News
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- K-5th Grade Student Learning Showcase — May 1, 2024 April 16, 2024
- News from the Nest — April 12, 2024 April 12, 2024
Posted October 21, 2022
Dear McT Families –
It’s hard to believe that we’re wrapping up the 9th week of this school year already! Like they say, time flies when you’re having fun! It’s been a joyful whirlwind of field trips and rocket launches, reading rigorous texts and solving challenging math problems – and we’re loving every minute of it! Thank you so much for sharing your children with us. It’s an honor and privilege to spend every day with them!
Some of you may have seen Wednesday’s 9News story called “DPS will close some elementary and middle schools due to declining enrollment”. It is true that the DPS School Board already approved specific criteria to close schools with fewer than 215 students, as well as schools that have both fewer than 275 students and a projected decline in enrollment. Those schools will be announced in the very near future, likely in the next week or two, and the Board of Education will vote on next steps in November.
Unfortunately, in a piece of creative journalism, 9News generated its own list of schools that could possibly be closed based on their examination of “the criteria and school enrollment data,” but not on any actual disclosed information from the DPS Superintendent or other DPS staff. McKinley-Thatcher was mentioned in the news report because we have 255 students enrolled. Although we do have less than 275 students, we actually exceeded our projected enrollment by 15 students. Happily, rather than experiencing declining enrollment, we are growing even faster than the district anticipated!
Enrollment at McKinley-Thatcher has been steadily increasing over the past several years. When I became principal, we only had 164 students enrolled. That was eight years ago, and we’ve been growing ever since. I am confident that McKinley-Thatcher does not meet the criteria set forth by the DPS School Board for closure. We will continue to grow, thrive and strengthen our students’ academic performance to meet and exceed the levels of success we saw before the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re so glad to have your unending support and partnership for this journey.
Are you looking for a way to get more meaningfully involved in the McT community? Good news! Our Collaborative School Committee (CSC) is starting soon! The CSC brings together families, staff and community members to create and implement a plan to promote high achievement within our school with a primary focus on determining the school’s budget and staffing priorities. This committee is an opportunity for all stakeholders to have a voice in building the school we want for our community. Our meetings are always open to the public, so anyone can participate at any time!
We are looking for family and community members to join and serve on our CSC for the whole school year. If you are interested, please join us for our first meeting of the year to find out more! We’ll be nominating committee officers and learning about the functions of the CSC. Our CSC meets monthly on the second Tuesday of the month at 5:00pm. We’ll decide together if our meetings should be virtual or in-person, based on our committee members.
This year’s CSC meetings will be held on:
Thanks again for being a critical and valued part of our McT community. If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback for us, please reach out! We’re here for you and your children, always.
Sincerely,
Ms. Sonia Geerdes (she/her)
Principal
(720) 424-5600 | Sonia_Geerdes@dpsk12.net