Dear Educators,
As we wrap up our school year, we cannot thank you enough for everything you have done to ensure students remained connected and joyful in their remote learning experience. The work you have done during this unprecedented time matters greatly and your students, families, and Team DPS appreciates you! As we move into the summer break, we wanted to share a few updates to make sure you are aware of.
Return to School
As we look ahead to the 2020-21 school year, we know there are still a lot of unanswered questions about the return to school. We are continuing to collaborate with teachers, leaders, parents, students and others throughout DPS -- as well as health and state officials -- to determine the safest way to continue learning in the fall.
Please keep an eye out for Our DPS Weekly tomorrow with a link to a survey about the return-to-school scenarios our workgroup has proposed
. Your feedback is critical to these decisions, so we hope you can please take the survey and share your thoughts on what will work best for our students.
During these times of uncertainty, we know you'll probably be in touch with your school community throughout the summer to stay updated on how the plans for reopening are going. We will also share updates in the coming months as they're available to ensure you're in-the-know with the latest information on our return in the fall.
Professional Learning
As shared previously, all Summer Professional Learning will be virtual. You will see the following 2020-21 focus areas highlighted in June and July Professional Learning opportunities and August Teal Days:
- Engaging our most prioritized students
- Acceleration of unfinished learning, including assessment and lesson internalization
- Planning for fluidity across scenarios, including instruction in the remote environment
As you can see by the priorities identified above, there is a narrow focus to support your work as educators. By continuing our focus on grade-level content through accelerating unfinished learning, we can ensure our students are accessing the rigor they deserve. We will use assessment internalization to diagnose our students’ unfinished learning, and we will use unit and lesson internalization to ensure students receive rigorous instruction right from the start.
In addition, sessions will take into consideration our 2020-21 Return to School Scenario identified by the Return to School Workgroup and implications for that scenario.
June and July Professional Learning sessions were shared in a previous Teacher Weekly and are available
here
. In order to be sure that we are best meeting the needs described above, we are currently updating the August Teal Day Session Guide and will share the updated link to it by
June 26
with more detailed session information and registration information.
The 2019-20 school year sent us in a new direction we never anticipated! Thank you again for your flexibility, understanding and support for our students throughout it all. We hope you are able to take some well-deserved time over summer break to relax and do what helps you recharge. We look forward to coming back together -- whether in-person or online -- in the fall.
Many thanks,
Tamara and Mike
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This Week's Top Things to Know
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Congratulating 2019-20 Distinguished Schools
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In recognition of their work around the whole child, the following schools have been named DPS' 2019-20
Distinguished Schools: Bear Valley International, Contemporary Learning Academy, Emily Griffith High School, John F. Kennedy High School, John H. Amesse Elementary, Maxwell Elementary, Newlon Elementary, Sabin World School, Samuels Elementary and Skinner Middle School.
These schools were chosen by the ProComp Implementation Team, which includes members from DCTA and DPS. The schools represent a variety of student populations and regions from ECE through high school and have demonstrated a commitment to the
focus areas of the whole child. Teachers, SSPs and all other team members working .2 FTE or more at these schools will receive a one-time $750 incentive on their
June 7 paycheck.
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Apply for Superintendent’s Teacher Advisory Council
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Applications to join the 2020-21 Superintendent's Teacher Advisory Council (TAC) are now open. The TAC meets throughout the school year and creates opportunities for teachers to engage and collaborate with Superintendent Susana Cordova, as well as provide ongoing, candid feedback on policies and initiatives. We encourage you to submit an
application
and share perspectives. If you have any questions, email
Laney_Shaler@dpsk12.org
.
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How Students Can Return DPS Devices
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Please help us get the word out that students and families can return borrowed Chromebooks, iPads, hotspots or other DPS devices free-of-charge through the mail thanks to a partnership with Denver Public Schools Foundation. If you know any graduating seniors or students leaving the district, or any students with unused or broken DPS devices, please help spread the word! Having these devices back in schools means that DPS won’t have to spend money replacing each device, and can instead put that money toward supporting our students.
To return devices, families can:
- Fill out this Google Form.
- Receive a box in the mail with instructions and a prepaid shipping label.
- Follow the enclosed instructions.
- Bring the box to any FedEx location. Their device will then be returned to DPS at no charge to them.
If you have questions about this process, please call 720-423-3163.
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ICYMI: Celebrate Your Teammates: Nominations for Night of Honor Awards Now Open
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It's never been more important to recognize those who've gone above and beyond during the 2019-20 school year. Do you know someone on Team DPS who embodies the Shared Core Values every day? How about a successful and effective team? Recognize these Team DPS members by nominating them for a Night of Honor award:
- Leadership Lamp Award: Our most distinguished award honoring our Shared Core Values champions (four awards total).
- Excellence in Team Award: High-performing teams making a difference (teams of 3-12; four awards total).
- Living Our DPS: Honoring the actions of individuals living one of our Shared Core Values (up to 50 awards total).
Also, we are excited to celebrate last year's honorees in fun, surprising, and "socially distanced" ways in the next few weeks. If you have any questions, please email
Our_DPSValues@dpsk12.org
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Expectations for State-Sponsored SAT/PSAT Fall 2020 Testing
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In support of our focus on Equity, and to ensure all students have the opportunity to take the SAT and PSAT that was canceled this spring, we will administer the state-sponsored school day SAT to all 12th-graders on
Sept. 23
and PSAT NMSQT for 11th-graders on
Oct. 14
. We are working on an opportunity for 9th and 10th-graders to take a PSAT test this fall. More details will be communicated soon. Currently, the College Board is proceeding with the paper and pencil version of these tests; you will be notified if they shift to online administration.
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ICYMI: Summer Academy Remote Learning Teaching Positions
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- ELA-E and ELA-S teachers
- SPED teachers
- SPED paraprofessionals
The program runs from 8 a.m.-1 p.m.
June 19-July 17
, with three hours of instruction and two hours of planning and professional development.
- Teacher rates are $39.26 an hour (instructional) and $25.51 an hour (PD).
- SPED paraprofessional rate is $16.50 an hour.
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Denver Public Schools sends all district newsletters and critical employee communications through Constant Contact. Please do not unsubscribe your dpsk12.org email address from any message; if you unsubscribe from one newsletter or one communication, you will be removed from all other district-managed email lists in Constant Contact. If you have any questions, please email
newsletters@dpsk12.org
.
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