The Denver Plan

Message From Superintendent Bennet

November 16, 2005

Dear Denver Public Schools Employees:

I want to let you know that we are presenting a draft of The Denver Plan to the Board of Education at Thursday's meeting. This presentation will kick off a two-month process to gather further employee and public feedback before the plan is finalized. In the end, this plan is meant to be a shared vision and a shared commitment on behalf of the children in our district.

Although there are many changes proposed for DPS in the draft, you should know that virtually all of them are the result of the many hours we have spent with principals and teachers over the past few months. You will notice that we have worked hard to avoid change for change sake, and we have heeded, for example, our elementary school teachers' desire not to start our literacy program over from scratch. We believe the draft accurately reflects the substance of those conversations. We think this is important, because the people closest to our kids have much to say about the quality of our programs and the support our students need.

In developing this draft, we have asked ourselves at every step along the way, "Will this help our kids?" We have taken care not to disturb any of our existing collective bargaining relationships, because we want to keep our focus today on our students.

As you read the plan, we hope you will ask yourself the same question, "Will this help our kids?"

I have read many plans across the country, and I believe that the draft you will read presents an ambition worthy of our children, our city and their district. You will notice, it is very specific about how we intend to fulfill this ambition and I believe that it is achievable.

None of us, however, has a monopoly on the truth and there is more than one way of doing things. I look forward to the conversations we will have over the coming weeks as we refine our plan together and put the Denver Public Schools on the path to becoming the leading big city school district in this country.

I encourage you to take some time to read through the draft, which is online at http://thedenverplan.dpsk12.org. Please e-mail comments and suggestions to thedenverplan@dpsk12.org.

It has been a privilege to have heard your many thoughts over the past several months, and it is a pleasure to provide a draft for your review and consideration. Thanks for everything that you are doing for Denver's children.

Sincerely,
Michael F. Bennet

©2009 Denver Public Schools