GRADUATION - June 6

GRADUATION UPDATE

It's that time again. Graduation is Friday, June 6, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. Rehearsal is at 8:00 a.m. in the Four Seasons Ballroom at the Convention Center. Vocational teachers, please encourage your graduating students to participate. Please inform students they can pick up their announcements at the registration desk. Thanks for your help.

Student Scholarship at Front Range CC

$500 Scholarship toward tuition and fees at Front Range Community College

Please announce to your graduating students who are considering continuing his or her education at Front Range Community College to apply for this $500 scholarship. EGOS students graduating in June or July 2008 are eligible. Scholarship is valid through Spring 2009.

Please ask students to email me the following by noon, June 2.

Name
Phone number
Graduating from what Emily Griffith program
Major at Front Range Community College

Jean Butler
Jean_Butler@dpsk12.org

Technology in Education Conference (TIE)

Update: People who are interested in attending the T.I.E. Conference in June need to get their paperwork in as soon as possible as there is limited lodging left. Please get you supervisor’s approval and get the paperwork to Jan Raymond in room 214, Chris Marshall or Sharron Carosella.

It is time to register for the Technology in Education (TIE) Conference, June 24-27. I had the opportunity to attend last year with Randy Redd, JoAn Keeler, Jan Raymond, Shirleen Woods, Christi Martin, and others. This conference is one of the best I have ever attended. Your level of technology experience does not matter. There are workshops for both the novice and the expert. You may want to ask one of the people who attended last year about the value of this conference. We have Perkins dollars available to fund this professional development activity. We are able to pay for lodging, per diem, mileage, and registration. As the lodging is rather expensive, we encourage people to share, if possible.

See Jan Raymond, as soon as possible to fill out a leave form. As with any other professional development, you need to get approval from your dean or director prior to submitting the leave request for Perkins funding.

Sharron Carosella

Public Relations

Letters of Support

Thank you to everyone who has sent their letters of support. We would still like to have more! You can access the letters to send out at the web site below. We can continue to gather the letters beyond May 30, but we would like to have as many as possible by June 3.

http://www.egos-school.com/site/public/NewsPage

Our Chance to Present

Les Lindauer will present our proposal for a new building to the Citizens’ Committee on June 3. The Citizen’s Committee is the committee that will make recommendations to the school board about projects to include on the bond initiative. Further information will be provided to the staff as it becomes available. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions, questions or concerns, please contact your respective dean or send an email in the ask Emily section of this update.

Tell Your Story

The DPS communications office recently unveiled a new web site. If you have a great student story or event, you can submit it to the DPS web site. http://communications.dpsk12.org/requestService/310/

Please also copy the PR office so that we can help. In addition, if you feel it should be a news story, let the PR office know.

Schedules

The printed schedule for summer classes is at the registration desk as of Tuesday, May 27. The 2008-09 Fall Schedule will be delivered on Tuesday and distributed throughout the building. However, registration for fall is not open currently. Fall classes are still being input into the banner system. The anticipated date that students can register for fall semester is June 9.

Exit Package for Students

As part of our efforts to provide our students with the best possible education and service, this year each graduating student will receive a portfolio with the Emily Griffith Opportunity School logo when they get their exit package. In addition, we are giving graduates a $50 scholarship to give to a friend. We hope this effort will encourage students to spread the word about Opportunity School.

Public Relation’s Events

Last week’s event:

Urban Peak Career Fair was attended by Marisa Cantarovici on May 20 from 1-3pm

This week’s event:

Buckley AFB 2008 Job Fair will be attended by Roy Gloria and Brad Vickers on May 29 from 8:30-2pm

Brown Bag Lunch - June 5

Join your colleagues at our next “Brown Bag Lunch” on Thursday June 5 from 11:30 to 12:30 in room 238.

Executive Director Les Lindauer and other members of the admin team will also be there to answer your questions. Bring your lunch, stay as long as you want, and enjoy this networking time with your fellow staff at Opportunity School.

If you don't have time, then just stop by, say hello and pick up a sweet treat.

Customized Education Services

Basic welding classes for employees of DIA will be starting this June both here at school and also at DIA. They will be on-going thru 2008-2009 and Ryan Thomas will be the instructor.

Denver Health employees will be completing their Certified Nursing Assistant program in June and have scheduled another new class for September 2008.

In conjunction with the Business Department and Cobi Chaney, we will be conducting a “Financial & Budget Management” class to the facility managers and supervisors for Denver Public Schools at their facility site off Federal in July. Harold Ovsiowitz will be the instructor.

Kaiser has finalized our agreement to conduct Medical Coding in a hybrid form with Chris Foster as the instructor. Company Orientations will begin in June with classes beginning September 9th and continue thru 2008-2009.

The GED classes at the Clayton Foundation and Matthews Center are still going strong. We have also met with Mi Casa and are in beginning discussion stages for a GED site in September.

The Adams County Workforce Connect program is sending approximately 15 teachers here for a tour on June 10th to see our school and hear more about our programs.
Some of the Administrators and our PR Department will be presenting.

Student Services Co-Worker Assistance

Update:
We are extending our collection until the end of this week, May 30. If you would like to contribute a few dollars and sign the cards for your colleagues, please do so by Friday, May 30

The month of May has been challenging for Student Services. Elaine Naves (Treasurer's Office) and Barbara Gonzales (Payroll) have had surgery and are currently recovering. Kimberly McKay (Financial Aid) is having surgery, today, and will be recovering at home for a couple of weeks. Janice Galvin's (Financial Aid) brother passed away, suddenly.

The student services team members are planning to assist their co-workers by arranging for a meal to be delivered to their homes (so they do not have to cook during difficult times) or by offering some other token of their support.

If you would like to contribute monetarily to assist in our endeavor, we would sincerely appreciate your contribution. We have set up a fund in the Treasurer's Office. Please stop by to put in a few dollars and sign the cards for your colleagues.

PR Events

From the Public Relations Department
Upcoming and completed events that the P.R. Department has set-up and either attended or had volunteers attend.

- May 20, 2008 Joan Keeler will participate in the 2008 Urban Peak Career Fair at their downtown campus.

- May 13, 2008 Connie Burke participated in a Stapleton Workforce Center Presentation

Vocational Teachers Council

Vocational Teachers Council meeting, Wednesday, May 21, 2008, at 7:30 a.m. in room 401.

Memorial Service for Marci Groblebe

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR MARCI GROBLEBE

For those interested in attending the memorial service for Marci Groblebe, it will be held Saturday, May 17, at 11:00 a.m. at 4455 Jason Street, Denver, CO 80211

Stepping Up With Emily - June 18

From the Foundation:

Ladies! Save the date! Don’t miss this fun event. Space is limited, so make your reservation early.
“A Step Above” Dance Group. ladies ages 70-94, will be performing. If you haven’t been to Cableland, Bill Daniels’ $7 million home he donated to the City, the venue itself is worth seeing. (See announcement)

Emily Griffith Foundation, Inc.
Invites You to Join in the Fun

“Stepping Up With Emily”
Ladies’ Luncheon and Silent Auction

Wednesday, June 18, 2008
11 am – 1:30 pm
Cableland
4150 Shangri-La Drive
$100 minimum donation per person for reserved seating
$75 minimum donation per person for buffet

$60 of each contribution is tax deductible
All proceeds benefit Emily Griffith Opportunity School students and programs
Please RSVP to Connie at connie_ross@dpsk12.org or 720-423-4866 by June 11.

Groblebe Memorial Fund

Dear Colleagues,

As you remember, Marci Groblebe, our former Security Officer, passed away recently. At this point, we do not know when the memorial service will be held.

Due to her extended illness, her medical expenses way exceed the financial options of her family. As a result, Opportunity School has established a memorial fund. If you wish to contribute to that fund, please stop by the Treasurer’s Office.

Job Fair May 14, 2008

JOB FAIR
We will be having a job fair Wednesday, May 14th from 12noon-1pm in the 2nd floor conference room of the Glenarm Building at the corner of 13th and Glenarm. The following companies will be joining us and are looking to fill the positions next to their names. Please direct the appropriate students.

Company Hiring
All Valley Home Care MA, CNAs, PCPs
Denver Health DA, med cler, coding, pharm tech,
CNAs, MA-biling, phleb-6mo, cust
Homewatch Caregivers CNAs
Interim Healthcare Med Cleric, PCP
Pinon Management CNAs, LPNs
Silver Spoon CNAs, PCPs
Visiting Angels Caregivers, PCPs
Wheat Ridge Regional CNAs

A NEW BUILDING FOR EMILY GRIFFITH OPPORTUNITY SCHOOL

Building a Bright Future

Thanks for your support of our letter writing campaign!

Here’s what we need you to do.
1. Ask all your contacts to put this letter on their letterhead (if appropriate) and mail or email it back to the PR office by May 20, 2008. Marla RodriguezEmily Griffith Opportunity School PR Office1250 Welton St.Denver, CO 80204
2. List your contacts on the attached excel spreadsheet and email to Slavic Park by May 20, 2008. This is important so that we have a comprehensive database of names. Please do your best to fill out all of the fields. Please find attached to this email letter templates for the following broad categories.

You may feel free to change the letters as you see fit. However, I suggest you send just one letter to each person you are asking. Student, Alumni, Community, Organization, Legislators, Business Community, Friends and Family, Other …

Administrators will be stopping by your classes next week to tell students about the proposed bond election/new building. At that time, they will have copies of the student letter for any student who wants to sign and submit a letter.

Student and staff letters will also be available at the Treasurers’ Office if we miss anyone.

All the letters will be on the egos-school.com web site.

Sample email to request letters of support …

I am writing to ask for a letter of support to help Emily Griffith Opportunity School build a new building. As you know, we have been in our current location for 91 years, and the time has come to invest in a new facility that will meet the needs for the future. Our proposal is to build a new facility on Denver Public Schools District property adjacent to West High School. Our first step is to be included on the Denver Public School’s bond initiative. It was suggested that including as many letters of support as possible from the community would go a long way toward making our dream of a new and better Opportunity School a reality. I have attached a sample letter that you could simply put on your letterhead and sign.

Of course you may personalize or change the letter if you would like to. I’d like to ask you to send it back to our PR office by May 30.

Marla Rodriguez
PR OfficeEmily Griffith Opportunity School
1250 Welton St.
Denver, CO 80204

If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, please let me know. We really appreciate all your help.

Deli Closed May 13

The Deli will be closed during the day on Tuesday, May 13, so that students may attend a trade show. The Deli will be open during the evening.

OPEN ENROLLMENT - BENEFITS

BENEFIT OPEN ENROLLMENT

May is the month for Open Enrollment changes. Please see this link for more information.

Chair Cleaning

Phil Rummel will be cleaning chairs this Friday afternoon, May 9, 2008. Please have your chair to Phil by Friday Morning, May 9. Be sure and put your name on the chair. You can pick your chair up on Monday morning, May 12.

Staff of The Year Awards Ceremony

MARK THE DATE !

FRIDAY, MAY 16, 2008

Please join us as we honor our colleagues at the Annual Staff of the Year Awards Ceremony. This year’s ceremony, compliments of Local 203 and EGOS administration, will be held at the historic Denver Press Club in their newly renovated banquet room. Food and beverages will be served as well as a Cash Bar. This will be a very special function to honor our very deserving colleagues:

Tim Inzano- Culinary Teacher -Vocational Teacher of the Year
Sally Bertoli – Librarian/Media Teacher – H.S. Teacher of the Year
Katie Colllins - ESL Teacher of the Year
Lydia Melvin - Secretary, Advising/Counseling- Support Staff of the Year

Bring your spouse or significant other and enjoy the camaraderie

When: Friday, May 16, 2008
3pm to 5pm
Where: Denver Press Club
1330 Glenarm Place

Please RSVP by May 13 to:
Vocational – Chris Millius
H.S. –Marie Mann
Support Staff- Diana Marriott
ESL- Susan Pomerleau

NCA UPDATE

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you so much for your participation with the school-wide surveys. The steering committee members wrote the survey questions, and Bob Marshall designed the instruments. Thank you to the registrars for compiling the results of the student survey. The results of the five surveys (administrator, faculty, staff, student, and community) will help determine our goals for our upcoming NCA CASI site visit.

Thank you, also, for participating in the self-study. Your responses to the Standard and Criteria will be combined into one document to be submitted as our self-study report. The items that you rated as ‘not evident’ will be considered in the writing of the goals.

There is one other area in which we must collect data. This request is specifically for instructors. There are ten questions related to ‘community building’ within classrooms. Please click on this website to respond to the survey at your earliest convenience. Please complete your responses by May 9, 2008.

The steering committee members will be meeting on May 21 to look at all of the data and to write the overall goals for next year. In addition, the committee will determine the subcommittees that will be convened in the future to work on the accomplishment of those goals. It is intended that the goals and the necessary subcommittees will be posted for your review prior to the end of the school year.

Please watch for future editions of NCA UPDATE on Outlook, as well as our webpage.

Sincerely,

Your NCA Steering Committee .

Steering Committee Members
Karen Fletcher – Co-Chair
JoAn Keeler – Co-Chair
Donna House – External Chair
Sharron Carosella – Administrative Liaison
Katie Collins – ESL
Scott Hedblom – ESL
John Gibbons – TTI
Tallie Jones – TTI
Robert Marshall – BE
Tim Inzano – CFS
Marilyn LaRocca – HO
Brenda Stevens – HO
Chris McGuire – SS
Katina Cordova – SS