Hello DSA Community,
This is an update to the DSA community on the transition of leadership provided by your new principal, Mr. William Kohut. It was my original plan to be moved into my office at DSA and ready to begin work on a full time basis this past week. However, my successor at South High School was not named until Monday, June 8th. Therefore, this has delayed my plans, as it is necessary that I remain at South High School for the remainder of this week to help transition the new principal into their new role. Many of you have sent emails over the past two weeks and it is my intention to respond to those emails in the next few weeks as I complete this transition to DSA.
I will begin the process of moving my belongings to my new office at DSA on Monday, June 15th and will use the day on Tuesday, June 16th to set up my office. Although I will still have periods of time when it will be necessary to meet with the new principal at my former school it is my intention to be at DSA daily from June 17th until mid-morning on June 25th. I plan on taking some vacation time from June 25th until July 23rd. During this time period I will be in out of the office periodically and will have days when I am completing hiring and staffing in the office to be ready for the start of the new school year. During this time period I will also respond to emails from home or while on vacation.
Last week I completed the selection process for the administrative team for the 2009-2010 school year. I am happy to announce the appointment of the following individuals as Assistant Principals, Mr. Pete Castillo will remain at DSA in the role of Assistant Principal and coming to DSA from South High School will be Ms. Miranda Odom. Mr. Castillo brings many strengths to the leadership team and will be valuable to the transition of new leadership given his background and tenure at DSA. Ms. Odom brings with her a strong background in leadership at both the middle school and high school level, as well as strong skills in marketing, organizational management, and community outreach. Ms. Odom holds a bachelors degree in the performing arts and has a strong background in theatre and vocal music. In the coming weeks I will reassign duties for the administrative team and the web-site will be updated with these new duty assignments in the coming weeks.
The past month I was able to lead the process for the selection of a new director of orchestras, the final appointment of this candidate is still in the hiring process with the Denver Public Schools Human Resources Department. When the hiring process is finalized the name of the new director will be released to the community. Additionally, in the past two weeks we have had a resignation in the visual arts department and this position is currently posted at both the district level and national level. Interviews to fill this position will take place during the week of June 22nd and I will be working closely with Ms. Rosenbaum and a group of staff, parents, and students to find a strong candidate to fill this role.
In closing, I want to restate how excited I am to join the DSA community and to lead our community down a path of academic excellence and stellar arts education for our students. Please feel free to contact me at any time so I can assist you with any questions or concerns that may arise.
Enjoy your summer.
William Kohut
Transition at DSA