Introducing McAuliffe International School

By Kurt Dennis, McAuliffe International School Principal
As the principal of McAuliffe International School, I have had the good fortune of working with many wonderful and supportive families in Northeast Denver this past school year. I am very grateful for their support and confidence in bringing our school to the historic Smiley campus in August of 2014. I am extremely excited about the many opportunities that the move to Smiley will offer our students and staff. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce our school and share with you the plan for relocating to the Park Hill neighborhood.
McAuliffe offers students a rigorous, well-rounded liberal arts education that emphasizes character education and international-mindedness. As an International Baccalaureate Candidate School, all McAuliffe students take full year courses in mathematics, language arts, social studies, science, engineering/technology, world languages (Spanish or French), the arts (visual art, drama, band, orchestra or choir) and physical education. In addition to our robust course offerings, students have the opportunity to participate in athletics, enrichment programming, service projects, field trips, and student leadership groups.
DPS has granted McAuliffe innovative status, which means that we have a great deal of flexibility in budgeting, curricula, staffing and scheduling. Because our highest priority is to give our students as much time as possible with great teachers, we have a longer school day (8 hours vs. 7 hours) and school year (190 days vs. 172 days). As a new and growing school, we have been able to recruit and retain teachers and staff that are the best fit for our educational model and school community.
The top priority for the administration and staff of both McAuliffe and Smiley Middle School is to provide our students with an excellent education over the course of the next nine months. We do not want the pending transition to negatively impact our students or their learning in any way. Our priority is always on student achievement, and we will take every necessary step to ensure that our students remain focused on their learning during both the physical move as well as the merging of schools in August 2014.
In order to ensure our school and community’s successful transition over the course of the next school year, we must start working together now. Smiley Principal Gwen Victor, Venture Prep Principal Ken Burdette and I have been discussing how to best bring our learning communities together. In addition to creating an intentional transition plan, it is our hope that we can provide opportunities for our students to connect through athletics, the arts, and extracurricular activities well in advance of the move, so that when we are sharing the Smiley Campus in 2014, the seeds of a positive learning community will already have taken root.
I have tremendous faith in our staff and students, and I know that McAuliffe’s academic, social and cultural transition to Smiley will be successful. I am also well aware of the challenges involved. The physical move and the necessary alterations to the facility to accommodate our programming will require a great deal of support, and this is where you can help. Our new foundation, Friends of McAuliffe at Smiley, is being formed as a 501(c)(3) to help fund improvements to the Smiley Campus. Over the course of the 2013-14 school year, we will be asking Northeast Denver residents and businesses to contribute to this effort with their time, labor, gifts-in-kind, or monetary donations. We will communicate these opportunities to the Park Hill and Stapleton communities via the Greater Park Hill News, The Front Porch, Park Hill Facebook, Stapleton Moms and the McAuliffe website.
If you would like to receive more information about how you can help with our efforts to bring McAuliffe International School to the Smiley Campus in 2014, please contact our Community Liaison Cindy Eastman at cindy.s.eastman@gmail.com.