Happy Friday!
As we welcome new families into the Park Hill community, I want to take a moment and express my sincere gratitude for our students, our staff, and our families. Park Hill is uniquely positioned to serve our globally diverse newcomer families. We are extremely fortunate to have the resources and personnel to serve and support our students and families. This is a wonderful opportunity for our current students to expand their perspectives and empathy towards others, and to really step up as student leaders, which so many have already done.
In the near future, we will be sharing additional information on what supports and resources our community can help provide. In the meantime, we could use new or gently used winter jackets, gloves, hats, calf-length socks and boots in various kids sizes. We could also use King Sooper grocery cards, as it's the nearest walkable grocery store.
As we look towards next school year, we will look to expand our class offerings in at least a few grades in order to accommodate the increased enrollment. This could mean a fifth class in kindergarten, 1st grade, and/or 3rd grade, as it currently stands with our numbers. We are not quite at the finish line in regards to making final decisions for next year, but will do so after we review the enrollment numbers following the Choice window. The timeline for this will be in late March. Nonetheless, please know we are already having these conversations as a leadership team, a CSC board, and the PTSA.
As a leader who believes in equity and transparency, I will keep the community updated throughout these next few months, and of course will do so going into next school year. Our goal is to have class sizes below 30 students per class next school year.
More to come. In the meantime, thank you and be well.
-Ken Burdette, Principal
Teacher and Staff snacks
This year the PTSA has helped to organize snacks for teachers and staff. Parents have generously brought in a variety of items, and we just wanted to take a moment to share our appreciation for the thoughtfulness of these families and the PTSA.
Reminder: Enrollment - SchoolChoice and UPK open
The SchoolChoice window opened Wednesday, January 15. Families can rank their preferred schools for their children to attend during this time. This is required for 5th grade students continuing on to middle school, incoming kindergarten and ECE-4 students or those looking to transfer to another DPS school. We are also asking our K-4th grade families to complete their plans if possible for planning purposes. The Choice window is open from January 15-February 18. Elections for SchoolChoice can be made at any point during that window.
This year the state of Colorado Universal Pre-K program will be doing the lottery for ECE-4 placements. All ECE-4 families need to register on the state UPK website. As a reminder, our ECE-4 program accommodates 20 students. Given the limited spots, we strongly encourage all families to have a backup school(s) in mind and to add these as options as part of their application. UPK gives priority to students who have a sibling at PHE. The deadline to apply to UPK is February 3, 2025. We are encouraging families to apply as soon as possible for UPK once they have determined their schools of interest.
Valentine’s Celebrations
Valentine's celebrations will take place in the afternoon of Thursday, 2/13. We do not have school on Friday, 2/14
If any families have some spare valentine's cards, we would love to have a few we can give to students who may not have any that day.
Speech Language Pathologist update
We are very pleased to share that DPS has hired a new Speech Language Pathologist for Park Hill. This person will be starting in the coming weeks, and more information will be shared at that time.
ELCS Summer Enrichment Camps at Polaris Elementary
The ELCS department is offering summer Enrichments at Polaris Elementary. The signup opens February 11 at 6 am.
5th Grade Talent Show
We are still looking for parents to help with the talent show. Talent show is set for May 28th. Please reach out to Chantel Hayward if you are interested.
