Welcome Back to School, BVSD!

We couldn’t be more excited to welcome back all of our students and school staff back to school. This week our teachers returned from Summer Break and it will be our students’ turn next week. 

Here is the schedule:

• August 5-12
  Professional Development/Teacher Work Days
• August 13
  First day of school for grades 1-5, 6 and 9
• August 14
  First day for grades 7, 8, 10-12

Of course our school offices are open and our teams are ready to answer any questions you may have, as the new school year begins.

BVSD is the best and is only getting better
As we approach the new school year, in the Boulder Valley School District, we are looking forward to building upon the success of our All Together for All Students Strategic Plan. As you’ll recall, our plan aims to Inspire a love of learning in every student, Equip them with the knowledge and skills that will help to make them successful and give them the opportunities and connections so that they can Soar after high school in the college or career pathway of their choice.

With a data-driven focus on supporting student success and differentiated funding to ensure that our schools have the resources needed – we’ve seen outstanding results.

BVSD is proud to be the only Denver Metro school district to be Accredited with Distinction last year, and 28 of our schools were recently honored by the Colorado Department of Education for student growth and achievement.

In fact, the latest Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) test shows that more of our students are meeting or exceeding Colorado’s academic standards for both English Language Arts and Math, than ever before.

Meanwhile, our graduates are leaving with more than a diploma when they finish high school, thanks to our Grad+ framework.

86% BVSD graduates in the Class of 2025 participated in Grad+, earning medals at graduation, and the following:

• 2,100 students earned college credits
• 725 students earned nearly 1,938 industry certificates
• 660 students earned the Seal of Biliteracy
• 300 students enrolled in BVSD courses connected to a career pathway participating in high level Work-Based Learning experiences 

Thanks to the generosity of our taxpayers, work is underway at our middle and high schools to bring students additional career and technical education opportunities. Projects have already been completed on Centaurus’ new engineering wing and the Teaching Kitchen at the BVSD Culinary Center. 

We are proud to be part of a transformational partnership with the City of Boulder and Flatirons Habitat for Humanity to provide our students with real-world construction experience at Boulder MOD. While they are learning all the trades needed to build homes, they’re creating affordable housing for members of our community. The facility was recently awarded the prestigious Eagle Award by Housing Colorado.

There is no question, BVSD is the Place to Be and we cannot wait to build upon these successes in this new school year.

The safety and wellbeing of our students
In order for students to learn, we know that they must feel safe. That is why the Boulder Valley School District remains committed to doing everything within our power to protect our students and to ensure a safe and stable learning environment. Our team is focused on continually improving:

• Physical safety measures and procedures at our buildings
• Social-emotional supports available to students
• Ways to report issues and concerns

We, however, recognize that recent events in our community and beyond can overshadow these efforts, stealing away any sense of security.

We remain heartbroken and outraged following the June 1 terrorist attack on the Pearl Street Mall, which targeted a group of Jewish community members. I and the rest of BVSD stood alongside many others in our community in condemning the senseless, hateful act that ultimately killed one and seriously injured 11 Jewish members of our community.

“We are united in condemning acts of antisemitism, hate and violence and are committed to bridging differences through collaboration, empathy and recognition of our shared humanity.”

We know that some of our students may still be struggling following this traumatic situation. This guide on speaking to children about violence from the National Association of School Psychologists is always helpful and we would encourage anyone with impacted students to connect with their child’s school counselor to seek additional support, as school gets under way.

Sadly, we have also had to address anti-semetic comments and actions in our schools, including vandalism on some of our buildings and hurtful comments made by students.

Our community and our schools are no place for hate. In BVSD we must not tolerate hateful comments and actions and ask that any incidents be reported immediately to school administrators or my team, so that we can take appropriate action. Additionally, we are incredibly proud that a number of our schools have joined in the nationwide No Place for Hate campaign – and want to affirm those efforts districtwide. 

Our partners at the local ADL (Anti-Defamation League) chapter provided us with these helpful resources to share with all of you:

Empowering Young People in the Aftermath of Hate
Conversations that Matter: Understanding and Discussing Antisemitism with Young People

Jewish Family Service Boulder is offering free mental health support to anyone impacted by the attack. available to anyone impacted by the attack free of charge. For ten 1:1 Mental Health sessions, contact Melissa Mascarenas at 720.459.3883.

We also know that some students and families are fearful of attending school because of recent immigration enforcement and raids elsewhere in Colorado and the country, as well as rhetoric regarding DEI (Diversity Equity and Inclusion) and especially LGBTQ-related issues.

As I have said before – and will iterate every year – Boulder Valley School District is dedicated to educating each and every student and ensuring they and their family feel safe and welcomed, regardless of their race, gender identity, legal status or any other factor. Our Board of Education reaffirmed this commitment in December by unanimously passing Resolution 24-36 -- Supporting Students and Families.

• BVSD will never ask for a student or parent’s citizenship or immigration status.
• If we learn of a student’s immigration status we would never share this with immigration officials.

Additionally, we have long had procedures in place to handle requests from local law enforcement or federal agents who may ask for information or access to our students. Those requests are handled by our Legal Counsel to ensure we do everything we can to protect students, within the law.

AFT has pulled together some helpful resources on this issue.

Thank you for your continued partnership and support of our school district.  It’s going to be an amazing year.  I look forward to seeing all of you as we are out in the schools this fall.