2013 New School Application Process Informational Session #3

1. 2013 New School Application Process Informational Session #3 For Prospective New School Applicants

2. AGENDA - 900 Grant Rm. 703, 4:00-4:45 & 4:45-5:30 Session #2 Goals: • To provide relevant information to prospective new school applicants regarding the new school application process. • To ensure that parents/guardians and community members are involved in the school development process. • District Run: Discuss the district-run school oversight structure including the role of the Instructional Superintendents and the School Accountability Committee • Charter: Discuss the role of a charter school board in overseeing a charter school Process: 4:00-4:45 • Review Agenda & Introductions • Summary of Needs in the Call for New Quality Schools • School Oversight (Statutory Requirement, Application Rubric, Application Guide) • Instructional Superintendents, & CSCs Conversations • Future Sessions & Feedback Process: 4:45-5:30 • Review Agenda & Introductions • Summary of Needs in the Call for New Quality Schools • School Oversight (Statutory Requirement, Application Rubric, Application Guide) • Charter School Board Conversations • Future Sessions & Feedback

3. 2013 Call for New Quality Schools – Summary of Needs

4. Instructional Superintendents • The Instructional Superintendents support, manage, and lead schools in a region, representing the district’s mission, values, and goals. The regions organize the district geographically; however, the vision of the Instructional Superintendent’s is to develop collective capacity with focused time and detailed attention to instructional matters within the region and across the district. • Instructional Superintendents are supported by a wide range of District partners including assessment, instruction, special education, teacher effectiveness, human resources, instructional technology, and budget. More specific instructional support for schools is provided by a School Improvement Partner and a Data/Assessment Partner guided by the Instructional Superintendents.

5. Instructional Superintendents

6. Policy BDFH- Collaborative School Committees There shall be at each school a collaborative school committee with representation from parents, community, faculty, administrators and classified staff. Purposes and Scope: The purposes and scope of the collaborative school committee shall be: • to enhance student achievement and school climate by engaging the school community in collaborative efforts supporting the school and District's goals. • to provide strategic direction in support of the school's mission and vision as stated in the School Improvement Plan (SIP). The SIP, with the school's program design, should serve as the strategic plan for the school. • to be in compliance with state and federal law, regulations of the Colorado Department of Education, applicable U.S. District Court orders, the District Affirmative Action plan, the DPS/DCTA Agreement, other contracts and District mandates. • Meetings of the collaborative school committees will be open to the public. Notice of these meetings will be posted in appropriate public places. A copy of the agenda will be publicly posted and made available one working day before the meeting and the minutes from the meeting will also be publicly posted and made available. The collaborative school committee will: • work collaboratively with the school community that includes the building principal, teachers, staff, students, parents, civic and business leaders, service and neighborhood representatives, and other community members; • focus on the SIP as its primary responsibility at the school; • use Multiple Measures and align resources to support the SIP and the school's program design; • provide guidance, evaluation and approval for the SIP; • provide guidance, evaluation, and approval for the annual school budget to insure its alignment with the SIP and the school's program design; • act as the School Improvement and Accountability Council (SIAC) for the building; • establish relationships with parents, community members, civic, service and neighborhood organizations to increase involvement in the school and provide a forum for community input; • provide guidance, evaluation, and approval for the use of the staffing allocations provided by the District as it relates to the SIP, school budget, and school program design, including consultation regarding adjustments that may be made due to pupil-count issues; • participate in the principal-selection process by interviewing candidates and recommending candidates to the superintendent; • participate in the principal's annual evaluation by giving input on the principal's involvement in and support of the collaborative committee process; • review, and when appropriate, approve discipline and safety procedures; • review, and when appropriate, revise the school calendar and/or schedule; • make recommendations regarding any changes to the school design to the District Board of Education through the building principal. The collaborative school committee will not: • participate in the day-to-day operations of the school; • be involved in issues relating to individuals (staff, students, or parents) within the school; • be involved in personnel issues (School Personnel Committee will stand alone in the current DPS/DCTA contract).

7. Collaborative School Committee (CSC) The Collaborative School Committee (CSC) is a committee formed by all of a school’s community stakeholders i.e. educators, parents, students and community that serves as a leadership body for school accountability. The CSC collaborates with senior staff, various departments, schools and the school community to support the implementation of Policy BDFH-Collaborative School Committees (Policy BDFH-Collaborative School Committees) as required by State Law 22-7-106 on School Accountability Committees (State Law 22-7-106 on School Accountability Committees). Suggested composition includes: • Principal • 4 Teachers • 4 Parents • 4 Students in high school (2 in middle school) • 1 Classified staff • 1 Community/ business The Office of Community Engagement will assist in recruiting and training parents /students to participate on CSCs to strengthen parent and student participation on the CSC as called for in the Denver Plan. Purpose • The purpose of the Collaborative School Committee is to enhance student achievement, parent engagement and school climate through collaboration.   The work of the CSC includes providing guidance, evaluation and approval for the Unified Improvement Plan (UIP). Unified Improvement Plan (UIP) • The Unified Improvement Plan is a blue print to improve teaching and learning that prepares students for postsecondary and workforce opportunities. This plan also includes parent engagement strategies that provide direction in support of students reaching proficiency in English language arts, reading and mathematics.   Meetings • CSC members are schedule to meet at least once a month.

8. Denver Public SchoolsCollaborative School Committee (CSC)

9. Relevant Questions in New District-run Performance School Application Guide • District-run Performance School Governance • How will you ensure that parents/guardians, teachers, and community members are active participants in the school’s governance structure? How will you ensure that the School Accountability Committee (SAC) and/or Collaborative School Committee (CSC) provides meaningful accountability and support to the school? • How often will the SAC meet? What will be the essential duties of the SAC? How will they be regularly updated and given opportunities to provide input into important school governance decisions? How will the SAC be empowered to provide input and oversight to the school leader? • How will you ensure that the SAC provides adequate input into a transparent budgeting process, and progress monitoring against the school’s academic goals? • Provide a detailed leadership succession plan which engages the school’s parents and teachers to ensure consistency and stability in implementing the school’s mission.

10. Charter School Oversight – Charter Boards Examples of the work of a charter school board (from CLCS): • Committees (work, structure and board oversight), board recruitment, public relations and marketing, measuring constituent satisfaction, evaluating the board and administration, developing essential operating documents, legal roles and responsibilities of board members, running effective meetings, school bylaws (and other foundation documents) and compliance, essential policies as they relate to items such as board meeting/operations protocol, conflict of interest, employment, school operations, accountability, SPED, ESL, and basic contract provisions (especially at the time of charter renewal) and waivers. • Training modules for governing board members of Colorado charter schools can be found at: www.boardtrainingmodules.org

11. Charter Schools: School Accountability Committee (SAC) School Accountability Committees: How they fit in the charter school structure (FROM CDE) A. Background Originally created to provide parents a meaningful role in their child’s education Grandfather clause for charter school boards created before Jan. 1, 2000 and serving as SAC eliminated in 2009. Education Accountability Act (SB09-163 or Article 11) is different than Educational Accountability Act (Article 7). SAC was previously in Article 7, but is now in Article 11 within the context of all state accountability. B Statutory purpose of the SAC Recommend school priorities for spending school moneys; Advise on the preparation of the UIP; and Meet at least quarterly to discuss whether school leadership, personnel and infrastructure are advancing or impeding school performance. C. Philosophy and Structure In many ways, a charter school governing board meets the legislative intent of the SAC statutory responsibilities. Charter school boards have the SAC established as a committee that reports to the governing board. Board policy should define membership guidelines, expected reporting schedule and a job description. Governing boards can expand the responsibilities of the SAC, for instance ask them to review a particular content area each year. Consulting the priorities in the strategic plan help to identify the work that the SAC should focus on. Most charter school SACs conduct the parent survey with the final draft going to the board for approval before the survey is disseminated and the results provided to the board after it’s completed. UIPs developed by administration and staff with the SAC supporting data collection (i.e., parent survey results). The governing board must approve the UIP before it’s submitted to the authorizer. Working with the administrator to understand the timeline around the submission of the UIP to the authorizer is important.

12. Relevant Questions in New Charter School Application Guide Governance Philosophy • Explain the general philosophy of governance that will guide the proposed school. What is the primary role of the school’s board in regards to the school operation? Please make sure that within your answer you distinguish management versus governance responsibilities. • How will the board interact with the Principal or Head of School? Board Capacity & Structure • Describe the governance structure of the proposed board. What committees will exist and how will membership be determined? Will there be an advisory group that is different in form and function than the governing board? If so, describe the function of that group. What are the attendance and committee service requirements for Board members? • How will board members be held accountable? Outline the key expectations for board members. What actions would trigger removal from the board and under what process? • Describe the size and composition of the governing board, both currently and as desired going forward. Identify key skills, areas of expertise, and constituencies that will be represented on the governing board, as well as their involvement with the school’s target population. List all current board members and their roles, and summarize their interests in and qualifications for serving on the school’s board. How will the proposed composition ensure that: (a) the school is an educational and operational success and (b) that key stakeholders and community members will be active in the governance of the school? • Explain the criteria and procedure by which board members have been and will be selected. • Explain the board development plan for increasing the capacity of the governing board. How will the board expand and develop over time? How and on what timeline will new members be recruited and added, and how will vacancies be filled? • What kinds of orientation or training will new board members receive, and what kinds of ongoing development or training will existing board members receive? When will this training occur and what topics will be addressed? • How frequently will the board meet? • Have you filled your board as of submitting this application? If not, identify your timeline to recruit additional members and the skill sets you plan to add to the board. (Appendix O – Resumes of all Board Members – 12 page limit) All board members are required to fill out the “Charter School Board Member Questionnaire,” found in Appendix B. These completed questionnaires should be included in the application as Appendix B.

13. Relevant Questions in New Charter School Application Guides (cont.) School Oversight & Stakeholder Engagement • How will the board approach its oversight role? Describe the metrics or progress indicators that the board will consider in its analysis of the school, as well as how the board will receive this information (i.e., dashboard.) Be sure to include both the academic and financial metrics, and the frequency with which the board will review these metrics. • How will the board and leadership utilize the school’s mission in everyday practice and decision-making? • Describe the school leader contract. Will there be performance targets in that contract? What key indicators would trigger board action in regards to the leadership of the school? • How will the board oversee and implement the school’s grievance process and policy? What is the role of the board when a staff member or a parent has a grievance? What are the goals of the board in terms of monitoring and resolving staff and parent complaints? • Describe your solvency-related financial goals, as demonstrated in the submitted budget form, including specific metrics which will be monitored. Board Status & Compliance • Describe the proposed school’s legal status, including whether you have filed Articles of Incorporation and whether you have obtained or plan to seek federal tax-exempt status. If the school will be incorporated, will it be a member or nonmember corporation? Who will the members be? • How did you (or will you) draft your Articles of Incorporation & Bylaws? With whom did you consult? How did you ensure compliance with state and federal laws? (Appendix P – Articles of Incorporation & Bylaws – no page limit) • Please describe the procedures for identifying and addressing conflicts of interest. (Appendix Q – Conflict of Interest Policy – 4 page limit) • Describe how the school and governing board will comply with Open Meetings and Open Records laws.

14. Tentative Schedule of Prospective New School Applicant Informational Sessions