(Leer en Español usar el traductor de Google aquí.)
Every Thursday while school is in session, you'll receive this DCIS Connect newsletter in your email inbox to keep you up to date on all the events and happenings at our school. It's also available on the DCIS Connect app, which you can download at the Apple Store or Google Play.
If you don't wish to receive the newsletter, click the Unsubscribe link at the end. If you're receiving multiple copies of the newsletter, please email dcis.connect@gmail.com to report the problem; be sure to indicate your first and last name and preferred email address so we can update our records.
Newsletter submissions are due by 10 am on the Tuesday preceding the issue date. Email submissions to dcis.connect@gmail.com.
HAPPENING THIS WEEK ...
DPS Superintendent Parent Forum: "Strengthening Partnerships with the City, Business Leaders, Nonprofit Organizations and Community Groups," Thursday, Feb. 8, 9:30–11:30 am, Temple Emanuel, 51 Grape Street, Denver
DCIS Drama Callbacks for Spring Musical and Tech Applications Due: Thursday, Feb. 8, 3-4:30 pm
Coffee with the Principal (English): Wednesday, March 7, 8:15–9:15 am, DCIS Community Room (103)
Daylight Saving Time: Sunday, March 11. SPRING FORWARD!
LETTER FROM THE PRINCIPAL ... Dear DCIS Families,
The School Choice window is open for all families who are looking for a school for their children for next year. Spread the word that DCIS is the perfect choice! We have held numerous Open Houses both during the school day and at night, hosted seven prospective student "shadowing" days, and attended all four of the DPS School Choice Expo Nights. Now we need your help! Please help us spread the word about our amazing school to any prospective parents you may know. Personal testimony from current parents and students is often the most important factor for prospective parents, as they make their decisions. The School Choice window closes on Wednesday, Feb. 28, at 4 pm.
Speaking of numbers of students … as many of you know, the school budget is directly tied to the number of students in our school. Given that we have low student enrollment in several areas of our school and overall lower enrollment compared with recent years (i.e., enrollment two years ago was 775 students; we currently have 736 in the building and are projected to have 732 next year), our budget is extremely tight for 2018–19. This means we have to make some cuts in order to balance it. The list of cuts recommended by the Collaborative School Committee (CSC) and approved by both me and our school's instructional superintendent are as follows:
Reduction of our school nurse from 1.0 employee to .6 employee
Reduction of one assistant principal and posting of a dean of instruction position
Leaving the open library paraprofessional position unfilled
Reduction of the equivalent of 1.0 world language teacher (without losing any of our language offerings)
Replacement of our current math intervention model with the highly successful Math Fellows intervention model
Significant cuts to operational funds in order to retain as many programs/teachers as possible and avoid the need to cut any more personnel
While no one wants the school to cut anything, cuts indeed have to be made. These decisions are difficult and important at the same time. I want to thank our CSC for their time in weighing all the possibilities, as well as the many of you who came to the open budget forum to share ideas. We have not made any of these decisions lightly. At this time, it is important to move forward with positivity and take a moment to thank all the outstanding educators who are an integral part of DCIS. Regardless of budget constraints, I am grateful for every single one of them.
Theresa McCorquodale
RAISE YOUR HAND ... SAVE THE DATE ... JOIN A TEAM! On Saturday, April 28, 3-7 pm, the DCIS PTSA will host the first-ever DCIS Reunion & Celebration. We hope you "save the date," but we also need a few more folks to join one of the planning teams: Food & Beverage, Events & Activities, Alumni Outreach, Sponsorships, and Silent Auction. Please sign up through this link. Thank you!
SUPPORT PERU SERVICE TRIP PERU Service Trip Raffle! Buy one ticket for $3 or two tickets for $5. The following will be raffled: Valentine's gift basket, Netflix binge basket, Date Night In romantic-dinner-for-two basket. Special Valentine's wine basket for parents and teachers. Students can buy tickets during lunch or from Mr. Munoz at other times.
QUESTIONS ABOUT TEENS AND SMARTPHONES?
On Friday, Feb. 23, the DCIS PTSA, through the generous sponsorship of Denver's True Voice Studio, is hosting a screening of the film Screenagers. Through poignant and unexpectedly funny stories, along with surprising insights from authors, psychologists, and brain scientists, Screenagers reveals how tech time impacts kids' development and offers solutions on how adults can empower kids to best navigate the digital world and find balance.
The film will have subtitles in Spanish for our Spanish-speaking families. The screening is free, but reservations are required — click HERE to reserve your seats.
COUNSELORS' CORNER ...
COUNSELOR ASSIGNMENTS Tami Schmidt: Middle School Ted Brugman: 9th and 10th Grades Melisa Springsteen: 11th and 12th Grades Aly Bortle: 12th Grade Post-Secondary Coach, Wednesdays and Fridays in room 1010
SENIORS
Senior Information Night. All senior parents are invited to a senior information night on Thursday, Feb. 15, at 5:30 pm in the auditorium. DCIS staff will speak to families about graduation, next steps, important dates and other information. Following the presentation, students will go to their designated Advisement classes and present their website/portfolios to their families. Please join us!
81% of our senior class has applied to a university, community college and/or technical school
11% of students who have applied have been admitted thus far
70% of the senior class has completed their FAFSA
87% of the senior class is remediation-free in math and English
JUNIORS
Counselors will be in classrooms next week getting juniors registered for the SAT Essay. This is an optional part of the SAT test on April 10. However, all juniors MUST take the SAT on that date. Please email Mrs. Springsteen with questions.
COLORADO BOOK FESTIVAL
The Colorado Authors' League and the Denver Public Library are sponsoring the Colorado Book Festival on Saturday, March 3, at the Denver Central Library 5/7th floors, 10:30 am–4 pm. It will feature 108 author exhibitors selling and autographing books, as well as 60 panelists on 19 panels covering everything from cooking to writing graphically. Please visit the Colorado Book Festival website for more information.
Celebrity reader Anna Jo Haynes will read Colorado author Denise Vega's Click Here: How I Survived Seventh Grade. Vega is an award-winning children's book author and writing coach who believes in the power of story to entertain, inform and change lives. She will be on hand to answer students' questions.
DCIS students are invited to read the book before the event and prepare one or two questions if they would like to participate in a live recording of the Book Club for Kids podcast. The podcast will be recorded at noon in the Gates Conference Room on the 5th floor of the Denver Central Library. Students should arrive 15 minutes ahead of time and wait quietly outside the room until the organizers are ready for them.
TRAVEL AND EXCHANGE OPPORTUNITIES ...
TRAVEL FAIR REDUX Denver Sister Cities International manages and administers all types of programming — educational, economic, cultural and humanitarian — associated with Denver's 13 global Sister and Friendship Cities, including exchanges for all ages and local cultural events. The beauty of Denver Sister Cities lies in these permanent diplomatic relationships, many of which have been established for decades and therefore have a solid and trustworthy foundation. The organization offers student exchanges to France and Mongolia annually and to Japan biannually, and provide scholarship support for DCIS's Italian and Chinese exchanges.
MORE HOST FAMILY OPPORTUNITIES World Denver loves to have DCIS families as hosts! Check out its 2018 Homestay Opportunities.
ADOLESCO YOUTH EXCHANGE Learn French in France, German in Germany or Spanish in Spain! We will match you with a student about your own age for a unique two-way exchange to France, Germany or Spain as part of our flexible and affordable nonprofit language immersion and cultural exchange program for qualifying U.S. students ages 9–18. YOU DECIDE when to exchange and for how long (up to three months). Find other upcoming informational events and sign up for more info. Applications are due by Thursday, March 15.
DCIS FOUNDATION FUNDRAISER
This year the DCIS Foundation's annual fundraising event will take place at a new venue: the Denver Museum of Nature & Science! Please join us for "DCIS Foundation Passport Dinner: Igniting Global Understanding, Shaping Tomorrow's Leaders." Mark your calendars for Thursday, April 26, at 6 pm. Details to come. P.S. Like us on Facebook, and check out our newly issued annual report. Lots to celebrate!
