April 24, 2025
Open Enrollment is Now Open!
Open Enrollment is happening now through May 9! This year is a passive enrollment, meaning that benefits eligible employees only need to take action if they'd like to make changes to their existing enrollment. The 2025-26 Benefits Enrollment Guide is now available in English and Spanish to help you view your medical, vision, and dental options, understand your rates, and learn about supplemental benefits.
To access the Benefits portal, log into Oracle and click on the Benefits icon.
What this means for you:
If you take no action, your current benefit elections (except as noted below) will automatically continue.
If you did not have DPS coverage last year and take no action, you will remain without coverage.
Action Required for:
Kaiser 1600 plan members: You must manually select the Kaiser 1650 plan to maintain coverage (due to IRS changes.)
HSA and FSA participants: These accounts will not roll over, you must re-enroll to continue these benefits.
Kaiser 3200 and MotivHealth 3200 plans: These will automatically update to Kaiser 3300 and MotivHealth 3300 plans (due to IRS changes.)
Available Benefits
DPS offers a variety of benefits to meet your needs. From medical to dental insurance, employee discounts, childcare support, life insurance, and retirement -- DPS has you covered. Visit the Open Enrollment page on The Commons to take action today and learn more about your available options.
In-Person Enrollment Support
Meet with our Benefits Department and medical vendors (Kaiser Permanente, MotivHealth, UnitedHealthCare, Delta Dental, and more):
Open Enrollment is your annual opportunity to review, enroll in, or waive benefits. For complete details on available plans and resources, visit the Benefits page on The Commons.
If you have questions about benefits enrollment, contact the Benefits team at emailbox@dpsk12.net or call 720-423-3900.
Managing Name Changes
Legal Name Change
All legal name changes must be completed through Employee Space, also known as Oracle. Follow the steps in this Oracle Training document to complete your legal name change. After your legal name change request has been completed, your name will be reflected in all DPS systems.
Self-Asserted/Preferred Name Change
If you have a preferred/self-asserted name, follow the steps in this Oracle Training document to update this information in Oracle, Gmail and Infinite Campus. Note: Unlike the legal name change process, your preferred name will not be reflected in all DPS systems, such as your healthcare provider platforms. Review this Impact of changing Self-Asserted/Preferred Name document to find where changes are automatic, and what may require additional steps.
New! Digital Accessibility Toolkit for DPS Employees
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.
As part of our effort to provide staff members with guidance, training and resources for digital accessibility, we have prepared a Digital Accessibility Toolkit for DPS Employees. This toolkit is your one-stop shop to help you prepare for and implement digital accessibility practices in your day-to-day work.
Visit the Digital Accessibility page on The Commons for additional resources. Questions? Email accessibility@dpsk12.org.
Digital Accessibility Tip: PDF Exports with Grackle Docs
If you download PDFs from Google Docs, install the Grackle Docs Google Extension! Use it to run an accessibility check on a Google Doc to make sure it meets accessibility standards. Review the guide above to see how to use Grackle Docs to export your document as a PDF. Learn more on the Digital Accessibility page on The Commons. Watch for more digital accessibility tips in future issues of Team DPS Weekly.
The CollaboRATE Survey is Open Now through Sunday, May 4
Hagan clic aquí para leer este mensaje en español.
The CollaboRATE Survey is open now through Sunday, May 4. Your feedback is essential to improving the Adult Experience for Team DPS so please take 15-20 minutes to complete the survey now. There will be prizes for the schools and departments with the highest completion rate when the survey closes on May 4!
You should have received an email from K12 Insights, with your unique link to the survey, on Monday, April 21. If you did not receive the survey link from K12, please email surveys@dpsk12.net. For more information, visit the CollaboRATE page on The Commons.
Now Available: DPS Logo in Multiple Languages
The DPS logo is now available in nine commonly-used languages: Amharic, Arabic, Dari, English, French, Nepali, Somali, Spanish and Vietnamese. Each language includes a primary logo, secondary logo and a version with the Every Learner Thrives tagline. Download the DPS logos.
Please use the appropriate language version when creating translated materials. For example, use the Amharic logo on Amharic documents. For best results, use the correct file type for your project, such as CMYK for print and RGB for digital and web.
Note: All DPS logos have also been updated to reflect a new shade of DPS Blue to meet accessibility contrast standards.
New AI Tools Available!
Google Gemini and NotebookLM are two newly approved AI tools for district use. Explore the tools on your own and ensure you follow our Employee AI Policy (DPS Administration Policy EIAI) when doing so:
Safety: Protect privacy and sensitive information. Never input confidential data.
Equity: Review AI-generated content to ensure inclusivity and cultural responsiveness.
Effectiveness: Use AI to enhance, not replace, professional judgment and critical thinking.
More resources for these tools will be available soon, with optional introductory sessions available to be scheduled by department leads. Have questions or want to schedule a demo? Contact DoTS at dotshelp.dpsk12.org.
Top 5 Call Out Results: What Do You Love About Your Team?
Last week, we asked you to share why you love your team. Check out the top five responses below and see all the love in this document.
5.“I want to shout out the Asbury Math Team for facilitating an amazing 'March Mathness.' Students worked hard on their IXL to move up on the leaderboard with skills that we’re practicing. So much fun and learning happened at Asbury in March!” -- Amy Ravel, Asbury Elementary
3.“I am so proud to be a part of our team! We are a pretty small team in terms of DPS and its size! We are oftentimes the first to meet families and welcome them to DPS, but not in the typical way. We work with families who have a child/children with a variety of special needs and this is often the first time they are hearing about it, processing it and figuring out the public school system, whether they are going through Child Find or already enrolled in school and concerns come up in the classroom. This team is so compassionate, caring, empathetic and understanding of what families are going through. We work collaboratively with many different teams as each of us are in at least 5-10 different schools. I feel fortunate every day to have found this team and this job! I love my job and my co-workers!” -- Michelle Marine, Itinerant Early Childhood Special Education
4.“Shout out to all the transportation drivers, paras and dispatchers. We can't say we can't come and get your students today because we are short-staffed. They come in to start buses at 5 a.m. no matter the weather, and we figure it out!” -- Lonnie Rodriguez, Transportation
2.“A huge shout out to the Universal Mental Health Programming teams -- including Substance Prevention/Intervention, TSEL, and BESS -- for their incredible work supporting schools in getting ready for the upcoming year! From setting up universal programming to leading thoughtful data analysis, this crew brings dedication, expertise and heart to everything they do. Your ability to advocate, consult and validate the thousands of efforts made by our educators doesn’t go unnoticed. Thank you for all you do to make a difference for our students!” -- Carolina DeWitt, Mental Health
1.“When my baby came six weeks early, the team at Denver Online jumped in to support me and to fill my shoes while I was out. Because of the unexpected early arrival, I wasn't able to prepare for my absence. The whole team pitched in to ensure that my role was filled. I was able to totally check out to focus on my new baby without worrying about work. I will be eternally grateful to my great team for being so supportive and so willing to jump in and do extra. I am so lucky to have you all!” -- Nadia Coleman, Denver Online
Top 5 Call Out: Fresh Spring/Summer Recipes
As the farmers markets draw near, we need to know, what are you cheffing up this Spring/Summer? Whether you are leaning into the fresh veggie salads, grilling it up or counting down the days to peach season – let us know what you’re making in this form.
Paid August Professional Learning Opportunity for All Secondary Teachers
DPS is partnering with CSU's School of Global Environmental Sustainability to offer a paid Professional Learning opportunity for teachers of all contents this August.
Teachers will learn about Climate Science, Environmental Justice, Futures Thinking, Climate Anxiety in Youth, as well as resources and strategies for integrating these climate topics into their content. This is not intended to replace any existing or mandated DPS curriculum, but to support teachers' background knowledge of these topics so they are better equipped to discuss them.
Learn more here and apply through this form by May 12. Spots are limited, and we aim for a true cross section of content areas.
Luz Hernandez
Senior Team Lead, Munroe Elementary
Equity
"Luz lives our Shared Core Value of Equity by supporting our hardworking teachers of multilingual learners (MLLs) with providing joyful, culturally and linguistically sustaining instruction for our MLLs. Luz demonstrates a longstanding commitment to our kids and families who come from linguistically diverse backgrounds, most recently, by sharing her passion for ICLD teaching strategies for all teachers of MLLs in her school through her Language Content Lead role. Luz leads this work with a caring heart and a passion that spreads to the kids and educators who are lucky enough to get to work with her."
-- Erika Krueger, Multilingual Education
