Posted February 13, 2024
February 2, 2024
Dear Bromwell Families,
Happy February! This month we will be celebrating Black History Month, as well as the core value of being Compassionate. Be sure to ask your Bear what they’ve learned about Black History, or how they are bringing their most authentic selves to school every day. We love celebrating our students, and the way they show up for each other in class, on the playground, and even outside of school..
As you may have seen in the Bromwell Bulletin, the CSC (Collaborative School Committee) has begun planning for the 2024-2025 school year. As you might remember from our Annual Fund Drive, each student at Bromwell means a specific amount of money for our budget known as per pupil funding. DPS gives us enrollment projections, and from that, we figure out what our funding level is which informs our staffing decisions. DPS has projected a slight decline in enrollment for 24-25 for Bromwell, which surprised me and other school leaders. Our tours have been full, and the overwhelming response from existing families is that you will be back. However, we must plan for staffing based on this projection, and you may have heard from CSC that this means some staffing changes may be on the horizon. Iemphasize MAY as we have applied for budget assistance through the district, and because we feel like we will exceed their enrollment projections. More to come on this as the budget picture becomes clearer, but please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or any other CSC members with questions, suggestions, and concerns. I will also share more budget details virtually at the State of the Den on February 22nd, I very much hope you can make it!
I do have some exciting news to share regarding our K-5 playgrounds. We found out this week that the Bond Oversight Committee is recommending both our playgrounds get replaced to the Finance and Audit Committee. While we don’t have final approval, it is wonderful that we’ve made it through the Committee on the recommended project list. I would like to thank everyone that advocated for new playgrounds for our students, an effort that started at least six years ago. Thank you so much for all of your emails and letters. Combined with the video that the student council made, I have no doubt they had a significant impact on the Committee’s decision. Since we don’t have final approval, I don’t have a timeline, but will share more information as soon as possible.
I also want to thank our families who participated in the survey DPS sent out sharing your views of our school. We had 102 responses to the Your Voice/Tu Voz Family Survey, a 500% increase of responses from previous years. I’ll share more details in our State of the Den presentation, but to summarize some highlights, 94% of families at Bromwell who responded feel welcome at school and 97% of families at Bromwell who responded feel that they are informed about their students’ academic progress. My staff and I very much appreciate the partnership that is necessary between the daily activities at school and the work you do at home as a parent. Thank you for being a part of Bromwell.
I am very much looking forward to seeing our K-2nd graders perform in their Winter Concert next week at Hill Elementary, and can’t wait to see our outgoing 5th graders celebrate later this month at their Black and White Ball (i.e. dance party in the gym). And I would be remiss if I didn’t share how proud I am each Friday during school tours to share how much your students are accomplishing and growing each and every day.
Sincerely,
Valecia von Weise, Principal
Amber Bourgeois, Principal Resident
Bromwell Elementary