Written by: Dan Wille, Assistant Principal In every year where there are more applicants than available positions on the Steering Committee, the D’Evelyn Steering Committee holds an election to determine who will serve as members for the following school year. This year, there are two open parent positions on the Steering Committee, beginning the term in July 2021. In the event that there are three or more parent candidates, the Steering Committee will hold elections remotely this year, with each D’Evelyn family casting one ballot. We strongly value each family’s ability to participate in this important process as established in the D’Evelyn Founding Document. Thus, each family must ensure their contact information is properly entered into Jeffco Connect in order to have the ability to successfully cast their ballot. Each family must login to Jeffco Connect and confirm an accurate email address as the correct primary contact for the family. This will be the email address that will be used to electronically distribute ballots. Families will not receive a ballot in this year’s election if their contact information is not properly entered in Jeffco Connect. Additionally, it is important to note that families with more than one student at D’Evelyn will only cast one ballot. Please follow the below instructions to ensure you have a correct email address entered for the primary contact for your family: 1. Log into Jeffco Connect: https://jeffcoconnect.jeffco.k12.co.us/ 2. Once logged in, click on your student/s name. 3. You will see the below screen. Click on “Contacts” on the left side of the screen: 4. Then, click “Edit” for the Parent/Guardian Contact Priority 1: 5. You will see the below screen. Make sure it says “Contact Priority 1.” Then click “Notification Preferences” 6. Scroll to the bottom of this screen so you can see the box to enter an email address. 7. Enter the email address you would like to receive your Steering Committee ballot and click “Save.”
8. NOTE: If you have more than one student at D’Evelyn, Jeffco Connect will update the rest of your student’s notification preferences to match this contact information. However, to ensure you receive the ballot with the appropriate email address we recommend following the above steps to verify the email address is accurate. Please confirm contact information and therefore registration for this year’s election will by February 19th. After 2/19, you will receive a confirmation email sent to the email address provided verifying you have successfully updated your contact information, and providing further election information. Please ensure you complete the above instructions for updating your contact information before February 19th. Please contact Assistant Principal Dan Wille with questions regarding this process: [email protected]. Written by: Jodi Haller, Art Teacher
A new semester has started at D'Evelyn and the (virtual!) drama, music, and art rooms are bustling with more than 800 students engaged in some fantastically important work within the D'Evelyn educational program. Those students are not simply fulfilling a graduation requirement, but they are working toward satisfying one of the overarching components of the D'Evelyn educational philosophy: enriching and broadening our students' education through challenging electives that augment the required basic subjects (CU 05). This enrichment happens through making connections between the fine arts and other subjects, by questioning and exploring ideas from other disciplines through the lens of the visual and performing arts, and, perhaps most importantly, through the direct act of creating studio work and performing musical and dramatic pieces. A few years ago, D'Evelyn Founder Carolyn DeRaad wrote a Steering Committee article for Jaguar Tracks (August 2017) reminding us how one of the great strengths and benefits of a liberal arts education is the interconnectedness of all academic subjects. "Our teachers weave the courses together by showing how the disciplines interconnect. The study of the liberal arts--taught through the core disciplines--helps students understand that all knowledge is part of a whole." I believe the fine arts electives we offer relate beautifully to this in many ways, making further connections with our academic classes and expanding our sense of the "whole." In ceramics class students make all sorts of connections with their science classes as they learn about the chemical and physical transformations of the clay and glazes in the kiln. Or, maybe it's how anthropologists and historians know so many things about ancient civilizations because of the ceramic pieces created by those cultures. In drawing class we learn about the evolution of pictorial representation as civilization progressed from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. We look at those ideas in terms of the mechanics of linear perspective and the subtleties of portraiture. In the jewelry classes, students may be experiencing a culture not through the lens of history but through the evolution of beautiful metal work left behind. One of my favorite "connecting" moments happens each semester I teach soldering to my beginning jewelry class when a student stands at the soldering bench with me, mesmerized by the green flame dancing off the metal they are soldering and asks, "Why is the flame green, Mrs. Haller?" My response is, "Well, the green flame from the torch indicates the metal you are soldering is copper! Do you remember when you conducted flame tests of metal ions in chemistry to see what color of flame different metals produce? Here it is in your art class!" Cool, cool, and super cool! The fine arts at D'Evelyn are also a valuable part of a liberal arts education because they show students other ways of looking at ideas that they have been exposed to in academic classes. By exploring the work of artists, musicians, and playwrights, they learn there are different ways of representation, of interpreting social and political ideas, of expressing the experiences humans have in the world. We ask our students to analyze, investigate, challenge and interpret all sorts of events, ideas and concepts through written work, but creating art, or performing musical or dramatic works about these same (or different!) topics broadens them in unexpected and singular ways. It can expand their world and create deeper cognizance of art and human experience. "Through serious study of the Arts, each student will develop judgment and appreciation for the Arts, one of the highest creations of human effort. Armed with this background, the entire rich world of art is available for appreciation and understanding." (D'Evelyn Founding Document, Program Narrative, p. 16) But, truth be told, most students don't sign up for art, theatre, or music classes to make connections with other subjects or learn to appreciate the Arts. Students take a fine arts class because they love the act of creating, performing, or want to learn something new. They come to forget about English for a while--sorry, Mr. Haller! They need a break from their other classes. In our fine arts classes, students get that break. They get to make, perform, express. As they immerse themselves in the joy of an art discipline, they also unwittingly hone all sorts of skills including creative idea generation, discipline in mastering technical skills, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, interpretation, and other "executive functioning skills." They get to practically experience the intense work of the creative process. Innovation and creativity are invaluable skills students need to move onward in their lives beyond D'Evelyn. They are developing such skills, right here in our theatre, art, and music rooms. Anyone who has spent extended time studying, loving, and mastering any sort of performing or visual art knows the intrinsic value of the Arts in both education and in life. In the context of D'Evelyn's program, there are many valuable reasons why fine arts courses are a vital component of a liberal arts education, a few shared here. If we value depth and breadth in our students learning, making connections across disciplines, and nurturing creativity within the character of our students, all should be encouraged to take multiple courses in the fine arts during their time here. The fine arts are an invaluable part of our liberal arts program. Written by: Jeffrey London and Dana Miller SC Election Reminders Steering Committee candidates shall attend the second part of the “SC Candidate Training Workshop” following the conclusion of the Accountability Committee meeting on Tues., Feb. 9, 2021. This second training will begin at 6:30 pm. The application due date for all Steering Committee candidates is Sat., Feb. 16, 2021. Before the third week of March, all Steering Committee nominees will be interviewed. Nominees will receive interviews between Mon., March 1, 2021 and Fri., March 12, 2021. After the conclusion of the Tues., April 13, 2021 Accountability Committee meeting, all Steering Committee nominees shall participate in the 2021 D’Evelyn Public Candidate Forum. The 2021 D’Evelyn Public Candidate Forum will begin at 6:45 pm. The 2021 Steering Committee Election will be conducted within fourteen days of the 2021 D’Evelyn Public Candidate Forum (i.e., before Tues., April 27, 2021). CU - 06 Update The district waiver for the 4.5 grading scale has been approved by Tom McMillen (Community Superintendent) and Dan Cohan (Chief of Schools, Secondary) in accordance with Jeffco Schools policy CEB. The waiver stands for two years - August 1, 2021 - July 30, 2023 at which time we will need to reapply to extend the waiver. In the second semester, teacher teams will begin reviewing their courses in alignment with the Jeffco Schools Honors Course Review Process. Ultimately, those recommendations will be reviewed by the D'Evelyn Honors Review Committee, the Steering Committee, and district leadership. To stay up to date regarding CU 06 we invite you to attend our Steering Committee meetings. The meeting schedule and agendas (posted at least one day prior to the meeting) can be found here. January 12 - Hiring Committee training D'Evelyn values and requires parent involvement. If you are interested in serving on a future hiring committee, please attend the hiring committee training on Tuesday, January 12th at 4:30 pm during the Accountability meeting. The training will take 15-20 minutes and is required in order to serve on a future hiring committee. Virtual Steering Committee Meetings How to join/listen in and where to find the agenda? Due to COVID 19, the Steering Committee meetings will be virtual until further notice. Please visit the Steering Committee calendar for a list of all meetings and to find all meeting agendas and log in information. The link to connect will be available on the meeting agendas, available at least one day prior to the meeting. PLEASE NOTE: if you do not have a Jeffco email account, you will only be able to join by phone. The calendar is also where you will find all minutes once they have been approved (usually at the subsequent meeting). Public Commentary Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and remote Steering Committee meetings, public commentary will be delivered differently than when we host live meetings. Please email your public commentary to the entire Steering Committee no later than 3:00 pm the day before the meeting. We will read up to the first 5 minutes of your comment out loud during the scheduled time. As always, public commentary may be limited to a total of 20 minutes, which could further limit the length of the reading of your comment, though SC members will read them on their own in their entirety. Shorter, more concise comments will have the advantage of a full read out loud during the meeting. |
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
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