Matt Jones

                           

                          Chatfield Senor High                                                                                                        Jefferson County School District
                                 80.3% White                                                                                                                                 67.5% White
                                 12.9% Hispanic                                                                                                                             21.4% Hispanic
                                 3.6% Multi-racial                                 Demographics                                    3.3% Multi-racial
                                 1.9% Asian                                                                                                                                     3.1% Asian
                                 0.7% Black                                                                                                                                     1.1% Black
                                 0.3% American Indian                                                                                                                   0.6% American Indian                                              0.3% Pacific Islander                                                                                                                     0.2% Pacific Islander

 

 

 

Community Culture

 

Chatfield Senior High lies in the wealthier suburban community of north-west Littleton, right outside Ken Caryl Valley. With close to 35,000 people living in the area, Chatfield Senior High competes for enrollment with the neighboring high school- Dakota Ridge, just a couple miles up the road. Chatfield’s current enrollment is just over 1800 students. The median household income for the area is situated around $95,000/year with only 2% of the population living below the poverty line. As a result, the school is well funded and resourced to provide means for student success.
 
Littleton is a fairly expansive area with large parks, various shopping centers, business districts and sprawling neighborhoods. Generally considered a conservative demographic parents and students often organize and create community funded events to raise money, and provide services to the school and its organizations.

 

 

Classroom Culture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chatfield ceramics studio is a small room with a lot to offer. With 10 tables and enough seating for 32 students, the space becomes quite crowded with full classes which generally average 30 students. The studio is fortunate to have 14 electric pottery wheels and an additional kick wheel as an added option for students to practice on. While there is no whiteboard or Smartboard, the studio does have an abundance of cabinets painted with chalkboard paint to display notes, messages, labels and the like. The room also has a projector and screen to show videos and PowerPoints. 

Attached to the main studio is a separate hallway area ligned with cabinet space to store student work, a locker room for students to keep journals and smaller items in, and of course a kiln area equipped with two electric kilns and one gas kiln. It is a never ending compromise delegating space over resources which is difficult but doable being as the school has the opportunity to provide so much for students. ​

 

 

School-wide Policies and Support

 

Chatfied Senior High addresses its management policies according to the Jefferson County Conduct Code- a published document that details essentially every sort of management and conduct issue aligned with the consequences and repercussions of the infraction. Students are expected to adhere to the behavioral standards outlined in those documents. Chatfield additionally complies with mandatory reporting which covers a range of subjects including abuse, sexual misconduct, drug use, self harming behaviors, threatening or aggressive behavior, etc. The goal of mandatory reporting falls on the judgment of the teacher who is required to report anything regarding dangerous or potetially harmful, to administration and or school counselors.

 

The school is also an advocate for the LGBT community and serves as a safe zone and support system for individuals who identify as such. Teachers viauslly identify themselves as allies with posters outside of their room which furthers the notion of a safe environment for students. 
 
Conflict resolution typically begins at the classroom level where the teacher will use their best abilities to address situations appropriately according to school policy/norms. Larger issues are sent to administration who will usually work with the school counselors to devise an appropriate action to resolve the conflict. Depending on the severity, the school is also equipped with 2 school resource officers.
 
Students with special needs receive an extraordinary amount of support with the help of 1 special education director/teacher and anywhere from 4-5 paraprofessionals. The students in this population receive individualized lesson instruction based upon the student’s level of competency and proficiency in a variety of subjects. At Chatfield, the range of student needs was very diverse ranging from immobile and non-verbal to highly functional students with minor mental impairments. Students with special needs address “core class” content within the Unified Classroom and participate with the rest of the student population in classes such as art, music (choir) and physical education. The goal is to address the individual needs of the student without excluding them from their peers in the school.