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 | | The Merrill Community Campus Coalition reached the 90% consensus threshold at the September 25, 2008 community forum to submit the proposal as broadly outlined in the Executive Summary. Over 100 people took part in the online survey, with nearly a dozen more who had not voted lending their approval at the meeting. The final online tallies were:
| Response | Number | Percentage | I oppose this proposal
| 10 | 9.8 | I don't like it but won't oppose it
| 6 | 5.8 | I can live with it
| 7 | 6.8 | I support this proposal
| 24 | 23.6 | I strongly support this proposal
| 26 | 25.5 | I strongly support this proposal and will advocate for it
| 29 | 28.5 | Total
| 102
| 100% |
The SIG/Beacon Proposal was submitted on October 1, 2008. Denver Public Schools has said it expects to complete its review of the application by late November.
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| | Click on the link above to review the final proposal submitted to DPS for the School Improvement/Beacon Grant. It outlines the proposed vision for the Merrill Community Campus, the strategies for getting there, and how the grant funds will support that effort.
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| | Click the link above to view the powerpoint presentation from the September 11 community forum at Merrill. It is organized around the kinds of questions people are asking about the planning process.
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| | This document outlines the basic elements of the driving forces behind this School Improvement/Beacon Grant: a strong feeder-pattern coalition of schools, building a culture of excellence in academics, character, and climate; strong professional development; community partnerships that support civic engagement and service learning; an innovative Early Learning Center for the feeder pattern; and strong parent engagement
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| | | School Improvement Through Community Engagement
At the August 23 forum, over 75 people attended and experienced
what was by all accounts a pivotal shift in the planning process. Over
the course of the morning the tone shifted from one of concern about
the process to one of excitement about what is possible for all the
schools involved. This was due in large part to the testimony of Ann
Davis, a parent actively involved with the parent network at Steck
Elementary several years ago that helped bring neighborhood families
back to Hill Middle School, and Lori Tierney, a Cory parent who helped
launch this similar effort for Merrill Middle School. Their stories
underscored what is possible when a community rallies to support its
schools, and makes the commitment to help them succeed no matter what.
CMC Coalition Becomes the Merrill Community Campus Coalition
A second significant moment was the honest conversation that
occurred about how the label "Cory Merrill Campus" has not worked
effectively to build a strong coalition among all the schools. After
some discussion, it was agreed that the best way to ensure that
everyone has a true stake in the process is to reframe it as the
Merrill Community Campus--acknowledging that families in all of the
feeder elementary schools (Cory, Ellis, Steele, and University Park),
as well as the teachers and principals, have a vested interest in the
closer connection and alignment between the elementary schools and
Merrill.
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Summary of School Improvement/Beacon Proposal
A third key point of discussion was the review of the executive summary of what will be submitted as a full grant on October 1. Click here to display the summary. It highlights a number of key points:
- the
focuses is on high quality instruction--the single most important
factor that leads to higher student achievement--with support from the
Public Education & Business Coalition's nationally acclaimed staff
developers
- civic engagement and real-world projects for
students are a central element of the proposal--in partnership with the
DU and other civic programs
- parent and community involvement are critical to promoting a strong school culture and climate
- creating
an "early learning center" at Merrill, either for ECE or ECE-K, would
provide great opportunities for teachers, students and parents
The
discussion of the early learning center was presented as a strong
component of the proposal because it offers a number of benefits, but
since it is in part linked to the successful passing of the bond in
November, it is not a cornerstone of the grant proposal. Excitement
grew for this idea as people heard from teachers about the power of
having a shared and special space for students in their early years.
People were also glad to hear that by using some of the space at
Merrill for ECE--which has enormous demand--that Merrill could remain
smaller and more personalized as a middle school. More discussion will
follow in coming forums about the details of this plan, but it gained
strong support--especially after toured the garden level space where
the center would be located.
Overall, many participants
commented that with the configuration questions now resolved, they are
excited to see the focus placed on how to use this grant opportunity to
strengthen the academics and school cultures across the Merrill
Community Campus.
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Parent Network Emerges
The
meeting ended with small group discussions on a variety of topics,
including one group that formed the beginning of a parent network that
connects all the feeder schools together. This is particularly
important for keeping the Coalition together after the planning process
is completed and the grant is submitted on October 1. If you are
interested in helping to build that communication network, contact
Stalker Henderson at jhenderson@activemindsforlife.com
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| | Click the link above for the summary minutes of the forum.
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| | Click the link above for the minutes of the August 20 Coordinating Committee meeting. Agenda including a refining of the vision statement, explanation of the DU and PEBC partnerships, and a consensus decision on the configuration proposal--ECE-8 on the Cory Merrill Campus with the proposal for an ECE or ECE-K located in the garden level of Merrill.
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