Biographies, Statements and Candidate Forum The Steering Committee invites the D’Evelyn community to learn about the candidates. To assist voters in making an informed decision, we are sharing a biography and statement from each of the candidates answering the following questions: What general goals do you want D’Evelyn to accomplish in the course of the next year? What would you like D‘Evelyn to look like in five years, in 10 years? Additionally, on Tuesday, April 14 at 6:45 pm via video conference, the community is invited to the Candidate Forum during which the candidates will respond to questions from Steering Committee members and the community. Information for participating in the Candidate Forum and the election may be found on the Steering Committee Election Process document.
Please take the time to review their full biography and statement from each candidate: Jodi Haller, Teacher Candidate Biography
A proud faculty member at D’Evelyn since 1996, I was hired to teach the only art course offered, simply called “Art"--we've come a long way! In 2001, I was involved with opening the new DHS building, overseeing the equipment of our art studios, and developing our expanding art program. Currently, I am so fortunate to teach both junior high art and all levels of high school ceramics, jewelry, and drawing classes. Over the years, I have served as department manager of the Electives department and on many hiring, curricular review, and textbook committees. Additionally, I've worked on district level art advisory and curriculum writing committees at different times in my Jeffco career. After graduating from Arvada West High School, I attended Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, earning a B.F.A. in Fine Art (Fibers) with a minor in English. I then went on to graduate school in Michigan, attending Cranbrook Academy of Art, earning an M.F.A in Fibers. Following several years working as a textile instructor and visiting artist all over the country, I earned teaching credentials from Metropolitan State College in Denver. Professionally, I have taught at Arizona State University, Littleton High School, Green Gables Elementary, and D’Evelyn. D'Evelyn has been a huge, vital part of my life for many years. I met my husband, Brian Haller, here at my first "back to school" faculty meeting--best meeting ever! I am a very proud parent of a 2018 DHS graduate. Additionally, we have a daughter who is a sophomore at Denver East High School, our neighborhood high school. Deeply committed to the D'Evelyn program for most of my teaching career, I am looking forward to continuing our good work and vision as a member of the Steering Committee. Jodi Haller, Teacher Candidate Statement I think that the most important objective for D'Evelyn to accomplish in the next year is a successful launch of our new 6th grade program. This is a broad, significant program change with many complex moving parts that is requiring a huge amount of planning both in terms of curriculum, staffing, and facility use. My hope is that we are highly successful in smoothly integrating the 6th graders into our world here by this time next year! In the next five years, I want to see the 6th Grade Program fully enrolled, the new facility completed and the ship ticking along smoothly. In the course of the next school year, I also hope that the CU-06 policy will be resolved. It has cast a dark shadow of conflict over our school community that I sincerely hope can be resolved to uphold the spirit of the founding philosophy and restore a sense of unity in our educational community. We have done great--no, excellent--work educating students and launching them into their post-secondary education over the last 25 years. My hope is to see this good work continue through our commitment to our strong, liberal arts curriculum and the rigorous expectations we ask of students. Except for a successful launching of 6th grade, I really don't want to see big program changes. Our strength lies in what we have worked so hard to implement. That said, one school atmosphere element I would love to see in the next 5-10 years is a shift in student attitude. I have noticed over the years a problematic spirit of complaining. This seems to be so difficult to change. Perhaps it is the nature of being a student, I don't know, but students complain about so many things here. They have too much homework, the work is too much, they can't leave campus, the dress code is too stringent, some students cheat because it is too hard. Some students seem to have forgotten that D'Evelyn is a choice school! They also seem to not realize that high achieving students are working hard and experiencing stress at many other schools, all over the place. The grass is always greener .... I do not know what the solution to this is, but I would love for there to be a more positive culture and attitude about work here, a greater sense of pride in the rigor of the school's program. David Goldstein, Parent Candidate Biography I am a proud husband and the father of three great kids, a D’Evelyn sophomore, 8th grader, and a fifth grader who will be coming to D’Evelyn soon. We joined the D’Evelyn community two years ago. Since then, we have been nothing but impressed with the quality of education, the dedication of the teachers, and the well-constructed curriculum that has given our school some of the best test scores in Colorado. Our family will be at D’Evelyn for nearly a decade, and we hope to do our small part to make this good school even better for all students. In the past two years, I have served on the Accountability Committee, on several subcommittees with the Steering Committee, and directly with Principal Griffin with a goal of building a united community and supporting our kids in their journey to lead and contribute in the ways the Founding Document envisioned. I am an engineer by training and own a small technology company that provides satellite communications in support of infrastructure, government, and scientific customers. Through this experience I have learned that the people who share a vision are more important than anything, and that building relationships of trust that allow alignment towards a common goal can create amazing results. As the owner and founder, my job is to make things happen- I wear a lot of hats from sales to accounting to chief janitor to engineering to shipping clerk. It is rewarding to dig into the details and see good things happen on the other side. I grew up in Virginia, outside DC, and attended a relatively intense public High School similar to D’Evelyn focused on Science and Technology. From there, I went to Brown University for Mechanical Engineering and joined a small aerospace firm in Boston. After a few years I went back to graduate school for International Development Policy at the Kennedy School. That adventure took me to the World Bank in DC for a few years, where I did work in Eastern Europe and India. It was a fascinating experience, but I missed being an engineer, so I returned to aerospace in Virginia and then in Colorado. In 2007 our growing family moved to Evergreen, where we enjoyed the elk, the snow, and the great quality of life. We spent some time living overseas since then, but for the most part have enjoyed being a part of the Colorado community. In this unusual time, I spend my time working from home along with my wife who works at Colorado Children’s Hospital and supporting our three kids in their remote schooling. We try to walk for an hour each day, cook together, and use the new pace of life to connect virtually where we can with family and friends. In more regular times, I enjoy snowboarding with my kids, biking around Denver, watching good movies, home improvement, and traveling. I look forward to supporting the school and our kids to build on the great foundation we have already here at D’Evelyn. David Goldstein, Parent Candidate Statement I am looking forward to working openly with everyone in our community to make D’Evelyn an even better place for our kids than it is already. In the coming year (2020-2021), the D’Evelyn community has three major challenges to navigate.
Greg Holland, Parent Candidate Biography My name is Greg Holland and I am a candidate for the D’Evelyn Steering Committee. I have two girls at D’Evelyn, Maggie, a sophomore, and Alex, an 8th grader. My wife, Deb Holland, has been teaching at D’Evelyn as a history teacher since 1997. We have a son, Nate, who is 4 years old and in preschool at Hutchinson. I am a native of Colorado and grew up on a farm in Monte Vista in the San Luis Valley. I graduated from Sargent High School (in the very large graduating class of 27!) and then went on to graduate from Western State College with a degree in business, while also biking and skiing. I later earned a secondary teaching certificate for social studies education. I taught for five years in Gallup, New Mexico where I also coached cross country and track. I then moved back to Colorado to teach and coach in Walsenburg, and then moved to Golden to teach and coach at Golden High School. Deb and I got married in 2000, and after Maggie was born in 2003 and Alex in 2005, Deb took three years off to be at home with the girls. In 2006, I left Golden High School to stay at home with the girls. I went back to school to become a massage therapist so I could be self-employed and have more flexibility to be with the kids. Since 2006 I have been a part-time therapist, stay-at-home-dad, recreational cyclist and jack-of-all-trades. Currently I find myself wanting to be even more involved with the girls’ education and serve at their school. I am running for the Steering Committee to give back to D’Evelyn and support the great community with which I have been involved, formally and informally, for over 20 years. Since Nate is only 4, I have 14 more years to go! Greg Holland, Parent Candidate Statement One of the more obvious goals in the next year will be to add a 6th grade. This will entail numerous logistics from student drop-off, lunch scheduling, and crowd control to the details of temporary classrooms, construction of a new wing, and developing a sound curriculum that smoothly transitions these students into D’Evelyn. This will take time, but a good five-year goal would be to have a fully integrated 6-12 grade school, functioning as one body of similar intent and philosophy. In ten years, I will have my last child beginning his journey at D’Evelyn. Hopefully D’Evelyn will still be following the timeless educational philosophy that has made it the successful school that it is today. The horizontally and vertically aligned curriculum that supports the school philosophy will hopefully still be implemented with the necessary technological advances, student support and administrative needs as well. Jeff London, Parent Candidate Biography I’m Dr. Jeff London, but everyone just calls me Jeff. I received my doctoral degree from the University of Colorado. Shortly after that, I began working at MSU Denver. I am a Professor of Criminology. I am also a member of the Colorado Department of Higher Education's General Education Council. In addition, I am the Interim Chair to the Colorado Faculty Advisory Council, and a member of the MSU-Denver Faculty Senate. As a rule, I am happiest when I am spending time with my wife and daughter. Our daughter was fortunate enough to win the D'Evelyn lottery. Since then, my wife and I have been committed to giving back to the school as much as we can. During our daughter’s first year at D’Evelyn, I served as a member of the D’Evelyn Counseling Advisory Committee. During my daughter’s second and third year at D’Evelyn, I served the students and parents of D’Evelyn by establishing and implementing D’Evelyn’s CyberPatriot Program (CP-XI and CP-XII). Since then, I soon learned about opportunities to volunteer for the following Steering and Accountability subcommittees: SC 6th Grade PE Curriculum Subcommittee, SC 6th Grade SCIENCE Textbook Subcommittee, SC 6th Grade SCIENCE Curriculum Subcommittee, and AC 6th Grade Transition Subcommittee. Through my involvement with the above subcommittees, I now understand the way by which parents collaboratively and cooperatively interact with the administration, faculty and staff of D’Evelyn (via SC and AC). I am fortunate to have witnessed the way parents, teachers, and administrators work together to put the best interest of D'Evelyn student body first. Overtime, I realized that the institutional strength of D’Evelyn is in this collaborative and cooperative spirit. Currently our daughter is a ninth grade student at D’Evelyn who loves classes in art and foreign language, as well as swimming and tennis. My wife, Lizzie, is also a Jeffco teacher. She teaches first grade at Parmelee Elementary. She has been working for the Jeffco School District for more than 20 years. As a family, we are happy and blessed to be part of the D’Evelyn community. Jeff London, Parent Candidate Statement For me, D'Evelyn embodies the goal of raising ALL students up to a higher standard. While some schools focus on accelerated or IB students, D'Eveyin's curriculum challenges all students to find and exceed educational expectations, Public education at D'Evelyn lives up to the promise of delivering a traditional liberal arts curriculum with enthusiasm and fidelity. D'Evelyn's challenging curriculum benefits all children, not just the gifted and talented. Next year, I want to see D'Evelyn retain its number one publicly funded high school ranking. In five years, I want D'Evelyn to be viewed as the preeminent publicly funded high school in s, I want D'Evelyn to be viewed as the preeminent publicly funded high school in the Mountain West region. I do not think D'Evelyn should focus on recruiting children with incredibly high IQ scores. I think D'Evelyn should continue to bring in all different types of students from all different types of backgrounds, consistently raising ALL students up to a higher standard. I do not think bigger is better or that larger student enrollment equals more successful outcomes for D'Evelyn students. I believe D'Evelyn's past record of success can be sustained into the future by continually attracting enthusiastic teachers that "buy into" D'Evelyn's liberal arts curriculum. If D'Evelyn does not value excellence in teaching, D'Evelyn's excellent teachers will leave and go elsewhere. Over the last quarter of a century D'Evelyn has established a traditional, tried-and-true, systematic approach for student success. A healthy working environment for students and teachers is extremely important to foster and sustain excellence. Building and maintaining a community of students, parents, teachers, staff, and administrators requires all stakeholders to work in concert with each other in an environment of mutual respect. Comments are closed.
|
The Steering Committee is the governing board of the school and establishes policies designed to maintain and enhance its liberal arts philosophy. The Steering Committee appoints Directors to the Board of the D'Evelyn Education Foundation. Archives
March 2023
|