The Weekly Line

Dear Aspen Middle School (AMS) Families,

My favorite time of the year is Back-to-School season. What excites me most every August is the potential of our incoming students, promise of our new hires, quality of our returning students, teachers and staff (staffulty), and anticipation of what we’ll accomplish this year! My BHAG: Big Hairy Audacious Goal (Good to Great, 2001, Collins) is to create the culture and conditions necessary for our staffulty to provide our students access to excellent and equitable learning experiences and outcomes through high expectations with high support. It’s our professional responsibility, it’s our moral imperative, and it could be THE AMS DIFFERENCE!

I’m thrilled to be back in the Aspen School District and welcoming our new and returning middle schoolers and their parents/guardians to the 2025-26 school year! I was fortunate to serve as the first full-time assistant principal at Aspen High School from 2001-03, before accepting an opportunity to earn a PhD in Educational Leadership and Superintendent License while working as asst. editor for the American Journal of Education at Penn State.

My wife Amy, a physical therapist for 5 years at Aspen Valley Hospital, where my oldest daughter was born, and I hoped to return as soon as I finished at University Park, by applying for the AHS principalship when Kendall Evans retired, but the timing didn't quite work out. So I kept my nose to the grindstone, reading seminal works about school leadership, writing a dissertation, finishing a doctoral degree, and making mistakes along the way as a 20-year principal on the Front Range. Yet this path led me and my family back here. To the International Baccalaureate. To Aspen. To AMS. To you. And I couldn't be more stoked to help our staffulty help your children chase their dreams and be great… academically, athletically, artistically, socially and spiritually. Once a Skier, Always a Skier! Some people wake up to an alarm. I wake up to a calling. To the conversations we’ll have, to the struggles you’ll trust us with, to the problems we’ll solve, to the losses we’ll endure, and to the wins we’ll share. Teddy Roosevelt is credited with saying, “Far and away the best prize life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” Some things may have changed around Aspen since I’ve been gone, but Walter Paepcke’s notion of the Aspen Idea hasn’t. Our school mission, vision and goals are all about enhancing the mind, body and spirit of our students.

The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program is about educating the whole child. Whether you got here 24 years ago, or 24 days ago, you’re a part of the Aspen experience, and you’re a part of what I’m grateful for. Thank you for sending your prized possessions, your children, to AMS and entrusting us with their care. Thank you for letting our school be a part of your family’s story. It means more than you know, especially to those of us who’ve committed our lives to the important work of educating other people's kids. Let’s create something really special. The AMS Difference, which refers to the ways we are unlike other public schools. The distinguishing characteristics that make us different and set us apart. That makes us better. A destination middle school, in a destination school district, in a destination town. World class. Let’s be The Difference.

I can’t wait to get our Aspen Middle School F-A-M-I-L-Y (Forget About Me I Love You!) back together in the next two weeks! It's going to be awesome. LET'S GO SKIERS! See you soon…

Shine on,

T. DODD

Tom Dodd, PhD

Principal

We’re all about building the Ski Team at AMS, so here’s a 2025-26 staff update

New Draft Picks

• Kari Strobel will be teaching 5th Grade Language and Literature

• Tara Marolda will be teaching 6th Grade Language and Literature

• Timbah Bell will be teaching 8th Grade Language and Literature. Timbah taught at AHS a few years ago before teaching overseas.

Returning Play Makers

• George Helfenstine is moving to our 5th - 8th Grade Design position

• Kevin Cronin is moving to our 7th Grade Science position

Remaining Roster Spots (Vacancies)

We’re still recruiting another 5th Grade Teacher, Special Ed. Teacher, GT Coordinator, and Long-Term Wellness/Health Sub. If you know any interested and qualified candidates, please refer them to Dr. Tom Dodd, principal (tdodd@aspenk12.net, 970-300-1644).

IT Updates

AMS new chromebooks in 5th grade, and cable/wire clean up around classroom Smartboards.

Summer Facility Updates

ASD Director of Operations Joe Waneka and his team completed the following projects:

• Patched and painted offices and classrooms

• Replaced carpet in offices and classrooms

• Replaced Vinyl Composite Tile with low maintenance Luxury Vinyl Tile in the cafeteria and classrooms

• Restored the roof with a 20-year warranty

• Adjusted the HVAC to dial in temperatures

• And we anticipate new cafeteria tables will be delivered in late September

We’re grateful for these improvements and appreciate his team’s efforts to get our building ready for the new school year!

• Monday, August 11th ~ AMS Back to School Night - 5:30pm - 7:00pm. Gain an increased understanding of our IBMYP instructional program (course outlines, scope & sequence, essential learnings, grading criteria, etc.), meet our staffulty, help us build our home-school partnership.
• Wednesday, August 13th ~ First Day of School - Early Release 1:55pm
• Monday, August 18th ~ 7th / 8th Grade Volleyball Parent Meeting - 5:30pm AMS Cafeteria
• Tuesday, August 19th ~ 7th / 8th Grade Football Parent Meeting - 6:00pm AMS Cafeteria
• Monday, August 25th ~ 7th / 8th Grade Football Games @ Carbondale - 4:30pm
• Tuesday, August 26th ~ 7th / 8th Grade Volleyball Games vs Basalt - 4:30pm 7th Home / 8th Basalt
• Thursday, August 28th ~ 7th / 8th Grade Football Games@ Grand Valley (Parachute) - 4:30pm
• Thursday, August 28th ~ 7th / 8th Grade Volleyball Games vs Rifle - 4:30pm 7th Rifle / 8th Home
• Monday, September 1st ~ Labor Day ~ No School Students & Staff

7th / 8th Grade Football & Volleyball practices start Monday, August 11th

5th - 8th Boys & Girls Cross Country practices start Monday, August 18th

AMS Outdoor Education
8th Grade ODE Maroon Bells Wilderness and Marble Base Camp

• Mandatory student attendance week prior to ODE
• Thursday, Septmber 4th - Friday, September 11th - No school for 8th Grade Students Friday, September 12th.
• Start breaking in your hiking boots and start collecting items from the 8th Grade ODE Packing List
  
  

5th Grade ODE Arches Camping

Monday, September 29th - October 2nd

Monday, October 6th - October 9th

The AMS design team is soliciting community members to volunteer as guest speakers and/or mentors working with 5th - 8th grade students and staff in our two design classrooms (computer lab. and makerspace) on various design projects. Design is an IB Middle Years Program subject area that teaches a variety of content, skills and concepts, through digital and/or product creation, such as video editing, graphic design, 3D modeling, physical prototype development, etc. using the design cycle. Students will analyze existing research, develop ideas, demonstrate technical skills, make a solution, evaluate their product, etc. Please complete this Design Volunteer Form to share your interest and expertise in helping grow the AMS design program.