SUPERINTENDENT PARENT FORUM

MAY1, 2012

TABLE DISCUSSION NOTES

What is working well in DPS?

  • School Choice
  • DPS receptive to community voice
  • Special education and speech therapy at Sandoval are well received
  • School-based parent and community liaisons are working well
  • DPS has strong teachers and bright students
  • Teacher and administration are empowered and parents are seeing a trickle-down effect
  • There is excellent diversity in student population
  • Dual language programs are effective and well received
  • Innovation schools are working well
  • Parent Forums are great
  • Parents in West Denver Network like the classes, workshops and college visits and would like to see similar programs throughout district
  • Parent Forums are very useful and help in getting the parent voice out
  • Parents like the budgetary principal autonomy
  • Vocational training for students and parents are very helpful
  • Parents are glad to see improvements being made to curriculum and professional development to help to unite staff and schools
  • The teacher home visit program is great and would like to see more schools participate
  • Later all school start date is good
  • School choice
  • PLI and other workshops are wonderful

What opportunities for improvement still exist?

  • Parents would like to see more food choices for students
  • More bilingual office staff at schools would be helpful
  • People would like to see a more welcoming environment at schools- office staff can be off-putting and discourages parents from coming into the schools.
  • Some schools lack a caring staff
  • Would like to see more anti-bullying programs in district
  • Paraprofessionals need more training
  • There is always room for better communication
  • School choice also has some negative effects on neighborhood schools and communities
  • More information in the schools about resources available to DPS families
  • Increased parent involvement
  • More information and follow up on district initiatives
  • Smaller class sizes
  • ELA could use more improvement and more opportunities for language classes for all parents
  • More emphasis and funding for innovation schools
  • Schools need to think of ways to empower parents and increase involvement
  • There is always room for increased communication and improved curriculum
  • Lack of parent involvement
  • Upgraded heating and cooling in schools is necessary
  • More fine arts and physical education in all DPS schools
  • Smaller class sizes
  • One parent suggested an easier HR hiring process for teachers to attract more well-qualified applicants.
  • There is not enough diversity within the teacher population in DPS
  • Parents would like to see more languages in the ESL programs and native language continuation
  • There is a very large linguistic and cultural gap that needs to be closed
  • More communication between central DPS and schools needed
  • Parents really like parent forum and would love to see a student forum
  • More opportunities for professional development for staff to create more qualified staff and positive trickle- down effect
  • Highest needs schools should not just be solely based on socio-economics
  • More student input needed
  • More creative approaches to education, eliminate cookie cutter
  • Work on closing achievement gap and moving from middle to top