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Meet the newest members of DSST's Senior Leadership Team

As we near the end of the 2021-22 school year, I am excited to share some updates about DSST’s leadership team. As many of you know, DSST has grown rapidly since we started DSST MTV HS in 2004. We have since opened 15 new schools, all of which have been consistently ranked among the best schools in Denver and Aurora, thanks to your hard work. Over the last five years, we have deeply recognized the journey we need to walk to become a more diverse and equitable organization and have increasingly understood the importance of using every resource we have wisely. In consultation with our Board of Directors, we have decided to add two positions to our Senior Leadership Team - a Chief Equity Officer and a Chief Financial Officer – to meet these important focal points of the organization. Adding these two roles to our senior leadership team is important in guiding DSST and our schools to future success. 

2 DSST staff launch community-led mental health ventures in partnership with Moonshot Edventures

Did you know that two of DSST’s mental health providers have started community-led ventures that are gaining attention in the larger Denver community?

In partnership with Moonshot Edventures, Ashlee Morris from CG MS started Girl Talk, a mental health-focused program supporting middle and high school girls of color across the Denver Metro Area, empowering girls to know themselves deeply, lead the world boldly and envision a world where girls are celebrated, uplifted, and supported to awaken their power.

Megan Casimir, from the Cole campus, is the founder of Words Beyond Walls, which connects formerly incarcerated young adults from the Cole neighborhood as mentors and community care facilitators for young people with justice system experience and their loved ones. Words Beyond Walls runs a weekly open-to-the-community healing circle and a communications workshop in the Cole HS AN Center. And, next fall they will be launching a peer mental health support drop-in space.

On June 16, both ventures will be featured in an online event called Shoot For the Moon. It will be a great opportunity to meet amazing folks doing interesting work in the Denver education scene, to hear from some of the young people involved with these ventures, and to support two programs that are directly impacting DSST students every day! If you’re interested in joining, RSVP at this link. If you can’t join, but would like to donate to support either of these ventures, the link to donate is here, and all donations will be matched due to the generosity of an anonymous donor!

Celebrating DSST's Class of 2022

Last week DSST celebrated six graduations: DSST: Byers, DSST: Green Valley Ranch, DSST: Montview, DSST: Conservatory Green, DSST: College View and DSST: Cole. Check out some of the highlights below.

What to know about the D5 school board interviews

On June 3, the DPS Board of Education will select a new representative for District 5 (Northwest Denver) in Denver Public Schools. The DPS Board of Education is interviewing applicants and accepting public comments. Read more about each of the applicants here, including our own Managing Director Adeel Khan. 

Because the current District 5 representative, Brad Laurvick resigned due to a job relocation, his replacement will be selected directly by the school board, instead of through an election process. On May 26, the school board interviewed all five candidates. This meeting was closed to the public but was available to view via live stream.

The school board is a group of seven members from the community who are elected into office by Denver voters. Their duties include:

• Establishing a vision and strategic plan for the district
• Hiring and overseeing the superintendent
• Setting the yearly budget
• Approving contracts for teachers and outside vendors
• Expanding the district and/or closing schools

Submit your EOY survey before it closes on Friday, May 20

Dear DSST Team,

As we close out the year, we want to invite you to share your reflections on this year as well as your hopes for the future of DSST through our End of Year Survey and our Strategic Planning Open Forum.

For DSST seniors, exciting futures come into focus

DSST admits students through a weighted lottery to guarantee a diverse student body. Enrollment is as high as 80 percent students of color at some campuses, with an equal balance of young men and women.

It’s a rigorous academic program, but that doesn’t change the fact that the students are still just kids. Between classes or heading to lunch, they linger to talk with friends, they laugh and joke, they sneak away to use their phones, they study.

You see Afros, long hair, short hair, multi-colored hair. Some wear hijabs, others ballcaps. They’re kids. College-bound kids who, for the time being, have found their happy place.

More Colorado kids are coming out as trans and nonbinary -- and staking a claim to be themselves at school

Ash Galaviz, 17, walked into the lunchroom at DSST: Green Valley Ranch High School one recent afternoon, and a bunch of friends were excited. A senior who loves an afterschool nap and watching anime, Ash is working on a book that will soon be self-published.

What to know about the DPS healthy start times

Beginning in fall 2023, most DPS schools will have new bell times that align with the Board of Education's Healthy Start Times (HST) resolution. The resolution calls for middle schools and high schools to start no earlier than 8:20 a.m. each school day to support healthy sleep habits in adolescents. DPS will include information about the new bell times in this week’s Our DPS Voice newsletter. 

What this means for DSST families

DSST is still determining bell time decisions for some schools. You can see your school’s new bell schedule, as assigned by DPS here. In the bell time chart, TBD signifies DSST will be able to set times because these schools are on DPS Success Express shuttle system or get transportation from a third party. We don’t expect to finalize these TBD times until next school year but we are planning to keep all high schedules aligned, starting at 8:20 a.m. to continue our cross-campus course offerings. We know these changes may create challenges for your family, and we are committed to supporting your needs and addressing concerns new start times may bring. 

As a reminder, these new times will not be put into effect until the 2023-24 school year (not this fall). As with any change that impacts our program, will be very intentional over the next year to explore all options that support our communities with the new times.

Thank you in advance for your time and patience as we make these changes and move toward implementing Healthy Start Times beginning in August 2023.

'A livable future': Denver students push sustainability policies

Denver Public Schools has one electric school bus, solar panels in 46 locations, and 126 school and community gardens. But students are pushing the district to do more and become a national leader on climate action, sustainability, and environmental justice.

“I really want to ensure a livable future for me and my generation,” Amelia Fernández Rodríguez, a freshman at DSST: Conservatory Green high school, recently told the school board. She is a member of a group called DPS Students for Climate Action.

DSST High School Seniors Celebrate The Future With 'Signing Day'

Hundreds of high school seniors in Denver are celebrating their future with Senior Signing Day. They gathered at the Denver Coliseum for DSST’s annual Senior Signing Day.