Ten years ago, in my first months as Superintendent, Fairview Elementary teachers invited me to go on a home visit with them to talk with the parents of one of their students. At that time, Fairview was the only school in DPS with an organized home visit program. That visit -- with the very visible connections between the parents and the teachers and the pride of the student at seeing his parents and teacher meet at his house -- led me to commit to dramatically expand our parent teacher home visit program.

 

This week, I had the opportunity to rejoin Fairview teachers on another home visit. Ten years later, Fairview is no longer the only school in the district with an active home visit program. Rather, they are one of more than 100 schools now with active home visit programs, and last year we had over 12,000 teacher home visits!

 

So, it was fun to go back this week with teacher Sue Medina and classroom paraprofessional Tina Lam to visit the home of Fairview Elementary ECE student Danalynn Davis and her family. For Danalynn , Sue and Tina, the visit was an opportunity to draw connections between what motivates this young learner at home and in the classroom.

 

"We love to craft," shared Danalynn's mother, Danielle Lewis. "When Danalynn's sister has her art out, Dananlynn is ready to craft as well."

 

A spark went off for the educators. "Any time we are getting our scissors out, she is so excited," Tina said. "This must be why!"

 

Making connections between learning and life at home are at the heart of these visits, which give educators the opportunity to ask families about their hopes and dreams for their children so that they can help bring those to life through learning.

 

These Parent Teacher Home Visits, which have kicked off these last few weeks, will continue throughout the school year, and I encourage educators and families to get involved and join in on making more of these powerful connections for our students.

 

It will take all of us to support our kids and help each one succeed in school and in their futures. These relationships are key to getting there. Because we know, whether we're teachers or parents, we all want the same thing for our kids.

 

As Danalynn's mother put it, "I want her to be happy and to learn all that she can."

In the spirit of our continued commitment to transparency and accountability, DPS has released the 2018-19 Budget Transparency Guidebook: School Support Services . Earlier this year, we released the first version of the guidebook for the 2017-18 fiscal year -- from July 2017 through June 2018, which outlined how we distribute money to our school support teams. For 2018-19, we have included a new section with information on our additional recurring funding sources and how they are spent in our schools. We invite you to review the guidebook and send any questions to [email protected] .  

As the nation remembers the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, many schools are now filled with students who were born after the tragedy. To learn, reflect and ensure that students are aware of the impact of the 2001 attacks, cadets in the East High School Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) program marked the occasion with a flag ceremony.

 

Bugles sounded as the uniformed JROTC Color Guard cadets marched in formation with their sabers and ceremoniously raised the United States and Colorado flags to the top of the pole, then back down to rest at half-staff in honor of the 3,000 civilians and first responders who lost their lives that day. Hundreds of East High School students and educators joined the cadets outside the entrance of the school for a moment of observance.