Dear DPS Community,
The 2020-21 school year has come to a close! As we look back on a year where we came together in new ways, despite being apart for too much of the year, we wanted to share some of our wonderful end-of-year celebrations.
Thank you for helping our students, our community, and each other through all of the ups and downs of the school year. We look forward to coming back together in the fall, including welcoming our new superintendent, Dr. Alex Marrero.
Have a great summer!
Congratulating the Class of 2021
Congratulations to all of our graduates of the Class of 2021! Watch this video from the graduates of Denver South High School, as they each declared “I am Denver South!”
Additionally, a few Denver celebrities have come together — courtesy of Impart, a local company — to offer their own life advice specifically for the DPS Class of 2021! Download this free digital Book of Wisdom, featuring pieces of advice from famous Coloradans such as Peyton Manning, hip-hop duo Tag Team, Colorado attorney General Phil Weiser, and many more!
Leadership Lamp Honorees: Celebrating Our Shared Core Values Role Models
The Leadership Lamp Award is DPS’ most coveted honor, given to only a select few each year who are leading the way and embodying the Shared Core Values in everything they do.
Please join us in congratulating our most recent Leadership Lamp honorees from the 2019-20 school year:
- Charmaine Keeton, Principal at Denver Discovery School
- Derrick Pettis, Facility Manager at Manual Campus
- Bobby Thomas, Principal at Denver South High School
- Andrea Venzor, Spanish ECE-4 Paraprofessional at Ashley Elementary
Watch a recap of these celebrations here, and stay tuned for our 2020-21 honorees in the fall!
Celebrating Our DPS Sports Champions
Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock honored six 2020-21 DPS state champion teams and student-athletes at a celebration on the steps of the City and County of Denver building. Among the state champions honored were the historic Far Northeast Warriors and Thomas Jefferson High School football teams, which each won state titles — the first in DPS in more than 30 years — at tournaments this spring. Watch a video of the celebration here.
Board Votes to Appoint Dr. Alex Marrero as DPS Superintendent
Following a nationwide search and months of community engagement, the Denver Board of Education officially appointed Dr. Alex Marrero as the next superintendent of DPS at last night’s meeting. “Never would I have imagined that the son of an immigrant mother and refugee father, who was expected to be another statistic in the quest for the American dream, can now lead a nationally top-performing school district to continue to raise the bar for all students, and to eliminate any opportunity gaps between identifiable groups of students,” Dr. Marrero said.
Dr. Marrero comes to DPS from the City School District of New Rochelle, NY, where he is serving as interim superintendent, and brings a decade of experience as a practitioner in the New York City Department of Education, our nation’s largest and most diverse school system.
We look forward to Dr. Marrero’s first official day as superintendent on July 6.
And, we are deeply thankful to Interim Superintendent Dwight Jones for his steadfast leadership and spirit of collaboration throughout these unprecedented times. We would also like to extend our thanks to everyone who participated in this collaborative search process. We appreciate your time, energy, passion and partnership, and we look forward to continuing our work with you to ensure that Dr. Marrero is supported to succeed in his leadership of the district. Watch this video of community support for the selection of Dr. Marrero.