There are so many reasons to give through the I Give for Team DPS employee giving campaign. Primarily, all of the money we give goes back to schools in some way. Many of the initiatives strengthen overall school programming. At my school, Maxwell, funding for after-school programming is critical in maintaining a strong portfolio of after-school programs. Lights On After School enables us to host art club, guitar club, Shakespeare club, open technology lab times, tutoring, cheerleading, and also enables us to strengthen our partnerships with Soccer for Success and Boy Scouts. To many of us, giving back to DPS is like giving back to our family. I see the faces of my Maxwell family as our children enjoy enrichment beyond the school day.
– Cesar Rivera, Assistant Principal at Maxwell Elementary
The Far Northeast Red Hat Challenge – A Tribute to Pat Slaughter!
The Far Northeast Region was inspired to start the Red Hat Challenge by the words of Pat Slaughter, DPS assistant superintendent for elementary education. At one of the principal’s meetings Pat shared with the group how she would love to see the entire room filled with red hats. Red DPS hats are given to first-time DPS employees who donate though the I Give for Team DPS employee giving campaign.
Cesar Rivera was so inspired by the Red Hat Challenge he decided to task the Far Northeast region with the endeavor of having more red hats than the other DPS regions. “I thought this would be a wonderfully fitting way to show Pat our appreciation of all of her work with Denver Public Schools, and also to show how powerful her influence has been on so many of the educators she helped to bring into and then keep in the district. Pat’s legacy will live on as an individual fiercely committed to putting students first. To me, that is what the employee giving campaign is all about.”
For the past three decades, the Denver Public Schools community has been stronger and more caring because of the talent, work, and dedication of Pat Slaughter. Rivera shared with us more about his love for DPS:
“I have been part of the DPS family since January of 1999 (with a break in service from 2006 to 2007). I came into DPS out of student teaching when I was a very young twenty-three year old. My year away from the district gave me so much perspective about the power of our work as educators and the importance of our children. When I came back to DPS, I was lucky to have been in contact with, among others, Pat Slaughter. Pat interviewed me and actually recommended me for hire. During the process, she was as dignified and caring as ever. And through the years since, she has remained a steady advocate for the work of school leaders as we continue to put the interest of students first.
My favorite thing about Denver Public Schools is that DPS cultivates a deep sense of family. I say this in two respects. In one respect, we care about one another as a family having worked alongside each other in many different schools, in many different situations, over many different years–and we have done “the work” through success and adversity. Regardless of the situation, we have all dedicated ourselves to the common purpose of doing what is best for the children we serve. In another respect, we are literally family. Our colleagues have children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or other family members who attend or work in Denver Public Schools. The faces of DPS are actually the faces of our families. My nieces attends Bradley; my daughter attends Denison; my wife is a school counselor at John F. Kennedy High School. So, cultivating a sense of family in Denver Public Schools has come to reinforce how and why I play for Team DPS!”
The I Give for Team DPS employee giving campaign ends in just a few days! DPS employees, show your support of your DPS family by donating today.