General Membership Meeting
September 19, 2007
MINUTES
1. Heather Heuer, Membership Chair, welcomed everyone.
2. Zack Phillips, Denver Police, went over crime statistics. Robberies are down 50% from last year. Burglaries are down 60%. Overall crime is down 29%. Denver has seen an increase in gang activity but it has happened more in Park Hill than in Whittier. The neighborhood would like to have the foot patrols continued after the Broken Windows grant money runs out. Everyone should call the Police Chief, Gerry Whitman, at 720-913-6527 to encourage this. Zack said that people should call him if they see anything suspicious. His phone number is 720-913-7758.
3. Rob Stein, Manual High School Principal, talked about the reopening of the school. Original enrollment was 180 with 30 on a wait list. There is no longer a wait list and enrollment has settled down to 160. Most of the students are from surrounding neighborhoods. The school day starts three days a week with a community meeting. There are 12 advisory groups, led by teachers, that meet regularly to keep students on track. There are a variety of electives taught by teachers and community members. Students are not allowed to leave campus during the day. At the end of each day there is a 90 minute overtime where students can work on their homework. All athletes are required to do overtime before their practices. Community members who would like to volunteer at Manual should contact Teneesha Bell or Brenda de Luna (brenda_deluna@dpsk12.org). Rob said he doesn't know enough about the DPS Admin move to Manual proposal to be for or against it. Based on what he does know, he is slightly for it. He thinks it would force Manual to always be a smaller school. Nationwide, smaller urban high schools do better. And he thinks it would be good for the students to see people going to work everyday.
4. Christy Moss, Family Coordinator for George Washington Carver, told us about the Mile High Montessori Learning Centers in our area. They offer subsidized early childhood care. Enrollment is way down this year. They know there are many kids in the neighborhood who would be eligible for free or reduced day care that haven't taken advantage of it. If you know of any 3-5 year-olds who might be interested, let their parents know about Mile High Montessori.
5. Leta Sharpe, NEPQuE, talked about Whittier Elementary being on the A Plus Denver list of possible school closures. Whittier meets some of the criteria for closure, but not all. The school has seen many improvements in recent years. NEPQuE is being proactive about making sure DPS knows about all the good things going on at Whittier.