June 3, 2005
Sabin, Gilpin Elementary School Revitalization Plans Set To Start
The Board on Thursday approved plans to revitalize two additional schools – Gilpin and Sabin elementary schools.
In all, 13 schools are spending up to $2.5 million from voters to improve student learning and attract families back to their neighborhood schools.
Twelve of 13 revitalization plans have been approved. The Board is expected to take action on Thursday, June 16 on the plan proposed by Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School.
Gilpin Elementary School
Gilpin Elementary School, which will expand to eighth grade in the next several years, will: create a full-time English Language Development Specialist to support English language learners and native English speakers in developing academic and social language; develop a Professional Learning Community among staff; "platoon" curriculum delivery (teachers in fourth through eighth grades would specialize in the subjects they teach); reorganize into a lower school through third grade and an upper school for grades four through eight; add a full-time math coach; partner with Earth Force to create a service learning system for natural science, social sciences and technology courses; offer full-day kindergarten; foster a school-wide approach to positive behaviors and character education; and support parental and community engagement.
Sabin Elementary School
Sabin Elementary School will become one of three Denver elementary schools to offer the official International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (beginning in fall 2006).
The IB Primary Years Program focuses on the development of the whole child through environments in which children learn – in the classroom and in the world outside. It offers a framework that meets children’s academic, social, physical, emotional and cultural needs. The program is based on student-centered inquiry and is a comprehensive approach to teaching and learning with an international curriculum that also teaches a second language school-wide.
This fall, Sabin will introduce several key elements of the program, such the student profile, calling for all students to be inquirers, thinkers, communicators and risk takers who are knowledgeable, caring, principled, open-minded, well balanced and reflective. Further, Sabin faculty and students will begin to adopt the essential attitudes of appreciation, commitment, confidence, empathy, enthusiasm, independence, cooperation, creativity, curiosity, integrity, respect and tolerance as the core elements of Sabin’s behavioral expectations during the coming school year.
Sabin currently is a K-6 school will return to the K-5 configuration in fall 2006 to accommodate the adoption of the IB middle years program at Henry Middle School beginning this fall.
The revitalization plan also calls for developing a Professional Learning Community among staff and supporting parental and community engagement.
"Thumbs Up" From District To Commission On School Nutrition And Physical Activity
The district is ready to adopt and implement many of the recommendations forwarded earlier this school year by the Commission on School Nutrition and Physical Activity, but a few will have to wait.
That was the overall conclusion by district staff as it presented a formal response to the commission’s work, completed in December. Representatives from the departments of Curriculum and Instruction, Food and Nutrition Services, and Student Services all briefed the Board on their ideas for implementing the proposed changes.
Among the steps being taken:
- A new wellness policy is being prepared for introduction in August 2005.
- A district-wide nutrition policy is being readied that will include nutritional guidelines for all food and beverages sold on campus. The policy will restrict all food and beverages sold to strict nutritional guidelines.
- Work is being done to integrate more health education – including behaviorally focused nutrition education – into existing course work and programs.
- The district is striving to achieve the goal of all students participating in at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day. Suggested steps include adding recess time and working to promote before- and after-school physical activities.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Coordinated School Health model is being implemented.
The staff reported that action cannot be taken on a few of the commission recommendations, especially in the area of physical education, until additional funds are secured or studies are completed.
"I think we’re going to make some huge progress, but the area I’m concerned about is physical education," said Board member and commission co-chair Elaine Gantz Berman. "We have a long way to go to meet the commission recommendation. It’s purely a funding issue and an issue of giving individual schools discretion about what staff to keep and what staff not to keep."
Dr. Reginald Washington, commission co-chair, said he was "very pleased" with the staff response but urged full follow-through on all recommendations, including an annual review of the steps being taken.
Superintendent Jerry Wartgow said the resolve exists "deep within the staff" to make sure the commission’s vision is pursued.
Five More School Principal Appointments Announced
Superintendent Jerry Wartgow has appointed five more school principals for the 2005-2006 school year – Antwan Wilson at Montbello High School, Veronica Benavidez at Remington Elementary School, Michael Crawford at Palmer Elementary School, Dan Villescas at Del Pueblo Elementary School and Brette Pond at Bromwell Elementary School. All appointments have been approved by the Board of Education.
Brette Pond (Bromwell Elementary School) is the assistant principal and athletic director at Park Hill K-8 School. She has been with DPS for nine years.
Dan Villescas (Del Pueblo Elementary School) is completing his second year as principal at Allendale Elementary in Jefferson County Public Schools.
Michael Crawford (Palmer Elementary School) is in his second year as the director of elementary education for Adams County School District 50.
Veronica Benavidez (Remington Elementary School) currently is the director of human resources for Boulder Valley Public Schools.
Antwan Wilson (Montbello High School) currently is serving as principal at Pleasant Valley Middle School in Wichita, Kansas.
To date, the Board of Education has approved 17 new principal appointments for the 2005-2006 school year.
Summer Registration Begins Now For Students New To DPS
Elementary, middle and high school students who are new to Denver Public Schools may register this summer beginning Monday, June 6 for the upcoming school year. Summer registration will be at the four area superintendent offices and the Denver Public Schools Welcome Center just outside downtown Denver.
Traditional Year Schools
June 6–July 15
Summer registration for students who will attend a school on the traditional calendar is Monday, June 6 – Friday, July 15.
Continuous-Year Schools
June 13–24
Summer registration for students who will attend a continuous-year school is Monday, June 13 – Friday, June 24. Continuous-year schools are: Amesse, Barrett, Cheltenham, Colfax, Columbian, Del Pueblo, Eagleton, Fairmont, Ford, Harrington, Johnson, Maxwell, McGlone, Mitchell, Smedley, Smith, Valdez and Wyman elementary schools.
Parents wishing to register students for Early Childhood Education (for children who will turn four years old by Saturday, Oct. 1, 2005) may complete registration and financial qualification paperwork at the area superintendent offices or Welcome Center this summer and confirm registration at elementary schools the first week of August.
Middle and high schools will offer walk-in registration on Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 8 and 9.
The first day of school (traditional calendar) is Monday, August 15. The first day of school for 18 elementary schools on the continuous-year calendar is Monday, July 25.
Choice Applications – for students wishing to attend a school outside their neighborhood school boundary on a space-available basis – will be available in all summer registration offices.
Transportation Exception Forms for the 2005-2006 school year (which allow students to ride on existing bus routes on a space-available basis) also will be available after Tuesday, July 5.
The Denver Public Schools website, www.dpsk12.org, includes information about student enrollment and the district’s many school choices. Click on "parents" and then "enrollment guide."
Summer Registration Locations
DPS Welcome Center
8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays
900 Grant St., 720-423-3970
Northeast Area
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays
Bruce Randolph Middle School
3955 Steele St., 720-424-1258
Northwest Area
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays
Ana Marie Sandoval School
3655 Wyandot St., 303-764-7883
Southeast Area
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays
Lincoln Elementary School
710 S. Pennsylvania St., 303-778-9044
Southwest Area
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays
Sabin Elementary School
3050 S. Vrain St., 303-975-4459
Board Notes
In other action this week, the Board of Education approved:
- The contract with Infinite Campus, the new student information system set to replace the current student information system effective July 1, 2005. The current system cannot keep pace with K-12 education reporting requirements. A consortium of Colorado school districts will begin working with Infinite Campus because the web-based program provides more powerful reporting, data analysis and better communication via parent web access. The contract approved this week requires a $609,000 payment for the 2005-2006 school year; the project is funded through the 2003 General Obligation Bond approved by Denver voters.
- Construction contracts for the Montbello Village Place K-8 School project and the Whiteman and Wyman elementary school renovation projects.
- Architect selection for the Brown, Columbian and Edison elementary school, Skinner and Horace Mann middle school, and Department of Technology Services renovation projects.
- A three-year contract with Esceula Tlatelolco, a year-round, dual language, experiential school for students in grades 7-12 who are at risk and demonstrate the need for a non-traditional educational environment. The school is for students who currently are not enrolled in Denver Public Schools. The school’s academic programs are enhanced with indigenous Mexicano/Chicano history and culture, and multi-age classrooms facilitate interdisciplinary learning. During the 2005-2006 school year, the school may serve up to 90 students and expand to 100 students the following year.
- An amendment to the Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning contract to allow the school to participate in a limited special education service provision pilot program for the 2005-2006 school year. This is the same pilot program in which several charter school will be participating.