A mix of Denver Public Schools principals – from veteran administrators to those just getting their feet wet – took part Monday in the district’s first Principals Institute, a two-week conference aimed at making them stronger leaders and raising student achievement.
About 130 elementary, middle and high school principals are expected to participate. The DPS Foundation raised $750,000 to help fund the conference.
Superintendent Michael Bennet, who has made strong leadership a cornerstone in his plan to improve the district, said he hoped to see greater collaboration between principals and their staff members and better use of data.
Pam Fisher, a site administrator at Emerson Street School, an alternative school for students who have been expelled from other schools, said she was glad to be invited to the conference.
“If I’m not hearing what they (other principals) are hearing and know their expectations, I can’t get my kids to where they need to be when they return to their home school,” said Fisher.
Among the issues principals discussed was how to work more efficiently when they have little time to cover a lot of topics.
“The amount of hours we have in the school day is less than six,” said Rachel A. Starks, principal at Stedman Elementary School. “You devote so much time to literature, so much time to math. You do find that you are in a crunch.”
Teachers will have to integrate subjects more, such as teaching literacy skills during a science lesson that involves reading a science book, Starks said.
Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-820-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.
