Dear DPS Community,
The final bells of the 2022-23 school year have rung through our classrooms. The end of school is a time full of emotions — pride in our achievements, sadness in saying farewell to our scholars and colleagues, and anticipation of what the future holds. While this year has had its fair share of challenges and victories, I’d like to highlight just some of the accomplishments we’ve made together, including:
- The Montbello Groundbreaking & Beam Signing Celebration
- Opening our Community Hubs
- The Eighth-grade College and Career Fair
- DPS JROTC received $100,000 donation from Denver VFW Post 2461
- The EDUCA Podcast launch
- Launch of the DPS Climate Action Plan
- Students Received President’s Environmental Youth Award
- The Annual DPS Black Student Alliance Banquet
- The Seal of Biliteracy Ceremony
- 44 DPS schools received CDE Awards
- The George Washington 5A State Speech and Debate Champions
- First Annual STEAM EXPO
- Robert F. Smith STEAM Academy’s first Royal Court Coronation
- Four-year graduation rates increase by 2.5 percentage points
- East High School Boys Basketball and Soccer State Champions
- Northfield High School Boys Soccer win 4A State Championships and Poms National Champions.
- Tuva Siegel, Denver North 3A State Swim Champ in the 200 yard free
- Morgan Manley, Denver East 5A State Diving Champ
- Launch of ELCSports program for fourth- and fifth-graders
- Steele Elementary’s Human Rights Expo
- The Latinx Student Alliance Awards
- Centennial Elementary’s Black Lives Matter Week of Action
- 2022-25 DPS-DCTA Agreement
- Over 500 DPS employees recognized for providing excellent customer service
- CASE Principal Award Winners: Joey Denoncourt and Terita Walker
Know that this is not a complete list of our wins. I am grateful for all of the other great work that took place both inside and outside our classrooms this year. Over the past few weeks, we cheered on thousands of our scholars as they crossed the graduation stage and headed toward bright futures. Congratulations to these graduating seniors, and thank you to all of the families, teachers and school-support team members who helped get them here!
Although our efforts are moving the needle on improving the Adult, Student and System Experiences of our Strategic Roadmap, we must also recognize that there is still much more for us to accomplish. Later this month, we will finalize the Long-Term Operational Safety Plan with your input and support. When students and staff return to their buildings in August, our priority is that they enter their buildings feeling safe and welcomed. I want to thank our DPS community in advance for also making this a priority and providing us with valuable feedback on how to protect our community. If you have not yet, I urge you to please review Version 2.0 of the Long-Term Operational Safety Plan and provide your feedback through the ThoughtExchange survey by Sunday, June 11. More information can be found on the Safety Plan webpage.
Lastly, I want to encourage all of our families to continue investing in your child’s learning over the summer. In addition to having them participate in our summer programs, please read with your children. Encourage them to visit the many amazing libraries and museums located in our city. Spend time with them enjoying Colorado’s beautiful outdoor spaces. We look forward to seeing all of our refreshed, renewed and revived scholars this fall.
We remain committed to ensuring our schools are safe and welcoming environments in which Every Learner Thrives. With that, I wish all our students, staff and families a great summer break. See you in the 2023-24 school year!
In collaboration,
Dr. Alex Marrero
Superintendent
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