By Melinda Bochner, Steering Committee Chair
The Steering Committee is delighted to welcome math teacher Emily McCaslin-Hahn as a new teacher-member of the Steering Committee starting on July 1st. “Mrs. Mac” is a proud 2012 graduate of D’Evelyn. She attended Regis University on a full scholarship to study mathematics, graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a minor in Secondary Education. Emily teaches both junior high and high school students, and she is currently serving as the head of our outstanding math department. With her deep love and appreciation for D’Evelyn, we know that she will be an invaluable addition to the Steering Committee team. Congratulations and thank you to our Steering Committee officers for next year. Brock Gustafson, the current Vice Chair, will serve as the SC Chair; Ariahn Knoedler, our newest parent member, will serve as the Vice Chair; and Greg Holland will serve as the secretary for the final year of his term. We know that they will do a terrific job in their new roles, and we thank them for their dedication to the school. We extend a huge thank you to our two members who have completed their three-year terms and are cycling off the Steering Committee. Teacher-member, Lynne Hobbs, shared her wealth of experience and knowledge of the history of the school. Parent-member, Dana Miller, promoted her deep passion for the school and compassion for all members of the D’Evelyn community. We are grateful for their fearlessness and their tremendous commitment of time and energy over the past three years. Lastly, we extend immense gratitude and our warmest farewell to our trusty principal, Mr. Josh Griffin, who served on the Steering Committee throughout his five years as principal. Josh was involved in every facet of the school, always reliable, always thorough, always thoughtful. His first priority was what was best for the students, and he sincerely and conscientiously sought the best outcome for students, teachers, and all stakeholders in the D’Evelyn community. Mr. Griffin is responsible for the important and successful addition of sixth grade to our school, as well as the planning and construction of the new wing to accommodate the increasing size of our student body. He steered us successfully through the unprecedented COVID pandemic, ensuring that our students continued to learn and grow, and in the process helped to hire outstanding new faculty members to maintain D’Evelyn’s excellence into the future. Perhaps most importantly, every day Josh demonstrated humility, integrity, and kindness. He was a role model, a mentor, and a friend to each one of us and to countless members of our community. Josh, we will miss you, and we wish you and your family all the best in your next endeavor. By Brock Gustafson, Steering Committee Vice Chair
This article is a reprint of the Messenger delivered to the D’Evelyn community on Thursday, May 12th, 2022. We are excited to share that Dr. Rob Bishop will be serving as D’Evelyn’s Interim Principal for the 2022-2023 school year. Rob has decades of educational leadership experience and has embraced the D’Evelyn philosophy whole-heartedly. Rob began his leadership experience in 1996, serving as an Assistant Principal for 10 years in the Mapleton and Aurora Public School systems. In Aurora, after initially serving as an Assistant Principal of Rangeview High School starting in 2000, he was promoted to principal, leading a faculty and staff of 102 employees who served a diverse student population of more than 2,100 students. In 2006, wanting to live and work closer to his home in Jefferson County, Rob was named principal of Arvada West High School, a Jeffco high school with 1800 students. Rob served as the principal at A-West for 12 years and pioneered numerous innovative programs including the 1:1 Chromebook program which was adopted district-wide, implementing a later start time and increasing Social/Emotional support for students through adding staff. Rob received his Doctorate in Education from the University of Colorado, Denver in 2013. His focus was “leadership and education equity,” and his dissertation focused on “Eliminating predictable achievement gaps by ensuring that all staff members are prepared to help all students succeed.” Since receiving his Doctorate, Rob has been an Adjunct Professor and Lecturer at CU-Denver’s School of Education and Human Development’s Administrative Licensure and Policy Studies Program. In this capacity, Rob taught curriculum design, lesson development and implementation, and grading. At CU-Denver, he had the opportunity to mentor dozens of principal licensure candidates, many of whom are now principals around the state. After wrapping up 12 years at Arvada West, Rob was named Jeffco’s Executive Director of Administrator Learning. In this capacity, Rob defined a district-wide Educator Learning plan to include parallel learning opportunities for school and central based administrators that aligned with teacher learning. This included teacher and leader career pathway programs, teacher and principal Learning Labs, developing monthly leadership learning, and beginning / end of year all-leadership learning events. Rob officially retired in 2021, but as he likes to say, he “failed retirement,” and has been doing consulting work for Jeffco Schools since retiring, serving as a school leadership coach at various locations within the Jeffco school system. In this role he works directly with principals and school leadership teams to assess and enhance leadership team effectiveness. Dr. Bishop has been married to his wife, Wendy, for 13 years and they are proud of their blended family that includes three daughters, Laura, Jill, and Mackenzie, and son Michael. He attributes their success as young adults to the many skilled teachers and quality education they were privileged to have throughout their K-12 education. Rob and Wendy most enjoy their new roles as grandparents to Owen, Rory, and Taylor. Rob is a Colorado native who loves his hometown sports teams and enjoys keeping fit and active through a variety of outdoor activities such as cycling, running, hiking, golf, snowshoeing, and skiing. We are honored that Rob chose to apply for the interim role and even more honored that he has chosen to lead our school for the next school year. With his decades of experience, Rob will be a wonderful resource for students, faculty and staff. We are excited to see what we all can achieve together in 2022-2023! By: Melinda Bochner, Steering Committee Chair
The Steering Committee is delighted to welcome Ariahn Knoedler as the newest member of the Steering Committee who will begin her three-year term on June 1st. Ariahn completed a comprehensive application and interview process, and the Steering Committee voted unanimously to welcome her to the team. Ariahn has two daughters currently at D’Evelyn as well as two daughters at Dennison who will enter 6th grade at D’Evelyn this fall. Ariahn was deeply involved at Dennison, serving as the PTA president. Her understanding of the Founding Document is thorough and her commitment to the success of D’Evelyn is unwavering. We look forward to the leadership experience and dedication that Ariahn will bring to the Steering Committee. We also have positive news regarding our search for an interim principal for the 2022-2023 school year. On May 4th, the Steering Committee met with multiple candidates for the position. We were greatly encouraged by the quality of candidates interested in serving as the D’Evelyn interim principal. Through interviews and deliberations, the Steering Committee identified one finalist to serve in the principal position next year. We are confident that this highly respected and experienced former Jeffco administrator will be an excellent leader for the D’Evelyn community in 2022-2023. Our finalist is currently working with Jeffco Schools leadership to complete the hiring process. We are hopeful that this process will be completed by the middle of this week, at which time we will introduce the next principal of D’Evelyn Junior/Senior High School to our faculty, staff, and school community. Thank you for your support throughout the hiring process this spring. We look forward to another successful school year at D’Evelyn in 2022-2023! |
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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