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Charter School Institute
Main Line: 303-866-3299
Fax Line: 303-866-2530
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Dear School Leaders,
Happy New Year! I hope that you enjoyed a festive holiday season, but were also able to find some time for relaxation and rejuvenation. It was great to see several of you at the Denver regional meeting last month, and I'm excited to connect with you all at our February School Leaders Meeting (details below)!
As you plan for this second half of the year, I'm sure your brain is moving at warp speed as you think about all that you want to accomplish from now until the end of the school year. I remember talking to one of my mentors when I was in the early days of school leadership and he warned me that the second half of the school year was much more challenging than the first half of the year. Ah, what a wise man! He's still leading a school and is considered one of the best principals in the Colorado charter sector. I quickly learned that beyond the obvious issue of dealing with state assessments during this stressful time, my leadership focus was on ensuring that my staff stayed keenly focused on our students learning every day while at the same time, I was focused on planning for the following school year. I found that from the first day back to school in January, my staff also wanted to think about the next year and I had to find a way to manage these dueling interests. Too much attention on either would not lead to success. Therefore, as you move through this semester, I wish you the best as you try to lead your staff through the sometimes conflicting worlds of living in the here and now of this school year and preparing for next year.
Well, enough of my philosophy, let's move on to more practical matters. I wanted to share that our mill levy presentation to the Joint Budget Committee on December 19th went very well. The committee didn't vote, so now we wait. We'll definitely keep you updated on this critical initiative and please continue to invite your local legislators to your school. We are more than happy to help with that, so please reach out to
Janet Dinnen or
myself if you would like some support.
Finally, as you may remember, I had my final chemo treatment last week which is very exciting. Unfortunately, I'm still dealing with the side effects, but each day I feel better and better. I'm hoping that by the end of the month I'll be feeling 100%. In terms of the rest of my journey, if you haven't heard, I do not need radiation which is wonderful. I will need another surgery sometime in the early part of 2018, so I'll keep you posted on that. In the meantime, I'm hoping for fewer doctor's appointments and a focus on recovery.
As I look forward to the exciting work ahead in 2018, I'm confident that we will be able to accomplish our mutual goals of providing the highest quality education to the students in our schools.
Here's to a very healthy, joyful and adventurous 2018!
Terry
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Upcoming Deadlines
1/8:
- CSI Board Committee Meeting
1/8-2/9:
1/11:
- Teacher Student Data Link Training - Release of Recorded Training Module
1/15:
- Martin Luther King Day - CSI Offices closed
- Submit Draft Student Data Privacy & Security Policy & Checklists
1/16:
- SpEd December Count Signed Certifications due
- CSI Board Meeting
- CMAS Administration Webinar Training for SACs
- School Counselor Corps IFR due
1/18:
- Human Resources signed certifications due
- CMAS Administration In-Person training for SACs
1/19:
1/25:
- Teacher Student Data Link initial submission
1/31:
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CSI School Accreditation Ratings
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Performance ratings based on 2016-2017 school performance were finalized mid-December. A special congratulations to our schools accredited "Performance with Distinction." We hope to see more in this category next year!
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Assessments and Improvement Planning
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Assessment Reminders
Trainings:
CMAS Administration Training for SACs
**Required of all schools with grades 3
rd
-8
th
AND 11
th
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Webinar:
Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Time: 10:00am-12:00pm
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In-Person Training:
Date: Thursday, January 18, 2018
Time: 10:00am-12:00pm
Location: CSI Offices
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Don't Forget:
- January 8th-February 9th: ACCESS testing window
- January 19th: Deadline for final edits to UIP
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On December 12, 2017, CSI held its monthly Board Meeting at the Independence Institute in Denver. The CSI Board approved the staff recommendations for school renewal applications for Animas High School, Global Village Academy - Colorado Springs, James Irwin Charter Academy, Salida Montessori Charter School, Global Village Academy - Fort Collins, Pikes Peak Prep and Ross Montessori Charter School. The Thomas MacLaren Charter School Expansion Application, Mountain Middle School Contract Amendment and CSI School Accreditation Ratings were also approved.
Visit the
CSI BoardDocs page for up-to-date school policy and procedures, and to view prior CSI Board Meeting Minutes.
The next CSI Board meeting will be held on January 16, 2018 at 10am at the Independence Institute in Denver.
Location:
Independence Institute
727 16th Ave,
Denver, CO 80203
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In conjunction with
Together Colorado and the
Donnell-Kay Foundation, the RTD pass working group is currently examining a variety of different transit pass components to recommend to the RTD Board. These components include:
- Youth pass proposal: free to youth 12 and under, and would offer day/monthly/yearly passes at a 70% discount for youth from 13 years old through graduating from high school.
- 50% discount for individual/families that are 185% of the federal poverty level
- 50% discount for seniors and disabled
- Discounts for bulk purchases
Multiple meetings have been scheduled to determine which components will be added to the final recommendation. The first 30 minutes of each meeting is devoted to public comments. It would be beneficial for charter students and teachers to attend and share on why a youth pass would be a great product for families and youth.
Upcoming Meeting:
January 16, 2018, 1:00pm-4:00pm (Public comment from 1:00pm-1:30pm)
Location: Webb Building, 201 W. Colfax, 4th floor
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January 21-27, 2018: National School Choice Week
National School Choice Week provides an exciting opportunity, every year, for teachers and administrators to celebrate what makes their schools great! Help raise public awareness of the different K-12 education options available to children and families in your area, while spotlighting the benefits of schools choice. Head to the
School Choice Week website for marketing collateral for your school and/or have your students participate through the
National School Choice Week dance routine!
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December Regional Meetings
Thank you to everyone who attended CSI's Winter Regional Meetings in Denver, Colorado Springs and Glenwood Springs. We are happy to report that we had 28 schools attend these meetings throughout the week. Our goal is to have all of our schools attend at least one Regional Meeting during the 17-18 school year!
Save the Date for the Spring Regional Meeting & Board to Board Networking & Training Event
Focus Area: Submissions, Reporting & Finance
Locations: TBD
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Denver:
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
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Colorado Springs:
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
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Western Slope:
Friday, May 4, 2018
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February 22, 2018: Legislative Day 2018
Legislative Day allows students (grades 8-12) a unique opportunity to shadow a state legislator for the day. The application process opens the first week of January. There is also an adult component to the day, where gifted advocates have an opportunity to learn about current legislative initiatives that affect gifted children.
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February 28, 2018: CSI School Leaders Meeting and Board to Board Networking & Training Event
This is a valuable opportunity for school leaders and school board members within the CSI portfolio to network and discuss best practices.
School Leaders Meeting: 10am-4pm
Board to Board Event: 4:15pm-5:45pm
Location: Lone Tree Library (10055 Library Way, Lone Tree, CO 80124)
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Professional Development Outside of CSI
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March 1-2, 2018: Colorado League of Charter Schools 2018 Conference
The Colorado Charter Schools Conference is one of the most comprehensive professional development opportunities for new and veteran charter public school staff, boards, administrators and teachers.
Attendee Registration is open!
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Professional Development Opportunities
The Colorado Department of Education has put together a comprehensive list of professional development opportunities, including in-person, self-paced training, webinars, and more. Classes vary from Data Pipeline Instruction to Special Education. Check out more from their
Library of On-Demand Resources.
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12
th
Annual CLDE Academy Session Proposals
The Office of CLDE is making a call for session proposals for the
12
th
Annual CLDE Academy held on May 1
st and May 2
nd at the Sheraton Denver Tech Center. Session proposals and workshop forms will be due no later than Friday, February 16, 2018. Check out a list of the
session proposal topics.
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Twice Exceptional Professional Development
Professional development opportunities concerning twice-exceptional (2e) students is available for gifted education staff, special education staff and other interested educators. To access more information and resources, visit the
2e webpage.
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Colorado Association for Bilingual Education (CABE) Winter Professional Development Conference
February 1-2, 2018: Held on the Auraria Campus in Denver, this conference will consist of over 35 sessions focused on providing all educators with valuable strategies and best practices for working with Emerging Bilinguals in the classroom. This conference is applicable to all K-12 educators who work with culturally and linguistically diverse students and their families.
Register today!
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Title I, II, &III ESEA CDE Meetings
All school and administration staff is welcome to attend ESEA regional networking mettings, particularly individuals responsible for Titles I, II, & III. The purpose of these meetings will be to provide a forum for stakeholders to engage with Federal Programs staff and with other professionals from the region, to communicate local updates, need and concerns. Dates and location for 2018 can be found at ESEA Regional Networking Meeting.
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Career & Technical Education
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Mini-PWR Symposium on Meaningful Career Conversations
Colorado's statewide initiatives are coming into alignment, especially around Career and College Readiness (or as we say in Colorado, Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness), Career Pathways, and Work-Based Learning. Join us as we explore the connections, get updates, relay clarifications, answer questions and share promising practices. Last year we focused on the 'I' in ICAP. This year, we want to re-focus on the 'C' of ICAP which stands for Career Conversations.
Who should come: School Counselors, Teachers, CTE Teacher/Directors, Administrators, SpEd/Transition Specialists, Postsecondary partners, community partners and any influential, caring adult who connects with your students.
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Edwards:
January 25, 2018
9:30am-3:30pm
Colorado Mountain College
150 Miller Ranch Road
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Colorado Springs:
February 2, 2018
9:30am-3:30pm
Creekside Success Center - District 49
3850 Pony Tracks Drive
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Colorado Association of Career & Technical Administrators (CACTA) Conference
When: February 6-9, 2018
Where: Loveland, CO
Cost? FREE to CSI High School Leaders! Through the Perkins Career & Technical Act Grant, CSI will provide each CSI high school one registration and travel reimbursement for the conference.
Registration Now Open
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Meaningful Career Conversations-Free Webinars
Learn the Why, What and How of Narrative Assessment.
(multiple dates)
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Keep up to date with school highlights and more by liking
CSI's Facebook page
and sharing your highlights with us!
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School Closure Reminders
As we are in the winter season (and the snow and illness that tend to come with it), please remember to communicate school closures to CSI. Your contract specifies types of closures that must be communicated to CSI, but we encourage schools to communicate any closures that diverge from your approved calendar so we can confirm it doesn't impact your ability to meet state's annual hours requirements. Closures should be communicated to
Janet Dinnen.
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EDAC Data Burden Survey - Complete by January 12th!
The state's Education Data Advisory Committee (EDAC) is seeking to assess the burden and relevance of mandatory and other select data collections, with the end goal of lessening data burden. This one-time voluntary 'EDAC Data Burden Survey' has been designed to quantify the time selected collections take, determine the value/relevance of each and assess usefulness to inform educational policy or research. It is hoped that this study will shine a light on burdensome collections to the General Assembly and the Colorado Department of Education with the intention that collaborative efforts will ensue to reduce this burden.
In order to ensure that CSI is capturing each school's experience with these collections, CSI has sent a mini survey to each school's contact for data submissions, finance, student services, assessment, and transportation to capture your school's best estimates of hours and number of people involved in completing the collections related to each of these areas and the perceived value of the collection for
your school. We are asking each school to respond to the survey by January 12, 2018.
Thank you in advance for taking time to complete this survey. Should you have any questions about the survey or EDAC, please don't hesitate to contact
Janet Dinnen, who serves as the charter representative on EDAC.
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Financial Transparency
The deadline to post Final (Fiscal Year 2016-2017) Audit Reports to your school's Financial Transparency Page was, December 15, 2017. The CSI Finance Department will conduct a review of school FTA pages to ensure compliance and will reach out if documents are missing or if your page is not in the prescribed template. Thank you for all of your efforts to keep up with FTA compliance!
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FY18 Amended Budgets
As schools prepare FY18 Amended Budgets, here are 7 steps to ensure that your school meets all statutory budget requirements in FY18 and are able to attest to such in the FY18 Assurances for Financial Accreditation form.
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1. An amended budget must be approved by the school board, via resolution, no later than January 31, 2018.
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2. Modifications to the budget after January 31, 2018 must be made through the adoption of a supplemental budget. (See below for clarification)
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3. Request the board to appropriate an amount that will equal or exceed actual FY18 expenditures.
*
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4. For budgets that include the planned use of beginning fund balance or for actual use of beginning fund balance, a resolution is required to be adopted by the board specifically authorizing this use.
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5. The school must adopt both a Uniform Budget Summary as well as a detailed budget.
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6. Submit the board approved amended budget, an updated Uniform Budget Summary, and the signed appropriation resolutions by January 31, 2018.
**
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7. Please note that Notice of Budget is not required for the
amended budget.
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*
Continue to review your FY18 expenditures throughout the year and approve a Supplemental Budget no later than June 30, 2018 if it looks like the expenditures will exceed the appropriated budget. Remember this should be done
before
spending beyond the last approved appropriation.
**
Board approved amended budgets can be sent to
Cassie Walgren
or
Amanda Karger
by January 31, 2018. Please send any subsequently approved supplemental budgets as soon as they are available.
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Supplemental Budget
A supplemental budget appropriation resolution must be adopted before expenditures relative to the supplemental budget are made. Also, a supplemental budget may only be adopted if money for a specific purpose becomes available to meet a "contingency".
A contingency is defined as, "
an act of God or some event which could not have been reasonably foreseen at the time of the adoption of the budget." If your school needs to amend its budget, especially for changes in per-pupil revenue, the appropriation resolution must be adopted and signed by January 31, 2018.
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Quarterly Financial Report Reminder
2nd Quarter (July 2017-December 2017) financial report submissions are due on January 25, 2018. A reminder email with instructions for submission will be sent.
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Funding/Award Opportunities
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Assistive Technology Grant (AT)
The aim of the
International Dyslexia Association Rocky Mountain Branch AT Grant is to provide funds for Colorado K-12 educational institutions to pilot assistive technology programs for their dyslexic population. Typical awards range from $1000-$2500 and will be awarded for assistive technology devices, services, and teacher training for students with dyslexia, language, and literacy challenges.
Submission deadline: February 2, 2018
Grants will be awarded during the summer, with implementation for the 2018-2019 school year.
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Call for Interest
The Colorado Alliance for School Health is seeking Colorado K-12 public schools or districts that are interested in an exciting and unique opportunity to collaborate with health and education partners to increase student health and school performance through decreasing absenteeism. The Alliance will select two school partners, ideally representing both urban and rural communities. Up to $20,000 in grant funding is available to interested schools and districts.
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Colorado National History Day Contest
Thanks to Paula Worley at Crown Pointe Academy, CSI charter schools are now able to participate at the state level for the Colorado National History Day Contest.
National History Day in Colorado is a social studies and literacy program where students in grades 6-12 participate in a project-based learning curriculum that emphasizes critical reading and thinking, research analysis and the drawing of meaningful conclusions. Projects can be completed in one of five categories: documentary, paper, exhibit, performance, or website.
The competition will be held on Saturday, February 24, 2018, 8:00am-4:00pm at Crown Pointe Academy in Westminster.
Registration will be open from December 15th-February 5th. Cost for registration is $3 per student. Please contact
Paula Worley for payment and for further registration information.
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Anti-Bullying ESPN Grant
Implement one of the most effective anti-bullying programs nationwide fully-funded by ESPN. As a part of the Shred Hate Campaign, ESPN X Games will provide 7 Colorado schools with the funding to be trained by No Bully in its award winning system for ending student bullying.
Check out what your school could receive under this sponsorship!
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Distinguished Administrators Nomination
At the 12th Annual CLDE Academy, CDE would like to acknowledge a distinguished administrator who has created successful outcomes and has supported the academic, linguistic, and social-emotional needs of culturally and linguistically diverse learners.The winner will be honored at the 2018 CLDE Academy awards luncheon in May.
Submission Deadline: Wednesday, February 14, 2018
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For further information regarding these funding opportunities, contact
Marcie Jackson
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*NEW Guidance and Resources Page
A new Legal and Policy
Guidance and Resources page has been added to the CSI website.This page will continue to be updated as we issue new guidance.
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Organizational Submissions
Reminder: Any requested revisions to the organizational submissions (attendance policy, graduation policy, Title I Notifications, etc.) are due
January 15, 2018, as are the first drafts of the student data privacy and security policies and completed checklist.
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College in Colorado (CIC)
CIC has been a trusted and reliable resource for education and career exploration, planning and guidance for educators, parents, students and adult learners for more than a decade. During this time, the CIC websites and resources have been available free of charge to all users in the state however, CIC's core federal funding ends June 30, 2018. The end of federal support has prompted CIC to propose a shared funding model to partner agencies and organizations. CIC plans to maintain the current websites through at least Dec. 31, 2018 and will carry out all 2018 planned winter training workshops. While CIC is aware that money is tight in school districts across the state, there may be a fee for use of the CIC resources for the 2018-2019 school year as well as for the replacement system in future years. Currently, similar products have a per-student cost range of $2-5. Please visit the
CDE Competitive Grants and Awards webpage to learn more and don't hesitate to reach out to
Julia Pirnack, CIC Director with questions.
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Regional CSI Student Services Training (SST)
CSI's Student Services team will be conducting the next SST training in January and February. Proposed topics include *Crisis Response training (CPI), Alpine, GT, and ELL.
*CPI training is proposed for a 2-day training on Feb 1
st and 2
nd and will be held 1 day in Denver and 1 day in Colorado Springs. Participants will need to attend both sessions and will have opportunities for both new and renewal certificates.
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Western Slope
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Location TBD: The Western Slope training is proposed to be delivered in a webinar format (topics-GT, ALPINE)
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Colorado Springs
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Library 21C
1175 Chapel Hills Dr.
Colorado Springs, CO
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Denver
Friday, February 2, 2018
Clayton Early Learning Center
3975 Martin Luther King BLVD
Denver, CO
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Teaching & Learning Conditions Colorado Survey (TLCC)
In mid-January, CSI schools will be receiving materials to administer the TLCC survey (formerly TELL survey). This confidential online survey, initiated through HB08-1384, is a statewide survey of teachers and building leadership on their perceptions of the teaching and learning conditions in their schools. Schools that have completion rates of at least 50% participation will be provided a summary of results. This summative data can be useful in ongoing school improvement planning, professional development planning and budgeting.
Submission window: January 24-February 23
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Advanced Learning Plan Audit
CSI will be conducting a review of Advanced Learning Plans (ALPs) for gifted students. Each school is asked to select two students plans for the review (schools with three or fewer gifted students only need to select one plan). Please send SASID numbers for each ALP to be audited to
Kim Caplan and complete the
online self-checklist on or before February 9
th at 4pm.
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8
th
Annual Gifted Education Conference & Policy Symposium
Join us to learn strategies for recognizing talent, and tools for the development of programming and service models. Important policy issues and trends facing gifted education today will be highlighted and discussed during the Symposium.
When:
Policy Symposium: February 7, 2018, 4:30pm-7:00pm
Conference: Febraury 8, 2018, 8:00am-5:30pm
Where: University of Denver Morgridge College of Education
Registration fee: $155
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Charter School Institute
1580 Logan Street Suite 210
Denver, Colorado 80203
303-866-3299
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