Dear Westminster Community,

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and found time to relax and have fun with your family and friends, and also reflect upon what is important to you.

We are entering a season of gratitude and giving, and I encourage you to hold on to that feeling and find ways to help those who are less fortunate. Westminster Public Schools (WPS) has a long tradition of stepping forward to look out for everyone in our community. This is a special school district where everyone is family.

This “family” has much to be grateful for this holiday season. Here are some examples:

• Earlier this month, our community pulled together to pass our first mill levy override in almost 20 years. It was an extraordinary grassroots effort that required staff, the business community and residents to pull together to support our students
• This year, because of sustained academic improvement, WPS moved off the state accountability clock and is now proudly recognized as an “Improvement” district.
• In September, WPS hosted a competency-based education summit that brought in educators from across the country and as far away as Russia to learn from us about how to implement a Competency Based System (CBS).
• The Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB) recently named our Board of Education the All State Board of Education Award Winner for 2018. The annual award honors boards who have done exceptional work. Our board will be formally recognized next week at the annual CASB convention in Colorado Springs. I will be in attendance and cheering the loudest.

The list of accomplishments and reasons to be grateful this holiday season is a long one. As I often tell my co-workers, “it is a good day to be in Westminster Public Schools.”

I hope you will agree.

Kindest regards, 
Dr. Pamela Swanson
Superintendent of Schools