Our DPS employee intranet, The Commons, will be migrated to Thrillshare by Apptegy on June 27. The new site will have all the same important information for all employees, including the Employee Space, work calendars, benefits and more. It will also have a similar structure and layout as the current website, but with an updated look and feel following website best practices. Read this memo in English or Spanish for more information. If you have questions, contact Stacy Blaylock.
May 29, 2025
New Commons Intranet Launch on June 27
New Digital Accessibility Guides for Email and Google Forms
Don’t know where to start with digital accessibility for email and Google Forms? Check out two new DPS guides that will show you the basics of preparing accessible emails and Google Forms.
A new charts and graphs section is available in the Google Sheets Digital Accessibility Guide. Visit the Digital Accessibility page on The Commons for additional guides and resources.
Digital Accessibility Tip: Social Media
In June 2021, Colorado passed House Bill 21-1110 to strengthen state discrimination laws for people with disabilities. It makes sure that everyone has access to digital content created by local government organizations, including school districts.
Social media is a powerful tool for communication. To ensure accessibility for all users, always use alt-text for images, ensure color contrast meets standards and provide captions for all videos. Improve readability for hashtags using industry standards by capitalizing the first letter of each word within a multi-word hashtag. When posting flyers, include all of the information from the flyer in the alt-text. Additionally, gifs and memes should have a brief textual description.
Support Students Year-round!
With Summer Break on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to think about ways we can give back and invest in our community year-round.
Team DPS GIVES is the employee-giving program that makes it easy to support the DPS Foundation through simple payroll deductions. Just $5 per paycheck can help fund key initiatives like Afterschool Programs, Career and College Success, Community Hubs and more. These contributions create lasting change for our students and city all year long.
And here’s a fun bonus: by joining Team DPS GIVES, you’ll be automatically entered into all prize drawings we host throughout the year. Start your summer off strong and sign up today!
Questions? Email Erin Shelby.
Top 5 Call Out Results: Favorite Picture from the Year
Last week, we asked you to share your favorite photo of the year! Check out the top five below and access more submissions.
5.“My seventh-grade science students performed an owl pellet dissection as an extension to their populations and resources unit. Luca Raizman was able to reconstruct an entire rodent skeleton. We were all very impressed.” --Ilyanna Kreske, Hill Campus of Arts and Sciences
3.“A quick team photo at a FIRST Tech Challenge competition, team 24333 Hot Single Robots from East High School.” -- Heather Anderson-Duncan, East High Engineering
“This year, over 60 high school seniors at DPS are on track to graduate with their associate degrees alongside their high school diplomas. Congratulations to these incredible students on this outstanding achievement! Here are some of our students celebrating their graduations at the Community College of Aurora and the Community College of Denver!” --Tara Schneider, Career and College Success
4.“This picture brings me so much joy every time I see it. It reminds me of the fun that we have in our class. This was when the students wrapped each other up as mummies.” -- Erin El Kabbaj, Florida Pitt Waller
2.“The amazing team at Montclair brought Rocky, the Denver Nuggets mascot, to surprise the entire school! This exciting visit was a celebration of our incredible students who participated in Montclair’s first year of basketball and cheer. Way to go, Cougars!” -- Jessica Simmons, Montclair School of Academic and Enrichment
Living Our DPS Honoree
Lizzy Mitchell
Social Worker, PREP Academy
Integrity
"Lizzy is the glue that holds our school together and is highly involved in all of our systems, processes and day-to-day survival! She is a social worker by title, but so much more in practice. Lizzy is invaluable to our Safety Team, Whole Child Team, Attendance Team, SPED Team, Enrollment Team, Mental Health Team and School Leadership Team at PREP Academy. Our staff and students lean on her during tough times and she is always first in line for the fun and celebrations. Lizzy embodies integrity every day, consistently putting students first and supporting our school with full fidelity."
-- Stephanie Smekens, PREP Academy
Denver Public Schools | 1860 Lincoln Street, Denver, CO 80203