DENVER CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS

Board of Trustees Meeting

September 12, 2016

6:30 PM – Teller Campus

I. Board Attendees: Linda Baumgartel, John Carpenter, Alan Natelborg, Dan Addink, Cal VanHeukelem, Michael Jewell, Craig Peters, Christian Hutter, Trevor Nydam

II. Staff Attendees: Jen Kawasaki, Brant Epperhart

III. Welcome

IV. Opening Devotions – Cal Van Heukelem

a. Excerpts from John 15 b. Book, “Covenant and Kingdom”

V. Review and Acceptance of Agenda a. Agenda was accepted

VI. Review and Acceptance of Minutes of June 20, 2016 Society Meeting Minutes a. Minutes were accepted

VII. Consent Agenda Items - None

VIII. Executive Reports

a. Jenn Kawasaki reported that staff can feel God’s presence working in and through the school now more than ever.

b. Informal staff feedback is that school continues to hit its stride. The is potentially some apprehension on the dramatic increase in enrollment.

c. Board appreciates the extraordinary efforts of all the staff. Board suggested holding another staff appreciation holiday party.

d. Academics (see attachment) e. Student Life (see attachment)

i. Faith Families: groups of students of different ages who form a “faith family” and engage with each other in a meaningful way throughout their time at DC

ii. BYOD: Is allowing more dynamic learning and classroom engagement. DC will provide devices to be checked out if one cannot be provided.

iii. Volunteer Background Checks: 100% compliance required. Board members committed to submitting forms for board members. Brant and Lori are the only individuals who see the details to maintain confidentiality.

f. Community Life (see attachment) i. Parent Association: going very well. 28 people showed up to the first meeting.

ii. Alumni Engagement: Looking into companies that gather alumni data. Our existing systems are inadequate and difficult to deal with. School recognizes this as a priority.

g. Advancement & Marketing (see attachment) i. Todd is working on his Vision for DC and is in the process of laying out an MBO

ii. Capital Campaign: since we have started approaching individuals, over 50 people last year and 50 people this year have given over $10,000. Asking is important.

iii. Suggestion: Look into a subscription to “The Foundation Center” database for grant opportunities.

iv. Suggestion: Tie efforts to engage alumni into donor database v. Extend/Inclusion: Have 8-10 students currently. Some are hearing impaired;

one has Down Syndrome. Working on how to integrate outside therapies on campus. Working on becoming budget neutral.

vi. Putting on a lunch for local pastors who have students in their congregations vii. Senior VP of Special Olympics is looking at our facility and fields for using it for

regional events. h. Capital Campaign (see advancement and marketing attachment) i. Admissions (see attachment)

i. God has blessed us with an enrollment of 462 against a budget of 430 for this school year.

ii. +10% increase in enrollment over last year at the same time iii. Elementary and middle schools have increased enrollment. High school has

stayed steady. iv. Suggested interviewing new families to see what contributed to their decision to

join the DC community j. Business Office - Finance, Facilities, HR, Etc. (see attachment)

i. Annual audit will be presented at the Dec 5th Board meeting ii. Construction financing is looking like it will close in late October at a rate

significantly lower than expected. iii. Board resolution will be coming in the next week or two. Signatures likely

needed from President and Secretary. iv. Looking into use of a new system of rapid background checks for all school

visitors. v. Suggestion: have insurance broker give us an overview and debrief of insurance

coverage to the Board of Trustees.

IX. Board Items a. Old Business

i. ReNew Update 1. Seems to be turning the corner. Best month ever last month – losses

limited to $2,800. 2. Very close to having a store manager – parent of current student 3. Instead of renting upstairs to artists, looking to rent out booths to sell a

variety of products. 6 month leases and is already nearly leased out. Also get 30% of sales.

4. Basement is leased out to artists. 5. $1,985 in total lease revenue. 6. We are now consigning as well as selling furniture directly. Get 40% -

60% of consignment items. b. New Business

i. None

X. Public Comment (visitors please submit topics to DCS.Board@denverchristian.org at least two days prior to the meeting) a. No public comments

XI. Closing Prayer – Alan Natelborg

XII. Adjournment

September 2016 Board Report

Academics

We are off to another great start at DCS! What a blessing as we’ve seen God work in so

many ways over the past few months. Summer was a great time of rest and reflection,

and we have been able to implement some initiatives this fall to continue to improve as a

school.

The school year began with five days of professional development, including:

● 1st Aid / CPR

● New Teacher Orientation

● NWEA training on using MAP scores more effectively

● School Nurse annual training (focus on food allergies)

● Trainings on Downs Syndrome students

● Autism Awareness training

● Characteristics of Great Teachers

● Restorative Practices

● HR changes

● School safety drills

● Staff Meetings

We welcome the following staff members to our educational team:

● Preschool – Brittany Viss

● 4th Grade – Amanda Herrera

● MS – Russ Smith

● HS Math -- Julie Cumming

● International Student Program Director -- Paul Lowe

Staffing

Preschool – Maggie Ballard (director), Jan Budreau, Sonja Elmore, Brittany Viss

K – Laurie Sanderson, Deb Hogan

1st – Jana Swalley, Leanne Koetje (student teacher from UNC -- Amanda Hungate)

2nd – Kristy Natelborg

3rd – Kim Vogel, Ben Sneller

4th – Carla Lenderink, Amanda Herrera

5th – Dave Byma, Jessica Lauer

MS – Matt DeBoer, Ben Kloosterman, Val Poland, Tim Zietse, Ben Dirksen, Judy

Perkins, Lynae Steketee, Danielle Mayen

HS – Patrick Boyd, Brad Homan, Tami Zietse, Reba Bull, Rene Meyer, James Timmer,

Barry Meyer, Holly Horner, Amber Van Maanen,

Extend – Dee Dyk (HS), Judy Perkins (MS), Tracey Twinam (Elem)

● Paras -- Lia Buchanon, Micah Brewster, Katherine Stone, Jo O’Brien

Specials – Mark Wurst (5-12 Band, HS choir), Davina Perret (PreK-8 music), Linda

Holmes (PreK-6 art), Pam Dykhouse (7-12 art), Lauralee Veenstra (elem computers),

Carol Buikema (PreK-6 PE), Lynae Steketee (7-8 PE), Danielle Mayen (MS Spanish).

Counseling – Ben DeNooy, Jen Jackson-Gustafson

● Interns -- Cierra Pierce, Mary Dominguez

Academic Initiatives

1. Accreditation -- This upcoming April is our accreditation site visit, and we have

much to accomplish before the visit in the spring, including finishing up our work

on our school improvement plan, writing a self-study, and identifying goals for

the next 5 years.

2. MAP scores -- Improve the Utilization of MAP testing to set goals with students

and encourage improvement.

3. International Student Program -- With the hiring of a director for this program, we

expect to improve our program so that international students can continue to be

successful at our school. We doubled our enrollment of international student. The

program now includes ...

a. Advocacy

b. Orientation

c. Tutoring

d. Cultural Outings

e. Host Family Assistance

4. Dual Enrollment and Advanced Placement – We are pursuing two additional dual

enrollment courses (PreCalculus and Statistics), but we lost our dual enrollment

with a staffing change. Advanced Placement preparation is continuing with the

addition this year of Physics.

5. Faculty evaluation process -- Over the past few years, we have increased the

breadth and depth of the faculty evaluation process, adding more objective

measures of teacher effectiveness. This process now includes the following:

a. Goal Setting

b. Student Surveys (both general and specific)

c. Parent Surveys (both general and specific)

d. MAP, ACT, PSAT scores (when appropriate)

e. Classroom Visits

f. ELEOT observations

g. Principal Reviews

Professional Development Focus

1. Accreditation

2. MAP Utilization

Respectfully Submitted,

Steve Kortenhoeven

Director of Academics

Director of Admissions Board Report

September 12, 2016

1. 2016 Enrollment

We began school at 462 students. We had two International students who ended up

not coming and one new student who decided to transfer. I have had six families

inquire about enrolling this current year as well as one additional International Student

who has applied for enrollment for the third semester.

2. What is keeping me busy?

I continue to talk to families about enrollment for this year. This includes those students

who started at another school and are feeling unsettled, those moving in from out of

state or preschool families interested in starting right away.

I also have talked to families who are looking into DC for the 2017-2018 school year.

These families represent 14 students from 3’s preschool to freshman. I will stay in

contact with these families to invite them to some of our upcoming Enrollment events.

I have worked on our shadow program to make it stronger. Teachers have nominated

students to be Shadow Ambassadors and letters have been sent to students. Training

will be on Wednesday, September 7. I already have two students set to shadow.

I am in the process of updating the information folders that I give to potential families

with current information.

3. Upcoming Enrollment Events

We will have a tent at the Summerfest Festival at Clement Park September 17 and 18,

an annual, family-oriented Foothills Park & Recreation fundraising event (more

information at http://www.summersetfest.com/). 30,000 people are expected to

attend.

We will have a tent at Cider Days, October 1 and 2. Cider Days is an annual, family-

oriented Lakewood community event drawing thousands of people in the Lakewood

area (more information at http://www.lakewood.org/ciderdays/). As a new Lakewood

resident, we are very excited to be a main sponsor of this event.

We will host Open House events on campus October 26 and 27 from 6:30-8:30.

A Denver Christian Experience event will be held November 2 on campus from 9-10:30.

The Open House and DC Experience are both events we have on our marketing website

for families. It has also been put in local newspapers and magazines. As the events get

closer we will encourage our current families to invite friends.

Carrie Johnson

Director of Admissions

Denver Christian Schools

Board Report

Director of Community Life

September 2016

ADMISSIONS

● Over 100 new students enrolled for school year 2016-17! Open Houses every

Wednesday evening and Sunday afternoon proved to be very effective as well as

new family BBQs and ice cream sundae events. Carrie’s efforts and contact with

inquiring families never slowed from May to August. New family interviews by

Carrie, Steve, Tyler, and me occurred nearly every week. I’m impressed with the

quality and commitment of the new families coming to DC.

● Looking forward to the new student ambassador program that Carrie is setting up

for interested students shadowing at DC.

STAFF/COMMUNITY RELATIONS

● DC 101, Kindergarten Popsicle Night, Backpack Night, Parent Information

Meetings, and Convocation all served to bring community together and get us off

to a great start. This does make for many nights out and many trips to school for

parents and staff. Discussions are under way to look at ways to combine these

events into one or two more dynamic days/evenings. Stay tuned!

● Our Thunder Mascot revealed in the gym was FUN!

● Looking forward to our first athletic event under the lights on our new field.

Just like the gym brought our community together for volleyball and basketball

games, the completion of the fields will rally our community and increase our

student participation in athletics.

● HS staff/parents are planning to continue the Hope Buddies program and a new

Faith Family Committee is revamping our format for Faith Family Chapels to

make them more relational.

● Thankful for Elizabeth Monaco and Dave Youngsma for heading up our auction

committee. This was a huge community building event last year and should be

bigger and better this year.

PARENT ASSOCIATION

● Many thanks to Amy Ruter who led our Parent Association for the past two years

as we transitioned to our new campus. Following her resignation we looked at

ways to keep our DCPA viable and sustainable. We added more structure to our

leadership by creating a DCPA Board made up of Kendal Mullins, President,

Susan Hawes, Vice President, Jill Schreurs, Secretary, and Greg D’Argone

Treasurer. Room parents are in place to support our staff and students, and

advisors to the board at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels

are also in place to bring new ideas and advice as events are being planned.

First meetings have already taken place and I’m thankful for the energy and and

leadership that is present.

● Fall Festival is scheduled for Friday, October 7. It is one of our biggest

community events and a committee is already hard at work planning for this

event. Hope to see you there!

● Debra Adair continues as our Volunteer Coordinator. She works hand in hand

with PA and other groups at DC to enlist volunteers. She encourages our

volunteers to help us track the kinds of jobs that are getting accomplished and

number of hours our community is giving to DC. We have set a goal or 7,000

hours for this year. (approximately 23 hours per family)

● New for this year is a requirement for all volunteers to go through a background

check. Reaction so far has been fairly positive. We are looking at ways to track

and inform staff of who is “approved” to volunteer in classrooms, on field trips, at

athletic events, etc.

BOOSTER CLUB

● With our Parent Association well in place, I hope to put more time and effort into

defining and re-establishing our DC Booster Club. I am thankful for Jen

Kawasaki’s assistance as we look to keep this important group functioning for the

good of DC.

PK-5

● Due to our growing enrollment over the summer we needed to add new staff at

both the preschool and elementary levels. We added an all day every day

preschool class. Initially, Denise Johnson was hired to fill this position. It soon

became apparent to her and us that it was not a good fit. Brittany Viss was hired

to take her place and worked along side our Director, Maggie Ballard, and

Denise as she transitioned into that position. At the elementary level, Amanda

Herrera was hired to teach 4th grade. Brittany is a recent graduate of Dordt

College and Amanda is a graduate of University of Northern Colorado as more

recently worked with the administrative staff at Aspen Academy. Both Brittany

and Amanda bring gifts, enthusiasm, and dedication to our staff and I’m looking

forward to working with them this year.

● We also have a student teacher from UNC working under the guidance of Jana

Swalley in first grade.

● We’ve increased our inclusion students at the elementary level and have 2 new

paras working alongside them, Kath Stone and Cindy Hutchison. Thanks goes to

our Extend Team for their leadership in this area.

2016 - September Board Report - Student Life

Faith Families and Faith Teams: Over the summer a committee was formed to specifically

focus on the needs of the Faith Family program. Representatives from the teaching staff met

over the summer to brainstorm how to best maximize the Faith Family program. The focus at

the beginning of the year will be to really allow time for the students in each family to get to

know each other. This involves in class activities and then ideas to bring the full partnership of

the home into the Faith Family. We are very excited about the possibilities this new approach

will bring to our student culture.

Senior retreat this fall: On our annual senior retreat this fall will will focus on the Restorative

Practices mentoring program. The groups are scheduled to meet once per week. Excited to

see this pilot program grow into something more robust and involve as many age groups as

possible. Your prayers are appreciated for this program. Click here for a descriptions of the

program. http://goo.gl/WbtZPa To what extent our program will be implemented is yet to be

determined.

We have launched the 6th - 12th grade B.Y.O.D. (Connected Learning Program) - Click

here for details This program is off to a great start and we are excited to see how it will impact

our students’ learning! So far so good!!

DC Dash: continue to be heavily involved in this neat community activity and are excited but

we’re hoping we reach our goal of 500 participants… your help in promoting the Dash is much

appreciated. Please join us… click here to register. http://www.denverchristian.org/dc-dash/

Hallway Heroes: Hope this goes better this year. Started off great last year with quite a few

sign ups and then it tapered off throughout the year. Hoping we can gain momentum and then

keep the momentum going throughout the year. Click here for details

High School Washington D.C. over spring break. We provide this awesome opportunity to

our high school students every other spring break. It is opposite the high school band trip to

Disney. Joshua Expeditions has been a wonderful organization to work with and so that is great.

Here is a link to the letter I sent with all the details (http://goo.gl/CXvSug)

Middle School Principal:

● Middle School grew from 101 in 15/16 to 133 in 16/7… HOW COOL IS THAT?!?

○ Been a super fun challenge to embrace.

○ Due to the amazing growth we needed to hire a 3rd teacher for 6th grade and that

allowed us to hire Russ Smith.

● Off to an amazing start… had a tremendous experience with the 7th graders at Camp

IdRaHaJe. We continue to be blown away by the impact those 3 days has on our 7th

grade culture.

● I continue to enjoy being in classrooms and focusing on the growth of our students and

teachers.

Questions? tamidon@denverchristian.org or 303.763.7916