Denver Public Schools to launch remote learning April 7

Denver Public Schools will make the unprecedented switch to remote learning beginning Tuesday, April 7, the school district announced.

“I know that in my lifetime, I have never experienced anything like this,” wrote DPS Superintendent Susana Cordova in a message to the community. “And I also know that everyone in Team DPS is working hard to support our kids and our community.”

Colorado’s largest school district is buying additional Chromebook laptops and internet connectivity options for students and families who need resources to continue learning at home.

“We also know that this effort will be particularly important as we work on plans to serve all students, including those with unique needs like our students on Individualized Education Programs,

our students with disabilities, our English-language learners, and our students who do not have access to the internet at home,” Cordova wrote.

On Wednesday, Gov. Jared Polis ordered a four-week closure of all public and private schools across the state, escalating the state’s fight to limit the spread of the new coronavirus amid a global pandemic.

Scores of school districts across the state already had shuttered, choosing to extend existing spring breaks to align with social distancing rules, and some are using the break to put together an impromptu switch to remote learning.

As snow began to fall Thursday morning, Jeffco Public Schools students embarked on their third day of remote learning. Denver Public Schools students were able to find daily schedule suggestions, lesson plan ideas and resources online for kids stuck at home while recreation centers, theaters, gyms, restaurants and many of the state’s common gathering places were closed in light of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance prohibiting gatherings of 10 or more people.

Details on DPS’s remote learning plan had not been made public as of Thursday morning.