Dear Superintendents and BOCES directors,
September marked the first full month of the school year, and it also provided us with many opportunities to celebrate our state's school districts and BOCES.
Across the month, we visited seven school districts to celebrate our 2025 Teacher of the Year finalists:
- Boulder Valley School District: Escuela Bilingüe Pioneer teacher Wanda Vasquez-Garcia
- Cherry Creek School District: Summit Elementary teacher Ami Okimoto
- Denver Public Schools: DELTA High School teacher Janet Damon
- Douglas County School District: STEM School Highlands Ranch teacher Tera Johnson-Swartz
- Harrison School District 2: Wildflower Elementary teacher Anthony Williams
- Norwood Public Schools: Norwood Elementary teacher Shelley Donnellon
- Summit School District: Summit Middle School teacher Ashley Smith
Congratulations to Superintendents Anderson, Smith, Marrero, Kane, Birhanzel, Bissell, and Byrd, and thank you for helping to make these celebrations so special.
We also announced our state's 2024 Blue Ribbon Schools:
- DSST Cedar High School (DSST, authorized by Denver Public Schools)
- Zach Elementary School (Poudre School District)
- Mesa View Elementary School (Mesa County Valley School District 51)
- Skyview Middle School (Pueblo County School District 70)
Congratulations to CEO García-Urban and to Superintendents Kingsley, Hill, and Rein on this national recognition of the work your teams are doing to improve student outcomes.
I want to remind you that we will host our second monthly Zoom meeting for superintendents and/or their delegates to review the information shared in our CDE Update emails. Thank you to those of you who joined us for our first of these monthly opportunities for my team and I to connect with and hear from you. Meetings will be held on the second Tuesday of each month at 8am on Zoom.
Thank you for all that you do, and have a great week,
Susana
Dr. Susana Córdova
Colorado Commissioner of Education
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