{"id":800421,"date":"2019-10-16T16:49:59","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T22:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=373044"},"modified":"2019-10-16T16:49:59","modified_gmt":"2019-10-16T22:49:59","slug":"christopher-alleman-arts-background-will-help-improve-student-outcomes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/christopher-alleman-arts-background-will-help-improve-student-outcomes\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Alleman: Arts background will help improve student outcomes"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/col-alleman-sdn-101719-819x1024.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/col-alleman-sdn-101719-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/col-alleman-sdn-101719-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/col-alleman-sdn-101719-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/col-alleman-sdn-101719.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\"><figcaption><strong>Christopher Alleman<\/strong><br \/><em>Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>Occupation: producing artistic director for Lake Dillon Theatre Company<\/li>\n<li>Hometown: Silverthorne<\/li>\n<li>Years in Summit County: 7<\/li>\n<li>Family: husband, Josh Blanchard; son, Lincoln<\/li>\n<li>Civic involvement: Silverthorne Elementary School PTA president; Silverthorne Accountability Committee member; Arts of the Summit member; and volunteer for the following organizations: Summit High School Theatre Department, The Summit Foundation, Family and Intercultural Resource Center, Community Care Clinic, National Repertory Orchestra<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As a Summit County resident for 17 years, I feel blessed to<br \/>\nbe a part of this special community. My family \u2014 husband, Josh, and son,<br \/>\nLincoln \u2014 and I love Summit County and all that it has to offer. The county<br \/>\nmaintains a refreshingly strong value of giving, and I would find it an honor<br \/>\nto give back to this community beyond my current role at the Lake Dillon Theatre<br \/>\nCompany by serving on the Summit School District board of education. Serving on<br \/>\nthe board is a civic responsibility that I will fulfill with a perspective and<br \/>\nskill set uniquely mine. I have more than 30 years of experience in arts<br \/>\neducation and have built a strong theater education program at the Lake Dillon<br \/>\nTheatre Company. My knowledge of arts education and the impact it has for youths,<br \/>\nadults and the broader community fuels my passion for education. With a first<br \/>\ngrader currently enrolled in the dual language program at Silverthorne<br \/>\nElementary School, I am interested in supporting all aspects of education, from<br \/>\nlanguage arts to outdoor education to the sciences. Furthermore, I have 17<br \/>\nyears of fundraising, budgeting, strategic planning and implementation, capital<br \/>\nimprovement and construction oversight, and staff management experience that<br \/>\nallow me to look through a lens of long-term planning and strategic decision<br \/>\nmaking.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Invest in the mental health of our students<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While organizations including Building Hope, the Community<br \/>\nCare Clinic and The Summit Foundation have made great efforts to reduce stigma<br \/>\nand directly address issues associated with poor mental health in our community<br \/>\nover the past few years, Summit County continues to have some of the largest<br \/>\nnumbers per capita for mental health issues and suicide in the nation. This<br \/>\nepidemic will not go away by ignoring it or becoming complacent. Studies show<br \/>\nhow poor mental health can affect people of all ages, including children and<br \/>\nteens. Investing in the mental health of our students through broadened<br \/>\neducational outreach and extended mental health services is a long-term<br \/>\ncommitment that will better position our youths for brighter futures.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prioritize arts integration learning<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As a lifelong artist and arts advocate, I believe that arts<br \/>\nintegration in our schools will improve the outcomes of our students. Many<br \/>\nnationwide studies by independent researchers suggest that students involved in<br \/>\narts-based learning think more critically and creatively in all areas of<br \/>\nlearning, including math and sciences, than students who are not given adequate<br \/>\naccess to arts education through arts integration. Arts integration is not<br \/>\nsimply providing opportunities for students to learn about the arts in schools,<br \/>\nbut rather uses the arts as a teaching tool for subjects like science, math,<br \/>\nhistory and reading. Children who are introduced to the arts at an early age<br \/>\nhave increased critical thinking and problem solving skills to their<br \/>\ncounterparts. Our STEM elementary schools could incorporate arts-based learning<br \/>\nprograms to become STEAM schools. The arts are the tools needed to shape our<br \/>\nyouths into better students today and better citizens tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Improve teacher retention rate<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to a number of independent studies, including one recently conducted by the Learning Policy Institute, schools that experience high teacher turnover rates see a direct correlation to a variety of negative impacts on student achievement. Students in schools with low teacher retention suffer academically because of high substitute teacher use, canceled classes, and inexperienced and underprepared teachers. If we as a community expect high quality education for our youths, then we must examine the many factors \u2014 including high costs of living, seasonality and work-related stress \u2014 contributing to challenges relating to low teacher retention and high teacher turnover numbers.<\/p>\n<p><em>Find more election coverage at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/election\/\">SummitDaily.com\/election<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/opinion\/christopher-alleman-arts-background-will-help-improve-student-outcomes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christopher AllemanCourtesy photo Occupation: producing artistic director for Lake Dillon Theatre Company Hometown: Silverthorne Years in Summit County: 7 Family: husband, Josh Blanchard; son, Lincoln Civic involvement: Silverthorne Elementary School PTA president; Silverthorne Accountability Committee member; Arts of the Summit member; and volunteer for the following organizations: Summit High School Theatre Department, The Summit Foundation, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-800421","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 04:02:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800421\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}