Communication

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Communication – Families as Partners

Families at the Downtown Denver Expeditionary School play an essential role in supporting the school’s mission, culture and climate.  Family engagement is at our core at DDES.  This year, our school’s family engagement aims are that (1) all families are empowered, authentically valued and engaged in culturally responsive ways to support student growth and development; and (2) families and community members regularly contribute to the strategic direction, decisions, and content.

We intend to meet our engagement aims by holding to the following norms:

• We value and commit to a partnership with all families in the DDES community.

• We work to empower and build family efficacy.  Families are recognized as essential members of the learning team for students.

• We effectively communicate with every family and seek to build trusting relationships with every family.

• We are inclusive in our approach to decision-making. We lead with a desire to understand and work together to determine next steps.

We ask families to support our engagement aims by holding to the following norms:

• Valuing and committing to a partnership with all DDES staff.

• Recognizing DDES staff as essential members of the learning team for students.

• Effectively communicating with DDES staff and seeking to build trusting relationships with DDES staff.

• Coming with a desire to understand and work together to determine next steps.

Teachers at the DDES will provide the following on academic reporting:

• Hold family conference in mid-October and mid-March to report on student progress and collaborate on goals

• Hold student-led conferences in December and April to allow students to reflect and celebrate growth and name personal next steps in learning

• Mail progress reports for the Fall semester the week after holiday break, and for the Spring semester after the last day of school

• Be available to schedule individual conferences or check-ins

• Use the Flyer app to communicate with families

We ask families to:

• Read the progress reports and emails sent home from your teacher

• Read and refer to our Family Handbook

• Read the bi-weekly newsletter on logistics from the front office and classroom teachers

• Pay attention to emails from the Principal or Executive Director

• Attend student-led conferences

• Attend Back-to-School Night and/or other family nights

• Pay attention to the DDES calendar (it does differ from the DPS calendar)

• Contact the front office if you need hard copies of any communication

• Complete the mid year parent feedback survey and end of year DPS satisfaction survey

We ask that both families and staff members respect our Communication Agreements.  We:

• Demonstrate respect in both what is said and how it is said.

• Demonstrate public support for one another and recognize that families and teachers are on the same team.

• Assume positive intentions and keep an open mind.

• Ask questions first.

• Raise concerns with the appropriate person. (see flow chart on Page 21 of the Family Handbook)

• Use good judgment about the amount of contact that is appropriate.

• Be mindful of the amount of time an individual concern may take and of staff “working hours” (7:30-4:30) when communicating or anticipating responses.

• Schedule appointments if a discussion is needed instead of raising concerns in public settings, especially before school, after school or when faculty and staff are outside doing supervision.

• Keep in mind that voicemail and e-mail are public documents and that confidentiality cannot always be protected. Know that e-mails sent to and from DDES staff are considered ‘findable evidence’ in a court of law. A great rule of thumb is that we should not say or write anything that we wouldn’t want to be published.

• Adhere to “email/flyer message is for information and not for conversation”.  We understand our lives are very busy but we  would like to spend more time creating partnerships and mutual understanding, than responding to emails/messages. Please schedule an appointment to meet with your teacher, either by phone or by zoom (or in person, once that is allowed) if your request or questions would require more than a few sentence response.

•  Verbal, physical or sexual harassment towards staff will not be tolerated.

In order to resolve all disputes at the lowest appropriate  level and to provide a defined mechanism for disputes that are not resolved at lower levels to be investigated and resolved or, if not resolved, to reach the School’s governing Board, DDES has a formal Grievance Policy which can be found HERE.