Mike Vidakovich
I taught fourth grade with Jim Benson for 14 years, starting in 1988, at both Glenwood Elementary and Sopris Elementary school. Along with Fred Davidson, Bette Hart, Jackie Durrett, Paul Driskill, and Lesyle Grigsby, I felt like we had an all-star cast of teammates at that grade level. We were the Lakers of elementary education.
I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time, but I was very lucky to be surrounded by such caring and dedicated human beings.
When I first met Jim and his wife, Mary, who was brave enough to teach kindergarten, I walked away thinking these people are too good to be true. As the years wore on and the blind corners of life took their toll on us all, I realized that everything about the Bensons was genuine and true.
Retired teacher Jim Benson remembered for his kindness and joyfulness postindependent.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from postindependent.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Roaring Fork School District will have an online registration option open for kindergarten students beginning March 8, a news release stated. There will also be the traditional, in-person registration from 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. April 16 at the school parents plan on having their student attend.
Both registration options will be done on a computer, but parents only need to do one or the other, not both, the release stated. In order for a student to begin kindergarten this fall they must be five years old on or before Oct. 1. Full or half-day kindergarten is free for local families and a copy of the student’s birth certificate and immunization records should be submitted at registration or prior to the first day of school.
Chelsea Self/ Post Independent
Anna Cole and her husband, Grand River Hospital physician Dr. Dustin Cole, were pretty confident her education career and his medical career wouldn’t cross paths.
Until last March when the pandemic came along.
“Now, we’re both on a standing meeting every Thursday with Garfield County providers and the schools,” Anna Cole mused. “He’s at the hospital, and I’m at home, and the kids are getting ready for school, and they make funny faces when they see dad on the screen … it’s kind of hilarious at times.”
Anna had just stepped into the interim role as executive director of the Roaring Fork Family Services and Resource Center, a nonprofit arm of Roaring Fork School District, when schools closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chelsea Self/Glenwood Springs Post Independent
Garfield County Public Health and Roaring Fork Schools are cooperating with Colorado public health officials to investigate possible exposure at a Glenwood Springs school to coronavirus disease variant.
Local officials were made aware by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment that a Sopris Elementary student “and/or” staff member may have been exposed to one of the different COVID variants earlier this month.
“The health department is working with a dedicated team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to determine potential exposure and contain any further spread,” Garfield Public Health said in a Saturday morning press release.