MINUTES Denver School of the Arts (DSA) Collaborative School Committee (CSC) October 27th, 2015 4:00-5:30pm Counseling Office Conference Room

CSC Members In Attendance: Bill Kohut (Acting Chairperson) Kendra Fleischman (Secretary) John Abbott Kevin Fox Amy McGrath Kerri Saliman Roberto Corrada Heidi Aggeler Bridget Galaty Maia Brockbank CSC Members In Absentia: Denise Goldin-Dubois Eli Humphrey Guests: Roni Turner Jess Carrel

Call to Order  Bill called the meeting to order at 4:00pm.

Introductions  Those in attendance introduced themselves.

Approval of Minutes  The CSC received the minutes from its September 15 meeting.  ACTION ITEM: Minutes need to be approved and forwarded to Miranda Odom for posting on the CSC website.

Community Input  Jess Carrel shared findings from a student focus group regarding the DSA Dress Code. o Students looked at the existing dress code and did some revisions. o Information about how someone choses to dress should be about their comfort not the others.  CONCLUSION: CSC feels that this issue will need to be a bigger conversation with the students, staff and parents.  ACTION ITEMs: Bill suggests creating a committee that includes a student council member, one teacher from CSC and another teacher, a parent from CSC and other parents to work on the final document back to us by meeting in March to give us time to get is approved by April. Amy and Roberto are interested in being on the committee to review their proposal. Amy will find another teacher to sit on the committee.

1 MINUTES Denver School of the Arts (DSA) Collaborative School Committee (CSC) October 27th, 2015 4:00-5:30pm Counseling Office Conference Room

Elections  The CSC needs to elect a Chairperson for the current school year. o Chairperson will help set the meeting agenda, run the monthly meetings, post the minutes to the website, and make sure that the community knows that the CSC is an active body that welcomes input/participation on a variety of issues. o Maia and Eli volunteered to serve in the capacity of Co-Chairs. CSC discussed pros/cons. o CONCLUSION: Heidi moved that “Maia Brockbank and Eli Humphrey shall serve as Co-Chairs of the DSA-CSC for the 2015-16 school year.” Kevin seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.  The CSC needs to elect a Secretary for the current school year. o Secretary will be responsible for taking notes during the CSC meeting, circulating the notes and minutes prior to the next meeting, and posting approved copies of the minutes to the CSC website. o Kendra volunteered to serve in the capacity of Secretary, taking notes at each meeting. Bridget volunteered to condense the notes into draft minutes for review/approval at the next meeting. CSC discussed pros/cons. o CONCLUSION: Heidi moved that “Kendra Fleischman shall serve as Secretary of the DSA-CSC for the 2015-16 school year, and Bridget Galaty shall work with Kendra to prepare the draft Minutes.” Kevin seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.  ACTION ITEM: All current CSC members and the officer roles will be posted to the CSC website.

Yearlong Goals  The CSC needs to determine what topics/issues will be addressed during the 2015-16 school year. o Maia suggested that the CSC hold a brainstorming session, followed by grouping topics into clusters.  Possible Topics/Issues Discussed o College Readiness . Some DSA students have felt unprepared for going into the real world after graduation. o Inclusiveness . Roni talks about the Art Students of Color Alliance (ASOCA) with Aspen Miles and Tracy Holt.

2 MINUTES Denver School of the Arts (DSA) Collaborative School Committee (CSC) October 27th, 2015 4:00-5:30pm Counseling Office Conference Room

. Roberto makes a pitch for more diversity programming; he would like to have more programs that help the community around diversity and inclusion. . Maia suggests student groups drive this so students have buy in and the CSC can be in a support role. . Roberto asks the ASOCA come to us and ask us how we can support them. . Amy brings up the fact that our student body is not as diverse as it once was and we should also address this. o Arts for Social Change . Roberto says this may be a way to address diversity. o Special Education/Gifted-Talented Inclusiveness . Maia and Jess look at the issues facing students with learning disabilities seeking support within the DSA community. . Students identified as Gifted and Talented face similar issues within the high school. . CSC wishes to discuss GT/IEP/504/ALP o Pre-DSA Recruiting . CSC would like to see further support for families looking to apply to DSA. . CSC hopes this may help with recruitment of diverse students.  CONCLUSION: The three highlighted topics (Inclusiveness, SpEd/GT, Pre-DSA Recruiting) are the topics to be discussed over the 2015-16 school year.  ACTION ITEM: At its next meeting, the CSC will need to establish the priorities for future monthly meetings.

Announcements  Remaining dates/times for 2015-16 CSC meetings are as follows: o November 17th: 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm o December: No Meeting o January 19th: 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm (Budget Meeting #1) o February 16th: 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm (Budget Meeting #2 / Dinner) o March 15th: 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm o April 19th: 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm

Adjournment  The October 27 CSC meeting was adjourned promptly at 5:30pm.

Submitted to the CSC for review/approval by Kendra Fleischman and Bridget Galaty.

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