Dear Westminster Public Schools Community,

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of joining the incredible staff at Sunset Ridge PK–8 to celebrate a remarkable achievement — being recognized as one of the top 30 schools in the state of Colorado.  

The recognition comes from “Money Inc.”, a national website that focuses on a broad range of issues from education to the economy to investing and saving.  

As Superintendent, this is truly one of those great moments I get to experience, standing alongside a team that exemplifies what’s possible when we come together for our students. The cheers and enormous pride that filled the room during the announcement were contagious and inspiring. We shared that celebration with the Board of Education during our Tuesday night meeting.  

I told the staff that the fact that Sunset Ridge PK–8 is an amazing school is not news to us but it’s always wonderful when an outside organization recognizes the work being done by our teachers, staff, and families.

I believe that too often, schools are evaluated solely on the basis of standardized test scores — a narrow measure that doesn’t fully capture what happens inside classrooms or reflect the culture that defines a quality school. True success is measured by the relationships, creativity, and sense of belonging that students experience every day.

Those of you who have been with the district for a while know that WPS has led the way in pushing the state of Colorado to make changes in the way it evaluates schools and we have made a lot of progress over the past decade. The work continues and we just received word that the Colorado Department of Education has selected Brian Kosena, our Chief Learning Officer, to serve on the Accountability Work Group which advises the state on ways to improve its accountability system. 

At Westminster Public Schools, we believe every child deserves an education that inspires and empowers and Sunset Ridge PK–8 is living proof of what happens when a school community unites around that vision of excellence.

You can read what “Money Inc.” had to say about Sunset Ridge and some of the comments at the Board of Education meeting in our What’s Up WPS story in this issue.

Warm regards,

Dr. Jeni Gotto
Superintendent of Schools
Westminster Public Schools