DDES is a community organization and thrives because of our volunteer effort. We know that many of you will volunteer on adventure trips, fieldwork and in the classroom. In addition, we ask that you choose a volunteer opportunity at our school for the 2019-2020 school year. There are many different types of opportunities, many of which can be done at home and have flexible hours and range from 2 hrs/year commitment to 30 hrs/year.

Please read and check any of the roles below that you are interested in learning more about:

Board of Directors Member - Parent Representative

As a charter school, the Downtown Denver Expeditionary School is a 501c3 Nonprofit organization that is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. Board of Directors member responsibilities include monitoring and evaluating performance towards goals, establishing general policies, reviewing and analyzing financials, and approving overall budget for the organization, managing and evaluating the Executive Director, advocating and building community support and will for the organization, establishing and performing work need with committee or other structures, fundraising, and other governance functions and duties as needed.

Board meetings are monthly for 10 months from 8-9:30 am the third Wednesday of each month. Board members are expected to attend all meetings of the Board and participate on at least one committee of the Board.

To express interest in becoming a Board member, please send an email expressing why you are interested in this position, and resume, to Tara Manthey, DDES Board Chair at board.chair@ddeschool.org. The Board is committed to a diverse make-up of members from a variety of backgrounds and spots open on the board dependent on term limits and current needs.

Student Accountability Committee

As a Charter School, per Colo. Rev. Stat. § 22-11-401, Downtown Denver Expeditionary School has a School Accountability Committee whose purpose is to review school performance data and improvement plans and make recommendations for future initiatives and strategies toward performance success.  The SAC meets four times per year for about two hours. Members of the SAC committee include staff, parents, and community volunteers. You do not need to be a board of directors member to be a SAC parent member, although it can overlap.

To initiate the application process for joining the SAC, please send an email to Letia Frandina, Executive Director, at letia.frandina@ddeschool.org. All are welcome!

Blue Bear Buddies Reading Program

Our volunteer reading program is designed to engage members of the Denver community with DDES students to foster a lifelong love of reading. We pair an adult with one or two students for 30-45 minutes of read-alouds each week for 6 to 8 weeks. If you are interested in the next session, please contact Becky at becky.diehl@ddeschool.org.

Passages Panelist

The Downtown Denver Expeditionary School holds passages for all fifth graders the last week of school. In EL Education, passages are a critical opportunity for students to reflect on their learning and their readiness to move on to the next phase of their education. Students will prepare a portfolio of their work that represents their work at DDES. The panelists will provide feedback as these young leaders prepare to enter middle school.  To participate in 5th grade passages, you must commit to at least one ½ day session where you will be providing a panel audience and feedback to multiple 5th grade presenters. But please feel free to sign up for more than one! You will be placed in one of three rooms with 2 other panelists to hear presentations from 6 individual students. All DDES parents are welcome to sign-up but you will not be placed as a volunteer in your current crew. Interested? Email Tracy.Villalovas@ddeschool.org

Family Council

Coordinates the volunteer effort at DDES. Requires a President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary. Duties are to coordinate the volunteer effort for the below jobs, maintain proper funding and to run four planning meetings a year to adhere to the bylaws of the Family Council  501c3.

 

Art Brew Support

(The Art Brew is our annual gala that is a ton of fun. Enjoy a night of friends, food, drinks and awesome auction items in order to support the programming at DDES. If you aren’t in to fundraising, no big deal, there are other ways to support this effort from your home!