You are invited!
Who: The D’Evelyn Community What: The Steering Committee Candidate Process The Steering Committee is D’Evelyn’s governing body made up of our principal, two staff members, and five parents when all positions are filled. Parents and staff members serve three-year terms. There will be open positions for both parents and staff beginning in the 2020-2021 academic year. The Steering Committee invites all community members to learn more about the candidate process and the work of the Steering Committee. However, we especially encourage those who intend to apply for a Steering Committee position to attend the Steering Committee Candidate Training Part 2. This will take place on Tuesday, Feb 11th at 6:30 pm in the library following the Accountability meeting. (Part 1 took place in November.) Applications are due by 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 18th, 2020. Please note that they must be emailed to [email protected] by this time. If candidates cannot email the application, an email must be sent to the address above by 3:00 pm on February 18th, 2020, notifying the Chair that the paper application is in the Steering Committee mailbox located in the main office. The public Candidate Forum allows the community an opportunity to meet the candidates and hear their responses to predetermined questions. This will be held on Tuesday, April 14th at 6:45 pm, immediately after the Accountability meeting. We encourage the entire community to attend. If you do intend to apply, kindly contact Donna Li, Vice-Chair, so that we may answer any questions and better plan for the process of filling Steering Committee positions. Application information may be found on our website: Policy SC-06, Regulation SC-06-R (Readings), SC-06-F2 Application, Bylaws. Your consideration of serving is greatly appreciated. All Steering Committee meetings are open to the public, and we cordially invite all community members to attend. The meetings are scheduled to begin at 4:30 pm either in the main office conference room or in the library, and the meeting agendas are available on the Steering Committee website. By Donna Li, Steering Committee Vice Chair Happy New Year and thank you all for being a part of this wonderful community! As you know, in May of 2019, the Steering Committee consented the CU-06 policy and associated regulations to add the honors label to students’ transcripts for D’Evelyn high school courses in English, science, and social studies. The honors-level rigor of our courses is currently described in D’Evelyn’s four-page school profile but is not indicated on transcripts. The policy also provides for the weighting of those courses on a 5.0 scale, similar to most Jefferson County high schools. The implementation of this policy has been delayed due to complications at the district level. On October 22, 2019, the Jefferson County School District communicated to D’Evelyn its expectation that the approval of CU-06 comply with a specific district process. On December 3, 2019, the Steering Committee responded to the district by explaining that we engaged in a similar process in 2013, after which we concluded that these courses are indeed taught at an honors level. We also described accountability measures that are in place to ensure the honors-level rigor of our courses. Additionally, to recognize the district’s request, we established a task force to study questions regarding the implementation of CU-06. On December 24, 2019, the Steering Committee received an email from the district stating their intent to attend the January 27, 2020, Steering Committee meeting. Again, on January 7, 2020, the district communicated that when its team attends the January 27th meeting “[W]e will discuss how the District Team will coordinate and facilitate the Jeffco Honors Course Plan Review Process for D’Evelyn Jr/Sr High School. This process will take the place of the Task Force.” At the Steering Committee meetings on January 13th and January 27th, we will discuss the district’s intended plan to coordinate and facilitate the aforementioned process to evaluate the appropriateness of honors labeling at D’Evelyn, a process which will inevitably further postpone the implementation of CU-06. We will also consider the impact that the imposition of this process at D’Evelyn would have on our school’s autonomy and governance. All Steering Committee meetings are open to the public, and we cordially invite all community members to attend. The meetings are scheduled to begin at 4:30 pm either in the main office conference room or in the library, and the meeting agendas are available on the Steering Committee website. We appreciate the interest and participation of D’Evelyn families in this important matter. The Steering Committee is the governing body of D’Evelyn - would you like to know what they are discussing and be informed and notified when agendas and minutes are posted? Here is how to stay informed:
By Gina Coco, Steering Committee Parents, we are about to launch the new school year with our first Accountability Meeting on Thursday, September 12, 2019 at 5:30 pm (future meetings will be on the 2nd Tuesday of each month) and we NEED you to attend. This first meeting will help to prioritize the work of the Accountability for the entire school year and important subcommittees will also be formed at this meeting. The Accountability Committee serves in an advisory role to the Steering Committee and has been assigned several topics for which the Steering Committee is seeking parental input. Additionally, important updates about the new D’Evelyn 6th grade program, beginning in the Fall of 2020, will be shared at all monthly Accountability meetings. In addition to subcommittee work, Accountability members will also be eligible to train as parent members for hiring, curriculum, textbook committees or to be future parent members on the Steering Committee. As students enter Jr. and Sr. high, fewer parents volunteer, so we urge you to consider attending. Make your voice heard and help ensure the success of the school with a minimal time commitment serving as an Accountability member. By Gina Coco, Steering Committee The Steering Committee has a one year parent position open that may be filled by appointment. Parents interested in applying must complete the required readings (these can be found in the library) and email their application packet to Gina Coco ( [email protected] ), D’Evelyn Steering Committee Chair, by September 3rd at 3pm. Interviews for potential candidates will be conducted during the SC meeting on Monday, September 16. As a parent member on the Steering Committee, your job would be to govern the school as laid out by the Founding Document . “Their (Steering Committee members) overall task will be to make the broad decisions such as upholding, interpreting and clarifying the philosophy, approving new curriculum, maintaining relations and communications with the district and reacting to new laws or district policies, etc. The Steering Committee will be free to involve other people for input and advice in making decisions as it deems appropriate.” (FD 21) Parent members of the Steering Committee serve on curriculum, textbook and hiring committees, make decisions about school policies and school governance issues. For the 2019-2020 school year, a chief priority is ensuring the successful addition of sixth grade in the Fall of 2020. Qualified candidates should have a strong understanding and commitment to the D’Evelyn Founding Document. Candidates do not need to have prior educational experience, but must have a willingness to learn about our curriculum in order to make the decisions needed to govern the school. If you are looking for a way to give back and help ensure the continued success of D’Evelyn, please consider submitting your application. Written by Gina Coco, Steering Committee Chair
In 2013 the Steering Committee made a decision to eliminate the dual track course offerings that included a standard and an “Honors” course for English in grades 9, 10 and 11 and for social studies in grades 9 and 10. As intended when this decision was made in 2013, the current Steering Committee has been monitoring, researching and evaluating the impact of this change. As a result, the Steering Committee is exploring a proposal to relabel certain core courses as “Honors” and considering the potential weighting of grades earned in these courses on a 4.5-point scale (as a note, the district would have to be able to implement this policy in their system before it could be finalized, and this is still uncertain at this time). Currently, there are no “Honors” courses at D’Evelyn, and only AP courses are weighted on a 5.0-point scale. In order to keep our community informed, Mr. Griffin will present on this issue at the Accountability Committee meeting on May 7th at 5:30 pm. If this subject is of interest to you, please plan to attend. The decision to eliminate the “Honors” track is outlined in this 2013 document and was based on several factors. Significant to the current proposal are the following key points. The 2013 committee found marginal differences between the 2013 “Honors” and standard courses. Further, the committee concluded that the standard courses for English, social studies, science and foreign language “are at a level equivalent to “Honors” in a contemporary secondary school setting.” Student enrollment and retention is one metric used to assess the impact of this policy. In determining whether or not the 2013 decision played a role in declining enrollment and retention, the Steering Committee looked at student and parent exit surveys. Unfortunately, we have observed an undesirable impact on our students as a result of this change. We also hear students express that their GPA does not accurately reflect the effort and content mastery required to complete the rigorous academic courses at D’Evelyn. Student post-graduate outcomes, student morale, and an appropriate representation of D’Evelyn coursework on student transcripts are all important to the Steering Committee. In order to address these pertinent issues, we researched the approach of other like-minded schools. We contacted several Colorado schools with a similar rigorous curriculum and found that each of them labeled most of their core courses as “Honors”. These schools included The Vanguard School, Ridgeview Classical, Liberty Commons, and Goldenview Classical. They shared that, like at D’Evelyn, their core curriculum demanded far more of students than the neighborhood school courses. They instituted the Honors label and weighting for those courses (many had done so in the last few years) to properly communicate to colleges the rigor of their courses and to reward their students for the work they were completing. These schools informed us that in response to introducing an Honors label and weighted grades, college admissions counselors were positively receptive; students felt rewarded for the work they were doing, enhancing their academic motivation; and parents were supportive. The current proposal defines “Honors” courses as academic core courses taught above grade level in depth, scope of content and/or pace of presentation. As such, English, Science and Social Studies courses would be labeled “Honors”. There would not be a dual track, rather courses would be designated as “Honors” when they meet the above definition in comparison with standard level core academic courses taught in neighborhood schools. The Steering Committee is committed to fully vetting the proposal for the following reasons:
By Gina Coco Join us after the April 9th Accountability Meeting at 6:30 pm to get to know our two Steering Committee Candidates:
By Scott Spendlove The Steering Committee-D’Evelyn’s Unique Answer to School Governance You may not be aware of the Steering Committee, or how it participates in the operation and running of the School. But this 8-member committee, set up by the Founders of the School to safeguard the program and make decisions in the best interests of the School, is critical to D’Evelyn’s continued success. The Steering Committee was created by D’Evelyn’s Founders to be the governing Board of the School, as part of our initial contract with the District. The job is essentially “(t)o make broad decisions such as upholding, interpreting and clarifying the philosophy, approving new curriculum, maintaining relations and communications with the District, and reacting to new laws or District policies etc.” The Committee is comprised of 5 parent members, two teacher/staff members, and the Principal, who are committed to upholding the Founding document, and to ensure that our next 25 years of operation are as successful as the first 25! So, are there any openings coming up, and how does one become part of the Steering Committee? There are currently two openings, one for a parent, and one for a teacher, that will be filled by an election of qualified candidates this Spring. These three-year terms will begin next Summer. And the good news is, that if you are interested in joining Steering Committee, your timing couldn’t be better! Steering Committee held an initial Candidate Information evening on November 13th, where we were joined by several parents and teachers who may have an interest in serving on Steering. If you were not able to join us that evening, don’t worry, you can catch up. Participants were to have read “The D’Evelyn Difference” which describes what makes the D’Evelyn curriculum and philosophy special and unique, particularly in Jefferson County public schools. Participants also read pages 4-14 of the D’Evelyn Founding Document, the program narrative and philosophy statement. These initial readings will give you more of sense about the role of Steering Committee, and whether it might be a good fit for you. If you are interested, great! We would encourage you to join us at our next Candidate Training evening, Tuesday February 12th, at 6:30 pm in the Library. This will follow the regular Accountability Meeting scheduled that night. At that meeting, we will discuss the role and purpose of the Steering Committee; responsibilities and obligations of serving, and what it REALLY means regarding time commitment and effort required. Prior to the meeting check out the Application packet, and the associated Candidate readings. These readings are all available to check out from the Library as well as linked here. Some of the other things you will need to do is serve on a committee or subcommittee of the school, such as a hiring or curriculum committee. And come visit us to watch us in action! To apply, you need to attend at least two Steering Committee meetings, or a Steering Committee meeting and a Subcommittee meeting, in the last 12 months. Our next meeting is Monday January 28th at 4:30 and are generally every other Monday. Check the School Events calendar for future meeting dates and times. And the most important qualification? An interest in supporting the Founding Document, serving the wonderful school of which we are all a part, and excitement to help build the next 25 years of D’Evelyn’s legacy! On August 17, 1994, D’Evelyn Junior/Senior High School opened its doors. In honor of the 25th anniversary of our school, it would be remiss not to take a moment to recognize the founders whose vision for an ideal secondary school resulted in the outstanding liberal arts program your child(ren) receive at D’Evelyn.
Each founding parent brought tenacity, dedication and motivation along with their unique strengths and passions to create a school with rigorous academic and behavioral standards. The initiating committee believed that “the purpose of education is to convey an essential body of cultural knowledge to the next generation, and that a solid liberal arts education is required in order for all citizens to be effective participants in their communities” (Founding Document, 1). The work of the Steering Committee is to protect the integrity of the philosophy of the program and ensure the delivery of this strong liberal arts education. Founders, for your vision, time, commitment, wisdom and knowledge thank you! D’Evelyn students and graduates are forever blessed by the legacy that you have created. By Donna Li, Steering Committee As the D’Evelyn community enters its 25th academic year, it is a time to celebrate the many accomplishments of our students over the years and to reflect on the dedication of many individuals whose contributions are invaluable. Today, administrators, teachers, and other staff continue to partner with parents, students, and other community members, working together towards the common goal of helping students achieve in a rigorous program. To that end, communication among these various groups is important, and the Accountability Committee is key as it is charged with coordinating their input with regards to monitoring, evaluating and improving school progress (FD 47). The Accountability Committee serves in an advisory role to and is under the auspices of the Steering Committee, the governing board of the school (FD 49). Are you a parent who would like to be a part of this legacy? D’Evelyn was founded by parents whose vision for the school is detailed in the Founding Document. One very important aspect of this vision may be found in the Philosophy Statement. “Parental involvement will be strongly encouraged” (FD 6). This idea is further emphasized in the Program Narratives. “The D’Evelyn Program has been conceived by parents, and they will continue to be an integral part of its functioning. All parents, students, and staff must understand and embrace the philosophy of the school” (FD 18). The Steering Committee and the Accountability Committee extend an invitation to the community to attend the September 11th Accountability Meeting at 5:30 in the library. This first meeting of the year is important as we will share specific ways you can be involved and make a difference. We hope to see you there! By Gina Coco, Steering Committee D’Evelyn is celebrating 25 years of academic excellence this school year! If you are one of those parents that love our school, but are unsure how to give back, we need you to support our program. Please attend the September 11, 2018 Accountability meeting at 5:30 pm in the library. Steering Committee and Accountability Committee are working together to gather important input, perform evaluations to identify potential improvements, and recruit parents to serve on hiring, textbook and curriculum committees. Here is how you may be a part of sustaining D’Evelyn’s academic excellence: 1. Read our Founding Document before the first Accountability Committee (AC) meeting. This will provide you with insights and ideas as to where you may best help our school. 2. Attend the first 3 AC meetings to discover where you can help. We will be educating our community on our program and offering new opportunities for parents to engage in the continued success of the school. Subcommittees will be established and training dates will be scheduled. 3. Evaluate the opportunities that best suit your skill set and interest. Bear in mind, expertise may be helpful, but is not required. Passion and energy are most critical! 4. Participate in the training, subcommittee or research that most excites you. Make this the year that you choose to get involved. Parents who chose to get involved are critical to D’Evelyn’s continued success. Steering Committee and Accountability Committee would like to thank our community in advance for your attendance and participation. We have an amazing parent community that will step up to be a part of our continued success! Cheers to celebrating 25 amazing years of academic excellence! By Gina Coco
Paul T. Hill in School Choice and Social Controversy: Politics, Policy, and Law, published by the Brookings Institute, notes that a strong school with an established identity—well-defined goals and instructional methods—must deliver on its promises for stability, continuity, and a continuing clientele. Teachers in such school’s benefit by being more actively engaged in reflecting on their own practices and being able to solve problems more effectively. Hill further describes the best schools as distinctive, coherent, and reliable—having a mission that is consistent and guarded. D’Evelyn is such a school. D’Evelyn’s founders had such a mission, and it continues to be maintained and protected by the D’Evelyn Steering Committee. D’Evelyn’s staff is charged with implementing the D’Evelyn philosophy as defined in the D’Evelyn Document. Here is one staff member’s very accurate view of D’Evelyn—what it is, why it works, and how we know it works. D’Evelyn’s Design Compliments of Briant McKellips and the Science Department The overarching consideration for classroom practice at D’Evelyn is the D’Evelyn “Document.” The mission of the founding committee was to provide all students with a rigorous liberal arts curriculum that would prepare each for college should he or she choose to go. This commitment to a broad-based study of the great ideas which have shaped civilization guides all classroom practices in all academic disciplines ranging from pre-algebra to P.E. to vocal music to physics to drama to philosophy to economics to 7th grade literature. We are a textbook based curriculum; therefore, classes are standardized from teacher to teacher within a given discipline by holding up the text as the knowledge that needs to be imparted in a given year. We teach for learning. Our first principal, Lloyd Carlton, used to say, “You haven’t taught it unless they know it.” We hold this up as our standard and do not believe that simply “covering” the material gets the job done. The most important instructional practice at D’Evelyn, which is somewhat different than other schools, is teacher directed, whole-group instruction. At Back-to-School night, I had parents who wanted to know if their students were in my small physics classes or my large ones; at D’Evelyn the question is somewhat irrelevant. I teach a class of fifteen students in almost exactly the same manner as a class of thirty-two. Nearly all teachers at D’Evelyn employ a range of techniques from lecture to modeling to demonstrations to review to Socratic questioning to nightly homework. No classroom at D’Evelyn is an island. The administration supports the school-wide classroom practices, especially as they relate to school discipline. Rigorously enforced discipline standards make one of the pillars upon which teachers can work. The Steering Committee makes sure the practices and learning in one classroom or discipline fits with the overall plan of the liberal arts education for the entire 7th — 12th experience. We see a 7th grader as someone who needs the entire D’Evelyn 7th — 12th grade experience to be properly intellectually equipped as a graduate to tackle college and/or life. Our amazing test scores on widely recognized standardized tests such as ITED/ITBS, AP, SAT, SAT II, ACT, and CSAP speak for themselves. I’m always somewhat surprised our results are dismissed out-of-hand with comments like “Well, of course you do so well with those kids.” There are certainly schools whose populations have at least our level of socioeconomic advantage and parental support that are not doing as well. What impresses me most about the D’Evelyn education is the progress that students make from 7th to 12th grade on these tests—something that cannot be dismissed. D’Evelyn has a far higher percentage of kids taking advanced science courses as electives than in other schools. And our AP test rate is much higher than the district and national averages. Again, the college readiness tests such as SAT, SAT II and ACT are what I feel are the ultimate assessments to consider. Also, data items such as college acceptance rates and college graduation rates are crucially important and seem (though we are very young and our first graduates are just now college seniors) to be panning out nicely. At D’Evelyn, parental support for both the discipline procedures and educational practices is crucial. We are a demanding school that places an emphasis on nightly homework as critical for student success. Students need to be encouraged at home to complete this work with priority over student employment and sports and other extra-curricular activities during the academic week. Originally published in the October 2001 publication of the JagTracks. CSAP, a state test, is no longer in use in Colorado having been superseded by several subsequent state tests. The annual Steering Committee Candidate Public Forum will be held on Tuesday April 10th at 6:45 PM in the D’Evelyn Library immediately after the Accountability Committee meeting. There are two parent candidates, Melinda Bochner, and Gina Coco, running for two positions. Attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions of each of the candidates. Mrs. Bochner is seeking election for a parent position on Steering Committee for a three-year term. Mrs. Coco is running for re-election to a parent position. Learn more about Mrs. Bochner and Mrs. Coco by reading their biographies in this issue of the Jaguar Tracks. The annual forum provides the D’Evelyn community an opportunity to meet all the candidates and determine how each candidate will support and uphold the D’Evelyn school philosophy.
Melinda Bochner I was born in Denver as a 4th generation Coloradan. Due to my father’s career as a geophysicist, I spent half of my childhood living in foreign countries, including Australia (8 years), South Africa and Canada. I completed high school at Cherry Creek HS and subsequently attended Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina. My professional education includes a law degree from the UCLA School of Law and a medical degree from the University of Colorado School of Medicine. I am a member of the Colorado Bar and trained in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. The joy of my life is my husband and three daughters. My oldest daughter is currently in 8th grade at D’Evelyn, the middle will be attending D’Evelyn next year as a 7th grader, and my youngest is in 3rd grade at Bradford K-8. Currently, I’m a “stay at home mom,” grateful for the opportunity to raise and spend time with my girls. I am honored to be a candidate for the D’Evelyn Steering Committee. While I do not have any formal education in the field of education or educational policy, I have some experience serving on the Education Committee (one year as the head of the committee) at my religious institution, overseeing all aspects of the Religious School. More importantly, I am deeply committed the D’Evelyn philosophy and curriculum. It would be my goal to ensure that D’Evelyn remains true to its “constitution” and continues to provide every D’Evelyn student the extraordinary opportunity to obtain a rigorous, solid educational foundation. Gina Coco Gina Coco is a mother of 4 children and married to her husband, Tom. Her oldest daughter recently graduated from the BFA program in animation at Long Beach, her son is in 11th grade and her identical twin boys are in 9th grade this year. She was the CEO of a broker/dealer firm for 20 years in CA, selling it in 2008 and then relocating to Evergreen, CO. She is currently semi-retired, flying to meet with CA clients, as a financial advisor, a few times a year. The Coco family attends Red Rocks Church in Golden and is actively involved in church life. Gina was appointed to be on the Steering Committee for the 2014-2015 year, served a 3-year elected term from 2015 until present and has greatly enjoyed the opportunity to dive into serving the D'Evelyn community. In the past, she has served in several Board of Director positions, Accountability Committees at both D'Evelyn and an additional Jeffco Charter school, and on church boards. Gina believes that a great education is the foundation for each member of society and that this education enables our society to grow and flourish. She is 100% in support of the liberal arts curriculum that D'Evelyn requires of all its graduates and would feel privileged to serve another full term on D'Evelyn's Steering Committee. Gina believes there is nothing more important than the protection of the Founding Document to the school's future continued success. D’Evelyn’s Founders established five pillars upon which our unique program is built: the school’s clear philosophy statement, its defined curriculum and instructional methods, the outcomes promised to graduates of our program, and a governance model that gave defined roles to parents, administrators and teachers. The fifth pillar that the Founders erected is a model for providing excellent, well-qualified, professional educators to bring our program to life for our students. March and April are hiring season at D’Evelyn, and we hope to have you know the ideals by which we hire and consider taking part in this process. The Founding Document (pages 25-29) of 1994 set out principles for the staffing of the school. Almost 25 years later, these principles remain just as valuable for use today as they were in 1994. Building on those principles, the Steering Committee now also relies on our Staffing Directives to ensure that D’Evelyn maintains the Founders’ brilliant vision for hiring teachers, counselors, and administrators. The principles which yield the best possible hiring outcomes are:
Our Founders knew that hiring must be an intentional choice of persons who believe in and enact D’Evelyn’s model of curriculum and instruction. Among their other key observations is this: “The power [of teachers] to inspire interest in learning or to cause the student to react with indifference to the subject being taught... [each teacher] should have extensive knowledge in his/her respective area. We will look for… lifelong learners who are able to share their love of a subject.” (Founding Document, p. 32) It is the shared job of the Steering Committee, D’Evelyn administrators, teachers, and the parent volunteers who serve on hiring committees to adhere to these tenets when making new hiring decisions necessitated by retirements and other staff departures. In this way we ensure that we do not undermine this pillar upon which our students’ success rests. We always are eager to find new parent volunteers to serve on hiring committees. If you are committed to D’Evelyn’s educational philosophy and perhaps additionally have expertise in one of our academic or elective content areas (the former is a requirement, the latter would be a plus but is not required), please do not hesitate to reach out to our Principal ([email protected]) or Steering Committee Chair ([email protected]) to indicate your interest. |
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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