The Office of Operations is a wide ranging team that comprises more than 1,500 employees! Our team includes Enterprise Management, Sustainability, Planning, Design, and Construction, Transportation, Facilities, Climate and Safety, Department of Technology Services. Not only do our services touch every employee throughout the district but we also have partnerships that reach outside of DPS with the Denver Police Department, Denver Water, Denver Health, Xcel Energy, City and County of Denver, Parks and Recreation, RTD, Council of Greater City Schools and many more.
We are all excited to welcome our students back in the coming weeks. But before we do, I wanted to share with the community some of our significant accomplishments from the past school year.
Enterprise Management
The Enterprise Management Department continues to lead in promoting health and sustainability with their established greenhouse program.
The greenhouse produced 22,000 pounds of tomatoes this past year
The farms at Bradley and Schmitt harvested 20,628 pounds of fresh produce for the school kitchens. These farms grew the following items: radishes, turnips, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, lunchbox peppers, melon, acorn squash, watermelon radishes, husk cherries, sweet tomatillos, plus beets and scallion for 14er cafe
We served 7,456,269 lunches and 3,891,890 breakfasts during the 2024/25 school year.
Sustainability
Sustainability Fun Fact:
Q: How many sheets of paper did DPS use for printing in FY26?
A: DPS printed 72 million sheets of paper, which is equivalent to 8,600 trees - or about 24 trees per day.
The Sustainability Team is leading the work toward the goals in DPS’ nationally recognized Climate Action Plan. A few achievements from this last year include:
Solar carport installed at Abe Lincoln High
In collaboration with Denver’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency, DPS installed a solar carport at Abraham Lincoln High School.This solar carport was funded by Denver's Climate Protection Fund, and it generates 235 kW of clean, pollution-free energy, supports 3 charging station ports for electric vehicles, and provides about 40 solar subscriptions to income-qualified families in our community, saving each family an estimated $700 per year on their energy bill.
Photo credit: McKinstry
11 solar outdoor classrooms benefit students and save money
DPS and the City and County of Denver partnered to create engaging outdoor learning spaces using visible solar panels as both a teaching tool and shade structure. Eleven solar outdoor learning spaces were installed this year, bringing the district total to 14. These 14 sites provide 154 kW of clean electricity, an equivalent of about 15 residential-sized solar systems.
Since the solar panels are in plain sight—not hidden on a rooftop—they’re inspiring the next generation of clean energy leaders. And, these solar panels lower each school’s utility bills—so more money goes back into classrooms.
Students at Polaris Elementary celebrated Earth Week under their solar outdoor classroom with Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and DPS Superintendent Dr. Alex Marrero.
14 schools achieve EcoSchools Certification
Fourteen schools received EcoSchools Certification through the National Wildlife Federation. Nine schools received the Green Flag certification (the highest level of certification), three schools received Gold level certification, and two schools received Silver level certification. EcoSchools certification recognizes a school’s commitment to environmental action, and students gain leadership and community-building skills throughout the process.
Climate Champions Grant Program Supports 17 Student-Led Projects
The DPS Sustainability Team partnered with Denver’s Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency on the second year of the Climate Champions Grant Program, which provided $225,000 in funding for DPS students to implement 17 climate action projects in their schools.
171 Students Earn The Seal of Climate Literacy
171 students from 12 DPS high schools received the Seal of Climate Literacy diploma endorsement this year - the first year the seal was available! This represents about one-third of the seals given across Colorado in this first year. The Seal of Climate Literacy is a diploma endorsement that equips students with crucial climate knowledge, skills, and confidence to be leaders in the green workforce and to be ready to tackle the challenges posed by climate change.
Valdez Elementary students make great strides in reducing food waste
Valdez Elementary launched a food waste diversion and shared table initiative in the spring. Second graders decided to help the school reduce waste in their social studies class.
Students created posters, took leader roles to monitor the separation and spread awareness on how to use the share table among all the students. At the end of the semester, 2nd-4th grade were actively monitoring the compost bin, making sure it didn't get contaminated.
Simultaneously, the ECE and one kindergarten classroom were also taking leadership roles and using their classroom compost bins during lunch and snack time. The youngest in the school are learning that their actions matter, and they can be responsible in taking care of the Earth. - Laura C., partner with We Don’t Waste
DPS receives national recognition for its leadership in sustainability and climate action
DPS was selected as a Top 10 Finalist for the American Climate Leadership Awards in 2025! This award is given by ecoAmerica, an organization committed to inspiring and empowering climate advocacy across the U.S., and it recognizes DPS’ leadership in climate initiatives and solutions at both the local and national scale.
DPS also received the 2025 Best of Green Schools Award in the School System category from the Center for Green Schools and the Green Schools National Network. This prestigious national award celebrates the dedication and commitment of those advancing the green school movement and creating safer, healthier, and more resilient schools.
Planning, Design, and Construction
Successfully completed and finalized delivery of the 2020 Bond Program.
Opened the new Montbello High School facility
Opened RASA E-5 school; launched construction of RASA Phase 2 (grades 6-8)
Delivered 24 Air Conditioning Projects (provided air conditioning to 24 schools)
Worked in partnership with the Heart of America, the Denver Broncos and the DPS Foundation to reimagine Ashley Elementary’s library
Hosted a Contracting & Community Vendor Session with strong engagement: Over 250 attendees, including local contractors and business partners.
Rolled out the new PD&C Vision Statement: “Agency of Choice”—a guiding principle for service, transparency, and collaboration in public procurement.
Launched Year 1 of the 2024 Bond Program valued at $975 million—planned, supported, and executed initial projects districtwide. Launched 140+ projects Summer 2025
The November 2024 Bond ballot initiative was approved by 75% of the electorate.
Initiated air conditioning construction projects at 8 schools:
2 schools scheduled for one-year completion (Summer 2025): Doull and Ellis
6 schools scheduled for two-year phased delivery (Summer 2026): Asbury, Bryant Webster, Cory, Johnson, McMeen, Skinner
Scheduled delivery of 9 new secure vestibules—set to open in August 2025 to enhance campus security. The schools are: Barrett, CLA, Grant Ranch, Howell, Lake, Maxwell, MYEC-Zuni, North, Waller
Achieved 100% on-time school openings for the 2024-25 academic year—demonstrating project execution excellence
Initiated design phases for both the Gateway E-5 project and the Sandoval Campus Auditorium
Awarded Architecture teams to both Gateway and the Sandoval Campus projects through an open RFP process
Received community recognition and awards for reaching and exceeding Diverse Business participation goals.
Received the Regional Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Business Social Responsibility for going above and beyond in supporting and working with local MWBE (Minority and Women owned Businesses Enterprises)
Over 400 local Businesses are participating in the 2020 Bond as Prime Vendors or Sub-Contractors
89 MWBE firms currently participating in the 2020 Bond as either Prime Vendors or Sub-contractors
Currently at 29.5% MWBE utilization with the 2020 Bond, exceeding the BOE set goal of 24%
2024 Reverse Trade Fair (which provides visibility to local small and diverse businesses to help foster connections with our large General Contractors who are in need of sub-contractors for DPS Bond Projects) had over 400 attendees
Quarterly Coffee chat networking events were held 4 times in 2024 to introduce local small and diverse businesses to DPS decision makers.
Launched a new PD&C website to improve public access, communication, and project transparency.
Transportation
The DPS Transportation Department continues to be among the national leaders in providing outstanding services to our students. As DPS Transportation continues to innovate and grow, these initiatives underscore our unwavering commitment to providing safe, reliable and efficient transportation services to the Denver community.
When a new technology or process is being developed we always ensure it meets the 4 whys:
Safety - Does it improve safety? In transportation we are devoted to the safe transport of all students on our buses.
Efficiency - Does it improve the student experience with efficiency? Transportation runs approximately 200 routes with 12,000 miles covered daily. This requires a high level of attention to detail.
Cost- Are we being good stewards of public money? Or fiduciary responsibilities to our community is of utmost importance and can not be sacrificed
Innovation - Does it keep us relevant? The students, staff, and community deserve a transportation operation that is continually innovating. We want to achieve all the above while being a leader amongst our national partners.
The Wheel of Safety is the benchmark for keeping DPS students safe on our buses. It identifies the 7 spokes; My Ride (parent app), QR code scanning, GPS, State policy, In-house Training, Cameras (AI and standard), and stop sign enforcement. These Spokes are divided into 3 main classifications:
Regulation - CDE provides the regulation and our in-house trainers ensure that it is taught to all transportation employees
Technology (My Ride app) - The My Ride app will put route information, bus notifications, and student scan information on one clean platform on parent/guardian cell phones
Audio/Visual enhancements - We monitor our bus with multiple on board cameras and will now be moving into the realm of Artificial Intelligence for a more pro-active operation.
My Ride app will become the most significant improvement to student safety in years. The app will provide route information, Bus notifications, and scan on/scan off student information. Scanning on and off the yellow school bus is required this year. Transportation staff and OSD staff will be available to help the transition.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has started to find a place in everyday operations. Transportation is no exception. We have adapted AI cameras as an added level of safety. These cameras are proactive devices designed to detect cell phone use, distracted driving, and drowsy driving. When used in conjunction with the Global Position System (GPS) equipped on all our buses we can also detect harsh braking, harsh acceleration, harsh turning, and rolling stops. The system is capable of sending notifications to administration to take immediate action. The system also scores our drivers with a performance indicator.
We have created 3 enrollment zones for students that are experiencing a school closure. These enrollment zones will provide a level of choice for those students while ensuring they have transportation. This will result in a 3-4% increase in routes over last year. To address the staffing concerns we have hired a recruiting company to bring constant applicants to close the gap for needed coverage.
We achieved an average on-time arrival rate of 98% per shift for all bus routes, including those serving special needs students. On-time arrival is defined as buses arriving within a window of plus or minus 5 minutes of the scheduled time, with arrivals beyond 10 minutes considered late.
Once a 1066 request is received, we are committed to arranging transportation for students within 7-10 business days. Over the past year, for students with state or federal protection, the average time to provide transportation was 1.95 days, meeting the target of 0-4 days and consistently maintaining a green status.
Facilities
Facility Operations
Conducted 585 Quality Assurance assessments at our Facilities collecting information that provides a roadmap to where we place efforts in all aspects of the Facility Management Department.
Completed 397 Post QA surveys with our building leaders gathering critical information regarding customer service from our customers perspective that guides the Facility Management Departments efforts in providing quality customer service to our customers.
The Denver Public Schools Facility Operations department has 35 robotic auto scrubbers. They average 14 hours a week of productivity providing 490 hours of labor savings weekly.
Facility Maintenance
Accomplished growth in our work ticket response of 83% which is an increase of 4% compared with previous year FY2024.
Increase of positive customer service surveys of 11% across shops for FY2025 compared with FY2024.
Responded to 20,915 work tickets for FY2025.
Partnered with the College Success at DPS to provide internship, ride along and trade exposure opportunities to Trades and Trades management for students resulting in receiving the Outstanding Partner of the Year Award 2025.
First Call Communications
Reimagined and rebuilt the First Call Communications Handbook as a single source of truth for Facility Management processes, memos, and guidance for stakeholders.
Digitized the Facility Modification Form and streamlined the request process to improve the review and approval timeliness.
Developed a formal Post-Remediation Recovery Process to ensure structured, consistent recovery efforts following water losses and other incidents, aiming to minimize disruptions to student learning spaces.
Community Use
Automatization of HVAC System for all after school activities in schools that have capacity.
Created new process to build better customer service between DPS department and schools
Increase schedule fees and labor cost to all community use rental costs to be at the same level as the other district and DPR.
Processed 286 applications for summer use space requests for summer programs.
Environmental Services
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Sensor Expansion - installed an IAQ sensor in every classroom in the District, bringing total sensors deployed to over 5,000.
Over 60 asbestos abatement projects completed supporting Bond construction and Facilities Maintenance.
Disposal cost savings of over $35,000 by finding alternative disposal/recycling options for paint, batteries, lights and low haz chemicals. Over 4,000 lbs. of expired/off spec chemicals removed and disposed of from schools.
Completed middle school and elementary water sampling for lead and repairs per HB1358. Over 4,000 samples were taken in 156 schools. Remediation completed at 97 facilities providing new drinking fountains, filters, bottle fills and faucets to ensure drinking water sources are less than 5 parts per billion lead.
Facility Mgmt Occupational Safety and Health
Responded to 65 requests for safety assistance to remediate safety hazards that would affect the safety of students, staff and visitors to our facilities
Continued to reduce reported injuries within the Facilities Department with 26 reported in 2024 vs 166 in 2012 with reviews of each injury occurrence and corrective actions to prevent additional injuries
Performed 90 construction project safety audits within a 4 month summer period
Supported safety training initiatives with added safety awareness program information
Facility Support Services and Quality Assurance Quality Control
Completed 90+ projects for shops, schools, bond, Insurance, pipeline and more
Successfully got every kitchen hood in the district caught up on inspections and on track for compliance
Increased our positive customer service rating on the Customer Service Satisfaction Survey from FY2024 to FY2025 by 15%
Office Of Professional Development
Implementation of PD Paths Increased Participation in Learning by 72.72%
PD Paths Decreased PD external Seminar Training Cost by 21.61%
O&M Workforce in Need of Training Decreased by 6.50%
Reduction in O&M Training Hours of 5.05%
Climate and Safety
Life Saving Tools: This year, the Department of Climate and Safety (DoCS) took proactive steps to address the growing opioid crisis by being early adopters of Narcan, a nasal spray that when administered, can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and save a life. All uniformed members of the department received training on recognizing signs of an opioid overdose and properly administering the spray to an unconscious person. Following training, Narcan was issued as part of each member’s standard safety equipment, ensuring that our team is prepared to respond immediately in a life-threatening emergency. Not long after receiving the training, Antonia Avila, a Campus Safety Officer (CSO) at Prep Academy, was on her way home and awaiting the RTD train. She was suddenly alerted to a person in crisis and used the Narcan to safely and effectively help revive a young man. DoCS are so proud of Antonia for her dedication to safety both on and off duty.
CrisisGO Expansion: This year, we successfully launched CrisisGO technology, significantly enhancing our communication and safety protocols across schools. Staff feedback and field experience were critical to this successful rollout. We continue to build on the CrisisGO platform and are excited about the future technological advancements it will bring.
Radio Communications: All safety staff were issued new radios this year, providing immediate contact with the Department of Climate and Safety (DoCS) Dispatch and, when necessary, direct access to Denver Police and Fire Dispatch. These radios represent a major improvement over our previous system, enabling streamlined communication during critical incidents and ensuring rapid support for safety team members in the field.
Youth Violence Prevention Efforts: Our collaboration with community organizations and school-based partners resulted in expanded programming and increased support for students facing challenging circumstances. While the structure of this work will evolve in the 2025–26 school year, the accomplishments of this year's YVP team are significant and worthy of recognition.
Emergency Response Training:
We delivered more hands-on emergency response training sessions than ever before. From online modules through our Learning Management System to in-person instruction by our Emergency Management Specialist, these efforts strengthened our preparedness. They ensured staff were equipped to act decisively in times of crisis.
Technology Services
The Department of Technology Services (DTS) has successfully implemented several key initiatives and achieved significant milestones during the 2024-2025 fiscal year. These achievements have greatly enhanced our technological infrastructure, improved service delivery, and strengthened our overall operational efficiency. This document outlines the major accomplishments across various departments and highlights the positive impact on our organization.
Overall Achievements
Here is the information on Technology Achievements:
The DoTS team received the 9th consecutive district award for highest Customer Service ratings.
The DoTS Hardware Repair team was awarded the 2024 Lenovo Warranty Self-Maintainer Elite Service Award, which is awarded to the top 10% of self-maintainers for providing excellent customer service and maintaining a high level of program compliance
The DoTS Client and Field Services team was awarded DPS' Career Development Team Platinum Star Partner award for taking part in 3 Career and College Success programs: the Hardware Repair team hosting student interns and an apprentice and Bryan Roos participating in the Coach Mentoring program
The Hardware Repair team had several direct impacts to students throughout the year, including:
Through CareerSpark, every 8th grade student from West Middle School attended an expose with the Hardware Repair team, learning more about how to repair and how to prevent damage to their devices
7 field trips were coordinated throughout the year, bringing hardware repair lessons to elementary and middle schools, where students learned about what the DoTS Hardware Repair team did for the district, how they can prevent damage to their devices, and learned hands-on skills for repairing (Southmoor, Hallett, Bill Roberts, Morey, Bear Valley, Green Valley Elementary, and Schmitt)
11 unique students successfully completed internships through the year, with 4 students completing more than one for a total of 15 internships completed with the team
1 West High graduate will complete his 2 year apprenticeship with the Hardware Team in August and will support onboarding for 2 new apprentices
3 former DPS graduates and interns were hired on as repair contractors for the summer, 1 of whom is now a part-time DoTS Partner
Over 10,700 Chromebooks were repaired and sent back to schools through this year, which includes over 1,050 out-of-warranty Chromebooks that, rather than being sent to e-recycle, were parted out and repaired, getting them back into circulation and supporting sustainability in DPS
Wireless Refresh Project: Completed the comprehensive upgrade of the wireless network infrastructure, resulting in increased network coverage across all district locations including outdoor wireless access improving network speed and reliability. This project involved the deployment of 8000+ wireless access points across all district facilities.
Cameras - deployed an additional 2000+ cameras across schools to increase visibility and safety at schools.
Core Data Systems upgrade - implemented new infrastructure (server and storage) to support 900+ virtual servers, increasing reliability and availability of servers for district hosted applications.
New schools - completed infrastructure deployment at Montbello, DSA/Mosaic Campus and Ceylon.
Josh Allen received the Dan Maas Technology Leader of the Year award from Colorado Association of School Executives.
Dr. Charles received the Technology Community Service Award from the Council of Great City Schools and was one of the Distinguished Speakers at the 2025 Colorado Association of School Executives Conference.
DoTS team moved all projects to Jira and all documentation to Confluence
Supported the successful completion of the Accessibility project
Supported the successful completion of the DPS/GPS project
Oracle Fusion Cloud Go-Live in January
Publications from the DoTS team
AASA District Administration Magazine: Six Concerns of Equity and Bias in Artificial Intelligence
DPS Operational AI Handbook
Key Achievements by Area
Infrastructure Development
Wireless Refresh Project: Completed the comprehensive upgrade of the wireless network infrastructure, resulting in increased network coverage across all district locations including outdoor wireless access improving network speed and reliability. This project involved the deployment of 8000+ wireless access points across all district facilities.
Cameras - deployed an additional 2000+ cameras across schools to increase visibility and safety at schools.
Core Data Systems upgrade - implemented new infrastructure (server and storage) to support 900+ virtual servers, increasing reliability and availability of servers for district hosted applications.
New schools - completed infrastructure deployment at Montbello, DSA/Mosaic Campus and Ceylon.
Enterprise Software and Application Development
Enterprise Resource Planning Launch: DPS At Your Service project went live with Oracle Fusion Cloud in January 1st, 2025.
Accessibility (House Bill 21-1110): The DoTS team was successful in supporting the release of our Accessible websites, documents and artifacts in preparation of July 1st, 2025 compliance requirement.
DPS/Growth and Performance System Software: Released a new application for LEAP and LEAD performance evaluation systems.
New Point of Sale Software (Heartland): In support of the Food and Nutrition Services team, the DoTS team developed a comprehensive integration solution for a new point of sale system.
Infinite Campus & Schoology Alignment
Adoption of a new Assessment System- Performance Matters
Enterprise Data and Architecture
New Data MINE Dashboards: Doug Ferguson’s Business Intelligence team and the RAAD team, including Tanisha Lucero and Jon Nalow, lead the development of School Vitals that guided the sessions during each Data MINE for the 24-25 school year.
Led the DoTS and Exceptional Student Services Safe and Welcoming subcommittee for the CPAC: Resulted in funding for technology projects being approved by Denver voters for the Bond.
Data Engineering and Architecture: Roll out of the new Data Modernization framework has delivered a better process with a partnership with RAAD for our assessments to be stored using a source control approach for data. All of our processes for Data Modernization are now stored in Gitlab, documented in Confluence and promoted to AWS/Snowflake. This approach will now document data processes in a way that can be utilized in Knowledge Management.
Release Management: Lead the work to incorporate accessibility into our change control process to validate all of our go-no-go procedures to adhere to the new Colorado State Law. Coordinated monthly Learning from Incidents on topics ranging from Cyber Security, Third-Party Applications integration with Clever, District Telecom Architecture, and discussion of Root Cause Analysis. The DoTS Major Incident Response Plan was comprehensively overhauled and published for DoTs
Collaboration with the Launch of key projects: Data and Architecture played a key role in the launch of AYS in January 2025, the launch of Learning and Assessment Management Systems for the upcoming school year, the data integration for the GPS Educator Evaluation system and Accessibility Standards for reporting and architecture.
Cybersecurity Enhancements
Cybersecurity infrastructure upgrades: Successfully deployed a new next generation firewall, implemented a privileged access management tool to manage user accounts that have elevated privileges across all accounts, servers and accounts, implemented a new security incident and event manager to allow increased monitoring of systems and events. These improvements continue to improve the district's cybersecurity posture and reduced the district's annual cyberinsurance premium.
Student Web Filtering - deployed a new district-wide web filtering solution for students.
Employee Security Training Program: Launched a mandatory cybersecurity awareness training program for all employees. The program concluded on October 2024 , with a compliance rate of 98%.
Data Encryption Implementation: Implemented end-to-end encryption for all sensitive data stored on company servers and transmitted across the network, further safeguarding proprietary information.
User Support and Service Delivery
The DoTS Hardware Repair team was awarded the 2024 Lenovo Warranty Self-Maintainer Elite Service Award, which is awarded to the top 10% of self-maintainers for providing excellent customer service and maintaining a high level of program compliance
The DoTS Client and Field Services team was awarded DPS' Career Development Team Platinum Star Partner award for taking part in 3 Career and College Success programs: the Hardware Repair team hosting student interns and an apprentice and Bryan Roos participating in the Coach Mentoring program
The Hardware Repair team had several direct impacts to students throughout the year, including:
Through CareerSpark, every 8th grade student from West Middle School attended an expose with the Hardware Repair team, learning more about how to repair and how to prevent damage to their devices
7 field trips were coordinated throughout the year, bringing hardware repair lessons to elementary and middle schools, where students learned about what the DoTS Hardware Repair team did for the district, how they can prevent damage to their devices, and learned hands-on skills for repairing (Southmoor, Hallett, Bill Roberts, Morey, Bear Valley, Green Valley Elementary, and Schmitt)
11 unique students successfully completed internships through the year, with 4 students completing more than one for a total of 15 internships completed with the team
1 West High graduate will complete his 2 year apprenticeship with the Hardware Team in August and will support onboarding for 2 new apprentices
3 former DPS graduates and interns were hired on as repair contractors for the summer, 1 of whom is now a part-time DoTS Partner
Over 10,700 Chromebooks were repaired and sent back to schools through this year, which includes over 1,050 out-of-warranty Chromebooks that, rather than being sent to e-recycle, were parted out and repaired, getting them back into circulation and supporting sustainability in DPS
Future Outlook
DoTS remains committed to continuous improvement and innovation. Our focus for the upcoming year will be on further leveraging artificial intelligence, expanding our cloud infrastructure, and continuing to enhance our cybersecurity posture. We look forward to another year of significant progress and technological advancement.
Contact Information
For more information regarding these achievements, please contact Deb Nowak at (720) 423-2041.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the Office of Operations!
Trena Marsal
DPS Chief of Operations