Posted May 21, 2021
Dear Families,
We are in the final stretch now with one last week before Summer!
We are so excited to have our End of Year Celebrations next week and we look forward to enjoying time together before we depart for the break.
With love,
Dominique Jefferson
Even without the weather’s cooperation, our ECE students had a blast today at Water Day!
We are very much looking forward to our End of Year Celebrations with our ECE, Kinder and 5th Graders. Though this year will look different, they will still be just as memorable!
Please note that due to COVID regulations, Denver Public Schools will only allow four guests per student for these ceremonies. (Children two-years-old and younger do not count towards the guest count.) All guests must abide by our safety protocols and remain masked while on school property. All ceremonies will be held outdoors, and attendance will be tracked.
| Park Hill Neighbors for Equity in Education (PHNEE.org) is sponsoring a Free, COVID-safe, Unplugged Activity for kids and families during June 2021. Pick up a PHNEE Summer Passport in the school office between May 24 and 28. Walk, bike, skateboard, scoot or drive to the locations shown on the Passport and explore key landmarks in our neighborhood. At schools and libraries, complete the task identified on the map and check it off. At businesses, show your passport and receive a prize. Visit every school, stop by at least one library and 3 businesses and be entered in a drawing for one of the Grand Prizes! Let’s get to know the richness of all that Greater Park Hill has to offer! For more information, go to phnee.org or call 720-515-8681. La asociación de Vecinos de Park Hill por la equidad en la educación (PHNEE.org) está patrocinando una actividad gratis, con protocolos de seguridad para el COVID y desconectada para niños y familias durante junio de 2021. Recoja un pasaporte de verano PHNEE en la oficina de la escuela entre el 24 y el 28 de mayo. Camine, monte en bicicleta, patine, ande en patineta, o maneje hasta los lugares que se muestran en el pasaporte y explore los puntos de referencia clave en nuestro vecindario. En escuelas y bibliotecas, complete la tarea identificada en el mapa y márquela. En las empresas, muestre su pasaporte y reciba un premio. ¡Visite cada escuela, al menos una biblioteca y por lo menos 3 negocios y su pasaporte se inscribirá en un sorteo para un Gran Premio! ¡Conozcamos la riqueza de todo lo que Greater Park Hill tiene para ofrecer! Para obtener más información, visite phnee.org o llame al 720-515-8681. |
Attention 7 & 8 year old boys! There is an excellent opportunity in North Park Hill to join a baseball team that will be supported by MLB’s Players’ Alliance providing fear gear and training this year! See below for more information from the organizer and Coach, Andy Mulberry.
Due to the Major League Baseball All-Star Game being played in Denver, the Players’ Alliance of the MLB has informed us that they will fully fund our program for this year. This includes providing spikes, a glove, and paying for the membership of each participant for this season. Outside of this, the Players’ Alliance also offered to provide a free clinic for the team run by current and former MLB players. Contact Coach Mulberry for more info or to get involved: mulberryandrew@att.net or my cell number at 414-758-0471
Proposed baseball program
Why now? Due to my father being the varsity high school baseball coach in my younger years, I grew up in a baseball family. My older brother played collegiate baseball, and my sister played collegiate softball, so you could say baseball has been a huge part of my life and my family’s life. Obviously, I wanted this tradition to carry on with my seven- year old son. However, I knew it would be very difficult to keep him interested. In our neighborhood, very few of his North Park Hill friends were interested in playing baseball. Despite making a small resurgence, baseball has not been the sport of choice for many black families over the last 20 years. In fact, when I was coaching at Rock Canyon High School a few years back, I asked the Denver East coaching staff how many black kids were in the program. They stated that there was not one black kid in the entire program which shocked me based on the size of the school and the neighborhoods that feed into East. Furthermore, Major League Baseball has made a concerted effort to get more black kids to play the game. Although the numbers have improved, there are still very few black professional baseball players. Some of that may be because of the expenses of preparing and playing competitive baseball. When I began to look at the expenses of the Denver metro clubs, I realized it was most likely out of our family’s price range. Nevertheless, because I am teacher and I have more free time that most in the summer, I decided that this would be give me the ability to provide this opportunity to black families who might desire to have their sons learn and play the game of baseball. Some of my favorite times as a baseball coach was when I was coaching junior high. Due to the significant improvement over three years they could make, I always kept the sixth graders. I cannot imagine what improvements I would see for seven and eight years old over three or four years. When my wife alerted me that the Sims-Fayola Foundation was establishing a baseball training club in Arkansas, I decided that this was an opportunity I could not pass up.
My resume: Baseball has a been big part of Coach Mulberry’s life. His father was the varsity coach at Metamora (Illinois) High School when he was in elementary and junior high school. In fact, the field that eventually Coach Mulberry would play his high school games was named after his father. In high school, Coach Mulberry was a three-year starter for his school’s baseball team. He attended Illinois Wesleyan University where he was a four-year starter gaining all-conference two years and Academic-All American honors his junior year. He was also voted “Best Defensive Player” for two years and won the “Mr. Hustle” for all four of his years. He was selected as captain for his senior year and was elected into the “Order of the Titan” after his playing career ended at Wesleyan. After graduating from Wesleyan, Coach Mulberry began his teaching and coaching career. He has coached T-ball all the way up to American Legion baseball. He was co-coach at Eureka (Illinois) High School baseball when the Hornets made their first trip to the state quarterfinals winning their regional, sectional, and super-sectional tournaments. He was the varsity assistant when New Berlin (Wisconsin) Eisenhower High School won two consecutive conference championships for the first time in school history. In addition, he was on the coaching staff at Rock Canyon (Colorado) High School when they won their first and only state baseball championship. He has coached a number of division one baseball players, professional baseball players including one who played Major League Baseball. Objectives of the program:
What will this look like?
First year: The first year will be all about skill development. Players will meet with Coach Mulberry at least three times a week during the summer in groups of no more than four and focus on the proper techniques of catching, throwing, and hitting. Players will also begin to learn important aspects of the game situations including proper cutoffs and relays. Players will participate in a Denver-area league in which the coach pitches to their own players. Furthermore, the team will attend a few Rockies games to continue to learn and appreciate the game of baseball.
Second year: Players will continue to hone their skills through repetition leading to muscle memory meeting with Coach Mulberry at least three times a week during the summer. At this point, players who choose to pitch will begin this development. Players will learn more complex cutoffs and relays along with bunt coverages. Players will participate in a Denver-area league in which the players pitch. Again, the team will attend a few Rockies games to continue to learn and appreciate the game.
Third year: At this point, players should be able to demonstrate advanced skills in fielding, throwing, and hitting. Nevertheless, they will continue to refine these skills meeting with Coach Mulberry at least three times a week during the summer. Pitching and catching development will continue to be a focus. Players should be able to execute properly all cutoffs, relays, and bunt coverages. At this point, players will begin playing better competition playing games in and around the Denver area including a weekend tournament or two. There is the possibility of playing in a tournament in another Major League Baseball city, so the players can see game in a different stadium.
Fourth year: Players will continue to work on their craft working out with Coach Mulberry three days a week during the summer. In addition, the team will play a more challenging schedule playing some of the best competition in the Denver area and Colorado. The team will also play in three or four tournaments with two tournaments taking place out-of-state, so players can see a different party of the country and play against top-level competition from outside of Colorado. At this point, Coach Mulberry would relinquish gameday coaching duties in the hope that we could recruit baseball players who played at a HBCU to coach the team. This would lead to mentorship opportunities for these college students. In addition, they could promote the opportunities players would have attending HBCUs. Furthermore, members of the team would take on a mentorship by beginning to cultivate the skills of seven and eight-year-olds.
Please make sure that your child returns all library books back to the school library by Friday, May 14th. If you have any questions, please contact the school office.
Jump into Summer with Denver Public Schools and Extended Learning & Community Schools!
Are you looking for fun and engaging experiences for your child(ren) this summer? Would you like your child to create those timeless memories and friendships that make summer so special? Look no further, it’s time to jump into summer with Denver Public Schools, Extended Learning and Community Schools (ELCS) Camps! Check out an awesome video of kids enjoying our programs here!
ELCS will be providing incredible summer experiences for youth at a variety of locations around Denver! All camps will provide fun summer programming based on weekly themes such as Superhero Adventure, Mythical Creatures, DL’s Got Talent, Supersized Sports, Ooey Gooey Science and Space! For registration information, camp locations and themes, please click here. We can’t wait to jump into Summer 2021 and start making memories that will last a lifetime with your child(ren). There are limited spots available, so register today!
Space is limited!
Dahlia has COVID-19 vaccines available, use this link to fill out an interest form and get signed up: mhcd.org/covid19/vaccine-clinic.
Discovery Link at Hallett has been teaching students about financial literacy basics. In an effort to provide an extension of this program to families we are wondering if there is interest in the community to learn about more opportunities within financial literacy. Please fill out this interest form so we can review responses and make a decision on whether this is an initiative that we want to pursue.
Financial Literacy Interest Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdWOUjI_G-5Sn_tXBIZhVVFP4CVP-RsdNcim8lh_1Q8vjvTQw/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&gxids=7628
Sign Up for Colorado Food Cluster Meal Deliveries:
Colorado Food Cluster (CFC) provides free meals to youth ages 6-18 in the Denver Metro Area (within 20 miles of downtown). Each student will receive a weekly delivery of 7 dinners and 14 snacks, including fruit and milk, until June 30, 2021.
Complete this form to enroll! https://www.coloradofoodcluster.com/sign-up-english
Clothes To Kids of Denver (CTKD) provides FREE clothing to children and youth who are in need or in crisis. To shop, students must live in Metro Denver, be age 3 – 21 and be enrolled in school (remote or in-person) or working toward a GED.
https://clothestokidsdenver.org/
Our wardrobe includes 5 outfits, 1 coat, 1 pair of shoes, 1 bra (optional) and 5 pairs each of new underwear and new socks. Students are invited to select clothing in a welcoming, store-like setting or can order a wardrobe for contactless curbside pick-up.’
We are very excited to have in person shoppers in our store and are taking extra precautions to protect the health and safety of our visitors, volunteers and staff.
Take a look at our COVID-19 Safety Procedures to learn more.
For families who would prefer a contactless option, we are continuing to offer wardrobes via Curbside Service. This option enables parents and caregivers to request a wardrobe for any student in need, and our staff will shop on their behalf.
Families wishing to shop in person or request a wardrobe for pick-up should call us at 720-379-4630 or email us at appointment@clothestokidsdenver.org for an appointment. Up-to-date phone hours are on the Shop With Us page of our website.
No Referral Required! No matter how families choose to shop, we have temporarily loosened our referral requirements and are providing wardrobes to anyone who says the young people in their households are in need of our services, no questions asked.
Hours of Operation:
Tuesdays – Fridays 9:00 – 4:00
Saturdays 9:00 – 3:00
Sundays & Mondays Closed
Please see the letter above about weekend food bags. If you are interested please fill out this form or contact Ms. Talvy at brittany_talvy@dpsk12.org or 720-424-6099.
Important: If your family is struggling in ways that we might be able to support, we hope you will reach out. We have access to many resources that might be helpful and would appreciate knowing how we can best meet the needs of our families. Please fill out this survey and we will be in touch:
Denver Health’s School-based Health Centers (SBHC) and Denver Public Schools (DPS) announced yesterday that students throughout the entire district will now have access to free COVID-19 tests at any of the four Denver Health testing sites, starting immediately.
Read HERE for more information.
Knowing the COVID-19 pandemic continues to negatively impact the lives of Denver families, DHS is now offering emergency/disaster assistance payments up to $4,000 to qualifying residents. These payments can be used for a variety of reasons – to cover rent or pay the mortgage, to pay for mental or medical care, to pay for home or auto repairs, to pay for food or school supplies, and more. To qualify, one must be:
The program is open until funds are exhausted. To apply, go to Colorado.gov/PEAK and apply for Colorado Works/TANF. Please note that because this is a unique and temporary program, the “Am I eligible?” feature will not distinguish between this program and the regular Colorado Works/TANF programs. We encourage anyone with questions to call 720-944-4DHS (4347) to speak with a customer services representative.