The 2018-2019 school year will mark the fourth year of Student-Based Budgeting (SBB) in Jeffco Public Schools. This transition has assigned more budgetary responsibility to school-based administration, allowing school personnel to allocate funds to the needs that best align with their school mission, vision, and goals.
In the three years since implementation, D’Evelyn Junior/Senior High School has made many positive improvements to the school. The allocation of funds has been primarily designed to improve student safety, enhance the student learning experience, and support D’Evelyn teachers in the classroom. Several highlights of the spending autonomy include:
While the list is not comprehensive, I have great enthusiasm for the new opportunities that the SBB model has allowed. As an option school with a unique philosophy rooted in the Program Document, we benefit from the financial autonomy created by the SBB model. An additional by-product of the SBB process has been a year-round budget planning cycle for school leaders and financial managers. As the budget plan deadline for 2018-2019 approaches, we are working collaboratively within the school community to develop a budget plan that best supports the needs and interests of our students, while adhering to our guiding school philosophy. For those interested in learning more about our budget allocations and priorities, please join us for the February Accountability Committee meeting on February 13th at 7:00 am in Room E100. In addition to a presentation from Suzanne Roberts, D’Evelyn Social Emotional Learning Specialist, I will present tentative budget plans and accept feedback from community members during this meeting. Finally, we are fortunate to have the additional support of the D’Evelyn Education Foundation (DEF), which provides financial resources to an array of activities in the school, including funds for textbooks, scholarships for students and teachers, instructional resources, safety & security measures, athletics, performing arts, and extracurricular activities. The continued support of DEF allows our school to thoroughly support academic, personal, and extracurricular needs of D’Evelyn students. DEF is a wonderful complementary support to our district funding, and I thank the many parent volunteers that make the generosity of DEF possible. The final Prospective Student Information Night for D’Evelyn enrollment in the 2018-2019 school year will be held in the D’Evelyn auditorium on Tuesday, January 23rd at 7:00 PM. Prospective Student Information Nights are required for any students interested in attending D’Evelyn next year in grades 7, 8, or 9, except for those students whose older siblings already attend D’Evelyn. It is required that families submit Choice Enrollment paperwork for ALL students interested in attending D’Evelyn next year, even if an older sibling currently attends.
Additionally, I will host a Prospective Student Information Night at Dennison Elementary School on Thursday, January 25th at 7:00 PM for families of Dennison 6th grade students. This event is designed only for families of current Dennison students. These information nights are not only required for families of students that wish to attend D’Evelyn next year; they are also an important opportunity for families to learn more about the school philosophy and operating principles. During my tenure as interim principal, I have enjoyed presenting about the D’Evelyn Program, and helping interested families understand the program in more detail. Each Information Night concludes with a Q&A session for interested families to ask questions of the principal. Because D’Evelyn is an option school, I encourage all families to consider the characteristics of the D’Evelyn program, as outlined in the D’Evelyn Founding Document and expanded upon in the Prospective Student Information Nights. For interested families that would like to learn even more about D’Evelyn, I encourage them to review the Founding Document, the D’Evelyn webpage, and even minutes from previous meetings in the Steering Committee and Accountability Committee. For specific questions, parents may contact our school at 303-982-2600, to be connected with the D’Evelyn staff member most able to help them with questions. The choice of a child’s junior and senior high school is a very important one. I encourage all families to use thoughtful consideration in the selection process with an effort to find the best school fit for their children. Based in my own support for the D’Evelyn Program, I am hopeful that D’Evelyn Junior/Senior High School is the right fit for interested students and families, while acknowledging that it may not be the right fit for all interested students. On behalf of the D’Evelyn faculty, staff, and administration, I hope that you and your family had a great Winter Break and that your new year is off to a great start. I am looking forward to 2018 both personally and professionally. I extend my best wishes to you for a great year in 2018! It has been a great first week to the second semester for students and faculty. Classes are back in session, and I have had the good fortune of observing countless examples of productive teaching and learning throughout the school this week, both in and out of the classroom. In keeping with the spirit of ‘New Year’s Resolutions’, I chose to start the year by sharing one of mine. One of my primary objectives for this year is to renew my focus on leading the school in a manner that keeps the primary focus of the academic day on student learning. D’Evelyn students are busy - in addition to the rigorous academic routine, students have important commitments to their families, as well as involvement in sports, clubs, music, and art, programs. The benefits of extracurricular engagement are numerous. I encourage D’Evelyn students to maintain these commitments as a strong complement to their academic pursuits in their full personal development. Additionally, I am aware of the many pressures and challenges faced by adolescents everywhere, whether it is the pressure of the college application process, earning high grades, enrolling in advanced classes, struggles with peers, siblings, or family members, balancing the many demands on their time, or becoming more independent as they grow older. Adolescence is a challenging time, and we will continue to work as a faculty and staff to support students through the ups and downs in their time at D’Evelyn. I respect and admire D’Evelyn students for their ability to manage their lives so well, and maintain excellence in so many areas. I also sincerely believe in the short and long-term benefits these students will enjoy because of the rigorous liberal arts program offered by the school, and as principal, I aspire to lead the school in a manner that supports all students in reaching the goal of graduating from D’Evelyn with a multitude of options for their respective futures. My resolution - As D’Evelyn principal, I hope to lead, model, and sustain a culture where students and teachers can direct their primary focus during the school day to the foundational purpose of the school - student learning. Within the school, we focus on minimizing disruptions to class time, and providing our teachers the time and resources they need to teach bell-to-bell. We intend to create a learning environment that is distraction-free, so that students are not interrupted throughout the course of a class period, and that they may dedicate their undivided attention to the lessons of each day. I request the support of parents and family members in helping their student(s) maximize the benefits of each academic day throughout the year. My sincere hope is that each D’Evelyn student enjoys the enriching and empowering benefits of the liberal arts academic program they experience in grades 7-12. While some days will be more challenging than others, the benefits of the D’Evelyn experience will carry with our students for the rest of their lives. It is my deep belief and great hope that 10, 15, and 20 years down the road, D’Evelyn graduates will remember the content of the lessons learned more than the grades they received or the test scores they achieved. I ask all D’Evelyn community members to join me in the effort to honor the value of the learning experience, and support our students in their effort to maximize learning over the course of this school year and beyond. Thank you for the ongoing and continued support of your student(s) and the D’Evelyn program. I am confident in the great value your support plays in the life of your student(s). Please accept my best wishes on a very successful second semester of learning and development for all D’Evelyn students. |
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