Helix Feed

Congratulations to the Class of 2018!

Family, friends, and staff gathered to celebrate the Class of 2018. Across the network, 324 seniors walked across the stage, including the first graduating class from DSST: Cole. And, once again, all our seniors earned acceptance into at least one college or university. Please join us in congratulating the Class of 2018!

Explaining the network-wide technology outage

As you all are aware, DSST’s IT systems suffered a catastrophic event which caused a network-wide outage that affected email, network applications, and phones. After working throughout the holiday weekend, all services were restored late Tuesday morning. Below is an update from Director of Technology Shaun Bryant on what caused the outage, how the IT team fixed the issues, and steps being taken to prevent similar events in the future.

Colorado Teaching Policy Fellowship looking for applicants

Teach Plus is accepting applications to be part of the Colorado Teaching Policy Fellowship for the 2018-2019 school year.

Teacher's Lounge: Lara Thomas

If you’re planning an upcoming vacation, Lara Thomas may have a few ideas for you.

Thomas, an Earth Science teacher at Stapleton High School, has visited 25 national parks across the U.S. and 10 more national parks in other countries. Her travels have taken her to six of the seven continents (Antarctica being the only missing piece). From volcanic summits in Hawaii to bright emerald lakes in New Zealand, Thomas encourages people to get out and see just how majestic Mother Nature can be. And if you do, she suggests taking the time to appreciate the sights with your own eyes and not just through your phone’s camera.

Summer reading suggestions for teachers

This summer, let books be your teachers. Let them teach you how to become more resilient, how to bounce back after adversity, and how to thrive (not just survive). Resilience is like a muscle that you can strengthen with a variety of daily practices in order to cultivate a set of dispositions or mental attitudes. Optimism, for example, is a key disposition of a resilient person, as are acceptance, hope, humor, and mindfulness.

Presenters sought for 'Educating Children of Color Summit'

If you are interested in presenting at the upcoming Educating Children of Color Summit, please submit your proposals by July 15. The summit is scheduled for Jan. 19, 2019 at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

This year’s summit theme is "Building Bridges." The summit seeks to dismantle the cradle to prison pipeline for children of color and children in poverty through education.

UPDATE: Systems coming back online

UPDATE (8:06 a.m. May 29):

Below are updates on the three systems that were affected at the time of our last update:

The Century Foundation profiles DSST

The Century Foundation profiles DSST in a new report which was part of a case study on charter school diversity. The report looks at the network's diverse-by-design is working to prove "school integration, educational equity, and academic quality function as complementary."

Helping students overcome doubts and go to college

Most of my students didn’t know any college graduates, but that’s not stopping them from going to college.

Benefits Open Enrollment ends June 5

We are now officially in our Benefits Open Enrollment period!

Through Tuesday, June 5, 2018, you will need to log in and make your new Kaiser Medical Benefit selection, as well as enroll in additional benefits such as dental, vision or life insurance for the coming year. During this time, you are also able to waive coverage and/or add or remove coverage for dependents. All this can be done through our benefits portal, www.dsst.bswift.com.