Dear Westminster Public Schools Community,

 

I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving and are looking forward to the holiday season ahead of us. Our students are performing in many school and community events; and as always, we will do our best to capture the sights and sounds of the season in our annual Holiday Video. Do not forget to send us your favorite holiday pictures from this year or years past. It is always fun to see how everyone celebrates the season.

 

As we look to the coming year, you will be hearing more about our Destination 2030 strategic plan and how we can best use our resources and set our priorities. As you may be aware, Goal 1 focuses on a Solid Academic Foundation. I am happy to share that we have laid a solid foundation for continued growth and improvements.

 

At our last Board of Education meeting, Dr. James Duffy, our Chief Operating Officer, gave a detailed presentation on Goal 2 of our strategic plan to, “be a public school sector leader in addressing Colorado's most pressing environmental challenges as the state moves towards a non-carbon energy future.” Our energy management plan outlines and guides our actions as we do our part to improve the environment.

 

Not surprisingly, our students tell us over and over again this is an important issue to them. Their voice matters.

 

In the years ahead, the most visible change you will notice has to do with landscaping - in short, how can we use less water? We have already surveyed to determine what areas can be converted from bluegrass turf to native grasses and plants. This means you won’t be seeing as much green grass as you are used to, but with proper landscaping and attention to detail, our schools will remain attractive buildings and visually appealing to our neighborhoods.

 

We are also working to be much more efficient with our indoor water use by using improved technology and things like low-flow faucets. Our combined efforts to this point have saved more than 11 million gallons of water (16.8%) and saved about $48,000 in water costs.

 

We are working to reduce and manage our solid waste generation, as well, and will pilot a recycling program at John E Flynn A Marzano Academy in January 2025. We have dramatically reduced our use of paper.

 

Finally, we are becoming much more energy efficient. For example, we have replaced light fixtures with LED technology in 11 buildings and continue to explore new ideas including solar technology where appropriate. Our electricity usage has decreased by 18.5% and we have reduced natural gas consumption by 3.2%. Combined, those efforts have saved WPS about $145,000.

 

This is just a quick overview of what we have done so far, and we will continue to pay close attention to this issue and the latest innovations. You can help too. Send us your ideas, and if you ever see a broken water line or a sprinkler watering a sidewalk let us know as quickly as possible.

 

We are all in this together.

 

I believe it is important for our community to know that while teaching and learning remain our most important work, we are finding that taking care of our environment is an important lesson for everyone.

 

Sincerely,

Dr. Jeni Gotto

Superintendent of Schools

Westminster Public Schools