Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016
Mirella Lozano, a first-grade teacher at Maxwell Elementary, selects a book to read with a student.
Reminders Regarding Discrimination and Harassment Policies

As we all settle into the new school year, we wanted to take a moment of your time to remind you about our important policies regarding discrimination and harassment.
 
As a part of Team DPS, each one of us has a role to play in ensuring that we create an inclusive working environment. What is inclusion? An inclusive workplace is an environment of involvement, respect and connection -- where uniqueness of beliefs, positions, backgrounds, talents, capabilities and ways of living are welcomed and leveraged. 
 
Read the full letter from Superintendent Tom Boasberg for information on: 
  • Diversity and bias trainings and workshops
  • What a "protected class" is
  • What a "hostile work environment" is
  • Complaint processes for discrimination and harassment
We strongly encourage you to reflect on what you can do to build inclusive cultures and, when necessary, make the courageous choice and report potential violations of our discrimination and harassment policies. Please read the full letter for our complete complaint process, or simply email [email protected] or call the Employee Relations hotline at 1-855-295-6776 for more information and assistance.
Faculty Meeting Q&A 
A feature focused on sharing your top questions from recent faculty meetings
Superintendent Tom Boasberg and Deputy Superintendent Susana Cordova visit schools to meet with teachers throughout the year. Last week, they met with teachers from Denver Green School, Place Bridge Academy, West Career Academy, West Generation Academy and West Leadership Academy

Q. At this point, what do you see the mill levy including? 
A. Among the priorities in the mill levy proposal:
  • Social emotional supports and enrichmentsA $15 million investment to help all schools meet the social and emotional needs of their students, a key need identified by classroom teachers. Schools could target flexible funding based on students' needs. 
  • Support for high-quality teachers and leaders: A $14.5 million investment in programs such as Teacher Leadership and Collaboration, a leadership model that allows our best teachers to coach and grow other teachers in their schools while staying true to their first love, teaching their own classroom of kids. 
  • College and career readiness: An $8 million investment in real-world college and career readiness opportunities such as DPS CareerConnect. Students in this program are 30% more likely to graduate than their peers.
  • Early literacy: A $6.8 million investment would target training to all teachers in grades ECE-3 and bolster interventions for struggling readers, ensuring students are reading on grade level by grade 3. Students who reach this benchmark are four times more likely to graduate than those who don't.
To see the proposed impact of the 2016 bond and mill levy proposal by school, please visit FAQ: Proposed Impact by School on the website, bond.dpsk12.org, and find your school.

Have a question we can help answer? Email us at [email protected].

Teacher Leadership & Collaboration 

Professional Learning Opportunities: Learn more about upcoming professional learning events for teacher leaders by checking out the Teacher Leadership & Collaboration Training and Development page on The Commons. There, you will find Registration links and session descriptions for monthly events. Read Full Story >> 

Update on Foundations of Early Literacy October ECE Module
Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers should be aware that the October Foundations of Early Literacy Module 2 will be facilitated centrally by early education partners on the Oct. 27 green day for all ECE teachers and paraprofessionals. The module topic, Literacy Learning Centers: Focus on Oral Language will be integrated into the longer Raising the Bar: Rigor in Early Education that is required for licensing. Read Full Story >>
Do you know people who are interested in becoming teachers? Invite them to the Future Teacher Fair to learn more about programs available. Read Full Story >> 
Apply to a Mentoring Program for Educators of Color
DPS offers a mentor program to foster greater inclusiveness across DPS while also working toward  recruiting and retaining teachers, administrators and other staff that reflect the diversity of students we serve. Apply onlineRead Full Story >> 
Join us for Equity Boot Camp Nov. 2
Equity Boot Camp is an opportunity to build professional and personal skills with other colleagues and learn how to infuse equity and culturally responsive practices in your schools and throughout the district. Spots fill up quickly.  Register today
Illuminate Newsletter: Sign Up Today
If your school is using the Illuminate platform for its assessments, we encourage you to sign up for the Illuminate newsletter, which will provide time-saving tips, advice and frequently-asked questions you can use to have the best experience possible with this new assessment platform. Read Full Story >> 
Exciting Opportunity: Istation Piloting Spanish Assessment for Grades 4 and 5
Teachers have the opportunity to pilot the free Spanish literacy assessment.To obtain Spanish literacy data, this assessment will be available to teachers who have students working towards bi-literacy and whose primary language of instruction is Spanish. Read Full Story >>
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Note: We send many DPS communications via this platform. Please do not unsubscribe from these messages or you will not receive future and important messages. If a specific message doesn't interest you, simply delete it and stay tuned for a future communication that will be of more interest. If you have any questions, please email [email protected].