Posted September 19, 2025
Cory Caregivers,
At DPS, it is our collective responsibility as leaders, educators, families and community members that our students not only succeed, but thrive. One critical component of ensuring our students’ success is identifying and removing barriers that keep our students from coming to school each day. When students are not at school, they not only miss out on valuable learning opportunities for the time they were absent, but they can experience long-term impacts that hinder their development in reading by third grade, achieving in middle school and graduating from high school.
One student’s absence also affects their peers and teacher as classroom instruction includes small group learning activities. For each student who is absent, teachers need to adjust plans, gather materials for make-up work and follow up to get each student caught up.
Chronic absence is missing 10% or more of the time enrolled in school due to absence for any reason, including arriving late, leaving early, excused and unexcused absences, and suspensions. Missing 10% of school is approximately the equivalent of missing 2 days per month.
We care about our students and want to see them each day! If your child is experiencing obstacles that keep them from attending school, access resources below and reach out to your school for support.
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR STUDENTS OF THE WEEK for the week of September 15th! Thank you for showing our Cory Kindness Values. Go CORY COUGARS!
Walkers/Bike Riders Arrival
Destination Imagination Info Meeting
DI is an educational program that gives kids the opportunity to work in collaborative teams to solve long range, complex challenges and present their solutions to an audience and appraisers at the DI Tournament in March. If your child needs a challenge, likes to create, or would like to work towards a solution as an integral part of a team, DI might be just the ticket.
Come learn more with Jessica Meehan, DPS Parent and long-time DI Team Manager, at the Destination Imagination Information Meeting in the Cory Library on Tuesday, September 30 after school from 3:30-4:30 PM. Parents/guardians and students are welcome, but please no students without an adult. Can’t attend but still interested? Email Jessica at radishditeam@gmail.com.
Mental Health Corner:
What is TSEAL? Transformative Social Emotional Academic Learning
“Transformative SEAL” is a process whereby young people and adults build strong, respectful, and lasting, relationships that facilitate co-learning to critically examine root causes of inequity, and to develop collaborative solutions that lead to personal, community, and societal well-being.
This form of TSEAL is aimed at redistributing power to promote social justice through increased engagement in school and civic life. It emphasizes the development of identity, agency, belonging, curiosity, and collaborative problem solving
It’s critically important that school wide TSEAL implementation intentionally nurtures an environment in which educators gain social and emotional competence by learning, collaborating, and modeling their social and emotional skills. Along with these social and emotional skills, schools must also fold in conversations about race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, language and ability so that the conversation about TSEAL takes into account the student’s fullest identities. It is recommended that schools do a deep dive into understanding how educators, students, and community can navigate conversations about race, sex, gender, ableism and other social identities in order to establish systems and supports that strengthen both adult and student Social Emotional Academic Learning.
Come along on our Cory TSEAL journey!
What is the BESS? The Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS)
The BESS Social Emotional FALL 2025 screener is closing SOON! Parents and guardians, please complete this for your student, we conduct this screener 3x per school year. NEW! 1st-2nd grader parents are REQUIRED to complete the BESS parent screener for their child.
3rd-5th grade parents are highly encouraged but not required to complete the BESS parent screener. Thank you for your participation in supporting our students’ social and emotional well-being!
If your family has requested translation services, your child will be bringing home a paper copy today in their Friday Folder. Please complete it and return it to school. Thank you!
Link here: https://review360connect.com/Prod/DenverPublicSchools/Parent/
GT Corner –
Advanced Learning Goals 25/26
At this point, all ALP’s have been drafted in conjunction with both the student and their teacher. Most of the primary (1-3) ALPs have been sent. (4-5) ALP’s should be in your inbox by next week. Please note, these goals are all made in conjunction both with your student,myself, and their classroom teachers. We hope that you will provide feedback on these goals so that all of us can partner together to make these goals as successful as possible for your student. I will ask that all feedback on goals are submitted no later than October 1st for Grades 1-3, and October 7th for grades 4-5 so that I can finalize all goals in our system.
** If your student is GIA, or general intellectual ability, you student can choose to focus on a strength in any areas related to their school day – with most students selecting a reading, writing, or math goal.
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at any time! summer_de-herrera1@dpsk12.net
Event for Families of Gifted Students:
One Pager Recap — DPS GT Department Family — Social Emotional Supports for GT Students
