Tuesday, April 29, 2008

ECHS Updates for the week of April 28th

Greetings New Parents and Students of ECHS at Arvada

First and foremost we would like to thank all of the interested parents and students who attended our free information session on Thursday, 4-24-2008 at Taza de Cafe.

We are very excited to share the following happenings with you:

ECHS at Arvada FIRST Open House

The Open House will be held at the actual facility that will be the home of Early College at Arvada! Mark your calendars now! Details below:
  • Saturday, May 17, 2008
  • 4905 W. 60th Ave., Arvada CO 80003
  • 10am - 2pm
  • Tours provided
  • Refreshments will be served
  • BRING FAMILY, FRIENDS, EVERYONE!!!

Please email Cheryl Lucero at cheryllucero@yahoo.com or call her at 720.299.5268 to let her know the following information, the number of people you are bringing, the names of the potential student(s) you are bringing, and about what time you think you’ll stop by. We lool forward to seeing you there!


Free Information Sessions

We will continue to host more FREE Information Sessions on the following dates:

  • Tuesday, May 6, 2008
  • Wednesday, May 21, 2008
  • 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
  • Location SOON to be announced. We will inform you know as soon as we have a location confirmed.
  • Refreshments Provided

Please feel free to share this information with a parent(s) who is seeking a "quality" education for 9th grade students in the Fall 2008!


Notes from the Director of ECHS at Arvada, Sarah Brock

The ECHS testing calendar has been updated. All incoming ECHS students will be required to take Initial Diagnostis Assessments through Sylvan in both reading and math. These results will inform course placement as well as allow us to create individual foundational programs as needed. Accuplacer testing will not occur until later in the school year – most likely in December/January.


By now you have heard about our plan to create an ECHS Parent Advisory Council (PAC). The PAC will be made up of parents, legal guardians, aunts and uncles…anyone who has an interest in helping ECHS students succeed!


As Director of Early College High School at Arvada, I will acting as an advisor to the PAC as well as the current school liasion. The ECHS PAC will be a standing committee of the ECHS Board of Directors, and the PAC Committee Chair will serve as a regular voting member of the ECHS Board of Directors. The ECHS Board of Directors will work with the PAC Committee Chair to determine and guide the responsibilities of the group. Unless otherwise determined by the ECHS Board of Directors, the PAC shall be responsible for providing regular feedback on school academic life, school culture, management effectiveness, allocations of resources, and communication with parents and other stakeholders. In addition, the Council may advise the Board on recruitment of board members, as requested by the Board of Directors, as well as assist in fundraising and other school events and activities.

Anyone interested in learning more about or becoming a part of the ECHS PAC, please contact Sarah Brock at sbrock@echswest.org. Thank you in advance for your involvement with and dedication to Early College High School at Arvada!

La Raza Youth Conference/Education Fair

We are very pleased to announce that we shared our information (flyers) with over 1,500 students during the Education Fair at the La Raza Youth Conference held at Metro State College on Saturday, 4-26-2008. We look forward to being a part of this exciting conference again next year!

Community Update

Those of you living in the ECHS at Arvada community are probably aware of the decisions being made about Ranum and Westminster high schools. We are concerned about the plan for Ranum's current 9th graders to attend three schools over their four years of high school. We have been following this issue closely and have made an important decision to address the community needs!

We have decided to open ECHS at Arvada to a small class of 10th grade students in the Fall of 2008.

If you currently have a 9th grader or know of someone who does, please share this opportunity with them!

Once again we would like to say "THANK-YOU for your decision to select ECHS at Arvada as your "school of choice!" We are looking forward to getting to know all of you over the next four years!

The Staff of ECHS at Arvada

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Location Change

Thank you to all of the parents and students who came to tonight's Information Session at Taza Coffeehouse! To any who did not find us tonight I apologize - we had to do a venue change due to a prior commitment at the Community Center. Luckily Cheryl, our PR Director, was able to get ahold of Rosemarie, the fantastic owner of Taza, and she kept the shop open late just for us!

Tonight was another great session with lots of good questions - keep 'em coming! We hope to see all of you (and your friends) at our upcoming Open House on May 17th.

Please watch the email blasts and this blog for the venues of our future Information Sessions - we will be having two each month through July, but they will not be held at the Community Center...as soon as we confirm a place you'll be the first to know!

Take care all, and have a great weekend!

Sarah

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

This Week's ECHS Updates

Greetings New Parents/Guardians and Students of ECHS at Arvada

We hope that you are enjoying the warm weather!

This weekly e-mail blast is designed to fill you in on all of the latest and greatest happenings at Early College High School at Arvada!

ECHS at Arvada is hosting a Information Session, Thursday, April 24th, 2008, at Carl Park Recreation Center located at 5401 Meade St. (North Denver) from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

PLEASE feel free to bring any interested parents, students and community members!

Also, please mark your calendars for the following dates for future Information Sessions:
· Tuesday, May 6, 2008
· Wednesday, May 21, 2008
· 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
· Carl Park Recreation Center, 5401 Meade St. (North Denver)
· Refreshments Provided
· Please feel free to share this information with a parent(s) who is seeking a quality education for their 9th and 10th grade students in the Fall 2008.

We would also like to extend an invitation for you and your family and friends to attend the first ever ECHS at Arvada Open House. This Open House will be held at the actual facility that will become the Early College High School at Arvada. Details below:
· Saturday, May 17th
· 4905 W. 60th Ave.
· Arvada, CO 80003
· 10am – 2pm
· Tours will be provided
· Refreshments will be served
· BRING FAMILY, FRIENDS, EVERYONE

ECHS at Arvada is also very excited to announce that we will have a table at the Education Fair at the 18th Annual La Raza Youth Conference – please stop by and say hello if you and your family are planning to attend. The conference is on Saturday, April 26, 2008 at Metropolitan State College. From 7:30am – 9am we will be distributing information and answering questions about ECHS at Arvada to over 1,500 students from all over Colorado!
A few other quick notes:
· In May and June additional mailings about ECHS will go out to the community we will be serving. Look for one early this summer about our partnership with Sylvan Learning Center!
· Sarah and Chris met with the Pastor at Simpson United Methodist Church (next to the ECHS facility) and are working on a partnership agreement that would allow us to use their beautiful full-size gymnasium!

Announcing a great way to become an active part of the ECHS at Arvada family! You’ve probably heard us talk about the Motivated Mom’s Club – now renamed the ECHS Parent Advisory Council. Our plan is to work with our students’ families to create a group that will actively assist us in supporting our students and truly have a voice at our school. Once established, the ECHS PAC will meet monthly to share ideas and concerns, and will have a representative on our Board of Directors to bring this information directly to the ECHS governing body. In next week’s email blast there will be a “mission description” for the ECHS PAC – after reading it over, if you are interested in learning more please contact Cheryl at 720.299.5268 or Sarah Brock.

COMMUNITY UPDATE: Those of you living in the ECHS at Arvada community are probably aware of the decisions being made about Ranum and Westminster High Schools. We have been following this issue closely and have made an important decision. We are concerned about the plan for Ranum’s current 9th graders to attend three schools over their four years of high school. To address this community need we have decided to open ECHS at Arvada to a small class of students who will be entering 10th grade in the Fall. If you have a current 9th grader or know someone who does, please let them know about this opportunity. Because this class will be extremely small, we anticipate that it will fill quickly.

Finally, some of you have received calls or emails from Sarah Brock, the ECHS at Arvada Director, asking for additional information such as your student’s date of birth, your current address, an additional phone number, or their current school’s name. Please be sure to get back to her asap!

Thank you again for your decision to select ECHS at Arvada as your school of choice – we are looking forward to getting to know your families over the next four years!

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Information session, April 8

There will be an information session on Tuesday, April 8 for students and parents interested in attending Early College High School. We encourage all parents and students to attend, even if you attended a previous session, as there will be important updates on facilities, staffing, and curriculum development.

The information session will be held at Carl Park Recreation Center at 5401 Meade Street from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Refreshments will be provided.

We look forward to seeing you there!

ECHS Receives Start-Up Grant

ECHS has received a three year start-up grant from the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) to fund purchasing of school materials, equipment, and furniture. The grant provides $215,000 in funding prior to the beginning of the school year, plus two additional years of funding for years 1 and 2. The grant is part of a federal public charter shool grant block grant, administered through CDE.

Grants are scored by CDE staff and external reviewers. ECHS's grant receive 68 out of a possible 86 points. A score of 48 points was required for approval.

While the year 1 appropriation is $215,000, the three-year grant total will exceed $500,000.