not offer-ing any courses extraordinarily differentfrom other high schools but that theschool is simply trying to “do it better.”He says, “Teachers are going to try andduck-tail subjects together,” whichmeans teachers will plan lessonstogether to correspond with each other.For example, if a social studies teacheris doing a lesson on the Civil War, thenthe English teacher will have a writingassignment on the Civil War. “The goalof the school is to integrate as muchsubject material as appropriate,” saysS u n d b e rg .

Even with all the technology and class-es that Mead has to offer, the staff is whatmakes this high school exceptional.“There is a nice mixture of people,” saysSundberg. The teaching experienceranges from two to 15 years. Sundbergsays the staff was selected based on thegoals of the school and the teachers abili-

ty to create professional and positivebonds with students. “The staff comingfrom all different areas will have a verypositive effect on the school,” he says.“They are coming to the school becausethey want to and they have a vision ofwhat achievement they want to havewith students.”

“The staff coming from all different areas will have a verypositive effect on the school. They are coming to the schoolbecause they want to and they have a vision of whatachievement they want to have with students.”

Jim Sundberg, MHS principal

Continued from 6

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Strong athletics program leaves room for growth

Top right: Alex Parker, 14, runs drills June 5 as Mead High School’s first football coach Martin Clarkdirects his new team, the Mavericks, during camp at Mead Middle School. Mead High School’s firstfootball team practices under the direction of head coach Martin Clark. (Joshua Buck/Times-Call)

Left from top to bottom: Mead High School Auditorium will give students a place toperform. The Mead High School Multi-Media Art room. (Paul Litman/Times-Call)

Opportunities abound for MHS students

Fine arts offers variety during, after school

By Summer Stair

Longmont Times-Call

Mead High School is opening at the perfecttime as far as Frank Buck, athletic director andassistant principal, is concerned, especiallywhen it comes to the athletic department.

By opening its doors in 2009, the highschool will be playing at a lower level, with novarsity requirements. This, according to Buck,is optimal for a new school with new programsand especially one that will only have freshmanand sophomore students.

For the first year, Mead athletes will partici-pate at a 3A level. Individual sports, such ascross country, track and wrestling, will havethe opportunity to place regionally. Buck says,

depending on enrollment it is possible thatwithin a year athletes will participate at a 4Alevel.

Mead hopes to add varsity next year, and hasalready petitioned the Colorado High SchoolActivities Association to go into the PatriotLeague in 2010.

Initially, Mead will offer athletes 12 sports tochoose from. Boys can opt for fall football orcross country, winter basketball or wrestling,and spring baseball or track. Girls can choosefrom fall volleyball, softball or cross country,spring track or soccer, winter basketball, andcheer or dance.

Buck hopes that more sports can be added inthe near future depending on interest amongstudents.

By Summer Stair

Longmont Times-Call

Students who hope to bring their artistic andmusic talents to the forefront will discover plentyof opportunities awaiting them at Mead HighSchool.

Jim Sundberg, principal of Mead High School,says the curriculum offers students a range offine arts that could spill over into extracurricularactivities.

For musically-inclined students, the highschool will offer a chance for hands-on experi-ence through a string orchestra, jazz band andconcert band, as well as a guitar class. If playingan instrument doesn’t excite you, but musicdoes, classes on the history of rock ‘n roll and amusic technology class will offer students achance to learn more about music and createtheir own music through computers. Vocal op-portunities will also be present through a boysand girls choir.

Students who are looking to put their artistictalents to use will find classes in beginning digi-tal photography, drawing, painting, ceramics,computer graphics and jewelry. Drama classeswill also allow students to express themselvesthrough acting, while others may find moreinterest in student council, yearbook or theschool’s online newspaper.

A percussion ensemble has been planned asan after school activity, but other clubs andservices are on hold until teachers and staffknow more about what students would like tosee organized. Sundberg explained that with only300 students enrolled, the clubs and activitieswill be limited to those with high participation.

“We have an eager staff who is lookingforward to exploring what kids want and seewhat kind of after school activities kids want todo,” Sundberg says, adding that an after-schoolart club or Spanish club are likely in the nearf u t u re .



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Volunteer Opportunitiesat Mead High School

“ ”

Community helpspull together Mead High

Tom Stumpf, Mead High School principal onspecial assignment

Martin Clark, Mead High School head footballcoach

John Heard, town of Mead trustee

It goes so much deeper than just moral support.I am constantly being asked what more we canuse and how (the community) can assist.

Martin Clark, Mead High School Head Football Coach

Main Office• Re c e p t i o n i s t s• Clerical• Tu t o r s• Library• Computer Labs

Athletic Department• Assistant Coaches• Athletic Coordinators• Ticket Takers• Line Judges• Photographers• Concessions Stand• Booster ClubsTo volunteer for any of these posi-

tions or any others, contact Pam Longwith Mead High School at720-494-3940 x 6916 or [email protected].

Story and Photos by Brian Smith

Longmont Times-Call

s a former Skyline Falcon, aninstinctively uneasy feelingovercame me as I heard TomStumpf’s voice in the distance.

Considering all the times I had been inhis office, I was nothing less thanshocked when he didn’t recognize me,but not surprised when he asked mewhere I went to school.

But that is Stumpf completely; a manwho has been the archetypal principal atSkyline High School for 20 years: notreally concerned with the weather, or acup of coffee at 7:30 a.m., but where Iwent to high school.

“A-ha! I knew you were a Falcon,”exclaimed Stumpf at my confession. “Ithought I recognized you.” I guess theremust have been more memorableSkyline alumni than I. Although, mymother might disagree.

When the school district asked Stumpfto serve as the principal on special as-signment for the new Mead High School,he was “simply delighted.”

After leaving his office at Skyline Highin June 2008, he served to shepherd

Mead High School into its existence.Among a body of work essential to thefounding and re-establishment of thehigh school, Stumpf organized and as-sembled a leadership team, developed acurriculum with the help of the staff andworked extensively with the contractorson a weekly basis.

“Every high school principal reallywants to build a new high school andbirth it into being,” Stumpf says. “I havenever had that opportunity and I saw itas an exciting and fascinating capstoneto my 40-year career.”

But he couldn’t do it alone. Accordingto Stumpf there was an “amazing out-pour of interest, attendance and support”from the Mead community.

“Just yesterday, I was out at the build-ing and a parent came up to me andasked where she could volunteer,”Stumpf says. “(She) wanted to be a partof this amazing enterprise.”

It seems to Stumpf the community ofMead will help the high school blossomimmensely. And from what he hasalready seen with the involvementof the town, he has no doubt that MeadHigh School will be tremendouslys u p p o rt e d .

Stumpf wasn’t the only one in theshaping of Mead High School. Town ofMead Trustee John Heard served a piv-otal role in the early planning stages ofthe high school, in addition to servingon the committee that named the school.

He also helped find a mascot and schoolcolors with feedback from the surround-ing community.

“I was just representing the communi-ty’s wishes,” says a humble Heard. “Wea re n ’t getting a new high school as muchas we are getting the old one back.”

Heard attested to the importance ofhaving the community involved in theacademics and the athletics and agreeswith Stumpf that the small town of Meadwill have a mutually benefiting relation-ship with the high school.

Department Chair for Social Studiesand Mead High School Head FootballCoach Martin Clark was also instrumen-tal in the founding of the new highschool. Clark, whose father, uncles andgrandfather all attended the originalMead High School, started helping withthe founding of the school more thantwo years ago. He sat in on communitymeetings and committees even thoughhe did not work for the St. Vrain ValleySchool District at the time.

Clark feels honored by the communi-ty’s outreach with their endeavors. “Itgoes so much deeper than just moral

s u p p o rt , ” explains Clark. “I am constant-ly being asked what more we can use andhow (the community) can assist.”

Although the community has beenpositive and helpful so far, the school isstill in desperate need of volunteers tofill a variety of positions throughout thehigh school.

According to secretary Pam Long, vol-unteers are still needed in the main officeto help with receptionist and clericalwork, as well as in the library, tutoring,computer labs and counseling amongothers.

Mead High School is also looking formembers to launch a booster club for theathletics and performing arts depart-ments.

“Mead is a small enough communitythat the high school is going to play apivotal role in the culture of that town,”says Stumpf.

And while the school may be cardinalto the community, Mead High Schoolstill needs community volunteers to seethe hard work of so many like Stumpf tofruition.

A



School will benefit frombeing a part of SVVSDBy Lauren Seaton

Longmont Times-Call

Mead High School isn’t open yet, butit’s already lucky about one thing – beingpart of the St. Vrain Valley SchoolDistrict. The district is the 10th largest of178 state districts, and size is one of itsbenefits. “Because we’re a growing schooldistrict, we have growing resources,”says John Poynton, SVVSD’s director ofcommunications.

Because of its diversity, the districtoffers a variety of specialty programs,including migrant education, gifted andtalented classes and 18 district-widefocus programs.

“We ’re one district but we have avariety of communities with a variety ofneeds – with those focus schools, wemeet those needs,” says Regina Renaldi,director of SVVSD’s Title I Schools.

The focus schools target areas such asleadership, mathematics and engineer-ing, visual and performing arts.

Centennial Elementary’s Math, Engi-neering, Science, Achievement program(MESA) – designed to get non-traditionalstudents into math and science – is oneof the largest in Colorado.

The success of the focus programsdistrict has worked with organizationssuch as the Western Digital Foundationand the University of Colorado. This isnot a fluke opportunity. “The relation-ships that we have with the corporatecommunity – that’s a very powerfulre s o u rc e , ” Poynton adds.

SVVSD doesn’t stop there. It attractswell-qualified teachers, dedicatesresources to even its smallest schools andemphasizes academic pathways to highereducation.

And the majority of the district’sstudents stay in school. During the2007-2008 school year, SVVSD had a 2.7percent total drop-out rate (amonggrades seven to 12) compared with astatewide total drop-out rate of 3.8percent for the same academic year.

As of 2006, more than half of SVVSD

teachers had advanced degrees andnearly half have spent at least five yearswith the district.

The Mill Levy override in 2008provided the district with more than $16million for facilities, teachers and otherresources. “We ’ve reduced average classsizes across the district. That’s a directresult of the Mill Levy override,” Poyn-ton says.

While the district focuses on early in-tervention – targeting elementary schoolstudents who may be further behind thantheir peers – it makes sure high achieversare making progress, too. “We ’re aboutraising everyone’s level,” Poynton says.

The district’s ultimate goal is toprovide opportunities for all students –from elementary school to high school.

“With Mead, it gives parents anotheroption,” adds Renaldi.

SVVSD FactsGrades 7-12 unless otherwise stated• High school graduation rate is 86.6percent• 32.49 percent of students are an eth-nicity other than white• 2009 enrollment is 25,751• 59 percent of 2008 funding was fromthe state• Won 2007 Superintendent of the Yearaward

While the district focuseson early intervention –targeting elementaryschool students who maybe further behind thantheir peers – it makessure high achievers aremaking progress, too.

Good

Luck

Mavericks

Congratulations Mead High School

STUDENTSCome on by and

give us a try!

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Welcome to the Mead High School!From the Rotary Club of Mead

www.meadrotary.orgMHS-130417



Mead High SchoolHome of the Mavericks

“Mead High School will be fi lled with technology and shiny newness, but the priority is and will be on the people that fi ll it, work in it and support it.”

- Jim Sundberg, Principal

12750 County Road 7, Longmont, CO 80504 • 720-494-3940

MHS-130135

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VVSD

Mission Statement: We, a community of students, parents, and educators, in order to develop productive leaders for the ever-changing 21st Century world:

Ignite a passion for the achievement of excellence;

Inspire enthusiasm for lifelong learning through diverse opportunities; and

Challenge each student’s individual abilities and interests.

VISION FOR THE

21ST CENTURY - Excellence

- Rigor, Relevance, Results

- Individual Pride

- Compassion & Character

- Knowledge

- Meaningful Relationships

- Academic Achievement

- Success for all

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