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A Vision for Our Schools. A Plan Focused on Equity.

Pausing the Next Denver Plan to Focus on Crisis Priorities

Dear DPS Community,

In January, we launched the process of creating our district’s next Denver Plan — our equity- and values-based plan for serving and supporting our students in the coming years — and we asked our entire community to give us their input and ideas.

We, of course, never imagined how different all of our daily lives would look just a few months later. As we discussed at our Board of Education meeting on Thursday, May 7, in order to plan effectively we must respond to this crisis and put the health and wellness needs of our community first.

COVID-19 has not altered our foremost goal – which is to graduate students who meet academic standards and are prepared for their futures – but the strategies we use to get there must change.

That’s why we have decided to delay development of the new Denver Plan, so we can dedicate ourselves to creating the best teaching and learning system we can for the next school year. When the time is right, we will be as committed as ever to extensive outreach and engagement — and to making the next Denver Plan our Equity plan.

For now, we’re focused on preparing for the fall, and ensuring that students are learning every day and that families receive the strongest support possible during this difficult and uncertain time.

In the coming weeks, we’ll work together with our board colleagues to ensure we have the right instructional, service, and resource priorities for the coming year, with the overriding focus continuing to be on health and wellness.

If you have any questions about the next Denver Plan in the meantime, please feel free to contact us at denverplan@dpsk12.org. We sincerely thank you for your patience and understanding, and extend our best wishes for health and safety to our entire community.

Sincerely,
Dr. Carrie A. Olson, President, Denver Board of Education, District 3
Rev. Brad Laurvick, Denver Board of Education Member, District 5
Susana Cordova, Superintendent

Six students in colorful Trevista t-shirts walk down a school hallway.

What Did We Hear From Our Community?

From January through May, members of the DPS community responded to our Community Survey, and we want you to be able to see what ideas and perspectives they submitted. We’ll use this feedback when our district is able to resume work on the next Denver Plan.