DPS Elevating Focus on Equity

Superintendent Tom Boasberg shared the following announcement Friday, Aug. 4, with DPS staff:

Dear Team DPS,

Allen Smith, chief of the Culture, Equity and Leadership (CELT) Team

Under the leadership of Allen Smith, our Culture, Equity and Leadership Team (CELT) has worked in partnership with our community to focus on changes to improve the experiences and opportunities for our African-American students, educators and families. This work with the African-American Equity Task Force resulted in recommendations accepted by our Board of Education that we will begin implementing this year. We know the importance of this work touches not just our African-American students but all of our students of color.

To ensure the visibility and success of this work and to expand our focus to more students and educators, I am promoting Allen to the role of Chief of CELT. In this role, he will report directly to me. In addition, he has promoted Leslie L. Juniel to the position of Senior Program Manager of Equity Initiatives, where she will support with implementation of the task force recommendations and all equity initiatives. Recognizing the importance of the links and collaboration between the CELT and Human Resources teams, the two teams will continue to work closely together to implement our work around culture, equity and leadership.

Leslie Juniel, Senior Program Manager of Equity Initiatives

“I am excited about this opportunity to help eliminate the barriers that our students and employees face,” Allen said. “We will work with teams across the district as we seek to create a more equitable future for all.”

It is important to emphasize that the work of closing opportunity gaps for our students and supporting our shared core value of equity belongs to more than the CELT team — it’s work that is central to all we do. Our key priorities this year include expanding professional development opportunities in culturally responsive education, developing more diverse educator pipelines, and increasing support and mentoring for our educators of color.

I am excited to have Allen at the forefront of our efforts and supporting our educators as we make the necessary changes to ensure Every Child Succeeds. Please join me in congratulating Allen and Leslie on these new leadership opportunities.

Best,
Tom