Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017
Tell Us What You Think: Help Design the Future of ProComp!
Thank you to the over 3,000 teachers and specialized service providers (SSPs) who participated in the recent compensation survey! As was announced by Superintendent Tom Boasberg and DCTA President Henry Roman last month, your feedback will help shape the future design of compensation within DPS.

As a follow-up to the survey, DPS and DCTA will be providing an in-person opportunity to further engage in the compensation dialogue. Specifically, these workshops in March will provide teachers and SSPs an exciting  opportunity to work collaboratively in small groups and think through key compensation design decisions, priorities and trade-offs. Additional information can be found on the registration site.
Registration should take no more than 1-2 minutes. If you have any questions about these workshops, please contact [email protected] or DCTA. 
Are You Culturally and Linguistically Responsive? Find Out at the Next ED Talk, Feb. 28
Sharroky Hollie
It's important to be culturally and linguistically responsive because it helps our students succeed. At the next DPS ED Talk, Sharroky Hollie, Ph. D. will share "Six Ways to Know if You're Culturally & Linguistically Responsive." 

Join your fellow educators from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 28 at Manual High School,1700 E. 28th Ave.  RSVP for the event online.

DPS ED Talks are designed to bring educators and community members together to learn from each other in pursuit of the DPS vision, Every Child Succeeds. For more information, visit celt.dpsk12.org.

Negotiations Update: Health Care Benefits and HMOs
We wanted to provide information about the possibility of again offering an HMO option for our employees. This year is the first year DPS has not offered an HMO option. Three years ago, our Benefits Board -- including representatives of all district bargaining units, such as the DCTA -- voted to eliminate the HMO option because employees were paying higher out-of-pocket costs than they were with high-deductible plans. Employees who chose HMO plans offered in 2014-15 and 2015-16 paid on average more, not less, in out-of-pocket costs. 
 
As you may know, the DCTA is encouraging DPS to again offer the HMO option and we have agreed to take this to our Benefits Board on Thursday night. The district representatives on the Benefits Board support offering the HMO option. However, we encourage our employees to work closely with our benefits experts during the benefits renewal process to determine whether they are likely to experience higher or lower costs on an HMO plan.

What's Happening with "Flex Benefits"?
We've heard clearly from you that the cost of benefits at the family coverage level are too high. One way to bring these costs down is to increase the number of people talking our benefits. So as we mentioned in a previous Teacher Weekly, we are continuing to negotiate a change to our "flex" credits system, which annually costs us about $20 million for employees who don't sign up for a district benefits plan. This would affect new employees only and would align our district benefits system with others in the metro area. This change was approved by our Benefits Board. If DCTA agrees to this change, teachers will see a decrease of $100 per month in their insurance premiums for any medical plan that covers children. Please let DCTA know if you support this change!
Teacher Leadership & Collaboration
Check Out These Five Teacher Leader Roles and Find Out What's Best for You
Teacher Leadership & Collaboration includes five roles, with different schools planning for different numbers of each role based on their needs. Learn more about each role:

Curious to hear about how the roles translate into day to day experiences? Meet current teacher leaders: Senior Team Lead Don Reynolds; Team Specialist Yu-Cheng Yao; Regional Team Specialist Alexa Overby.


Protect Yourself: Be Vigilant About Phishing and Other Scams

Now that tax season has begun, hackers are stepping up their efforts to steal your personally identifiable information and beat you to the IRS for your refund. DPS and other businesses are seeing increased phishing emails (email with a web link that exposes your personal data) and other attacks trying to steal your identity. Many attackers will even add bank logos or other familiar company information to appear more legitimate. DPS also has seen many attacks aimed at stealing a user's login and password.

Remember, DoTS will NEVER ask for your username or password in an email!
 
Here are some tips to protect yourself and your students:
  • Do not provide your login and password to an email or web link request.
  • Watch out for emails with a false sense of urgency demanding immediate action.
  • Be wary of all email attachments, especially those you were not expecting.
  • Be on the lookout for emails using a generic salutation like "Dear User."
If you believe you might have fallen victim to a phishing email or scam, please immediately call the DoTS Hotline for assistance at (720) 423-3888.
Access Lawson Employee Self-Service from Outside the DPS Network
Thanks to a DoTS security enhancement, you can now log onto the Lawson/Employee Self-Service (ESS) from outside the network to view leave balances, pay stubs, W2 and other important information -- no Virtual Private Network (VPN) is needed. We hope this will be especially helpful during Open Enrollment, April 24 through May 12. Review this quick reference guide, then log onto Lawson/ESS using Internet Explorer. If you went through open enrollment in 2016, you were prompted to set up five security questions -- the next time you login to Lawson outside the DPS network, you may be prompted to answer three of your security questions. Please contact the DoTS Hotline at 720-423-3888 if you forgot the answers to your security questions. If you did not go through open enrollment in 2016, you will be prompted to set up five security questions before accessing the portal outside the DPS network.
Resources Available to Support the PSAT 10 and SAT
Teachers can access several resources for the PSAT 10 and SAT, including those that were shared at the Blue/Green Day on Jan. 6. These resources include practice tests and other materials to help teachers and students prepare for PSAT/SAT Math and Literacy. Resources are located in the PSAT and SAT Resources Google folder .
 
If you have questions related to literacy, please contact Anna Pendleton. If you have questions related to  math, please contact Jennifer Yacoubian .
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