One again, caps and gowns are sprouting, as District 49 sends hundreds of graduates into a welcoming world. We are proud to send forth graduates from the six high schools that make up the final leg of our robust portfolio of schools. As a rapidly growing district, we know that only a few of our graduates have attended district schools since kindergarten. The majority of our graduates came to us from other districts, from home school, from charter schools, or through vocational and concurrent enrollment. But at graduation, all our students don the same regalia and celebrate the same achievement, as they become District 49ís graduating class of 2016.By the time the bands have played and graduates collapse on the couch, the rest of our students will be sprinting toward summer vacation. Some will find jobs and start working in the world. Others will go to camps or take extra classes to catch up or get ahead.Meanwhile, our teaching crew will take a well-deserved break and then start prepping again to restart next August.In almost every measure of district performance, our students are driving District 49 in the right direction. Their unprecedented success at earning admission into selective colleges is matched by the best-in-class quality of our career and technical graduates. Our graduates will be saving lives as EMTs, guarding networks as cybersecurity specialists, serving on missions, joining the military and continuing to learn at technical schools and universities around the country. Our families and our community shouldbe deeply proud of this class and deeply grateful to the team of educators that made graduation a priority.As summer arrives in earnest, dozens of staff and students from all over the district will be climbing Pikes Peak to symbolize our commitment to continuous improvement. Since ìAmericaís Mountainî is our most prominent landmark, we want to make the mountain a meaningful reminder of how we have to plan carefully and journey together if we want to reach peak performance. Our district has amazing students and talented educators. Together with parents and our community, we can set everhigher expectations for graduates to come.This year, we made a significant effort to ask our community for guidance and constructive feedback. From weather conditions to calendar priorities to new policies on cannabis therapy, our community spoke with a clear and insightful voice. We are learning how to ask questions that matter and listen carefully to the wisdom that fills our community. Active listening was not an experiment; it was a commitment. And our commitment to you and to the graduates of future classes is to keep asking important questions and listening to the feedback from our D 49 family. We are grateful for deeper involvement and higher standards from parents and students, so we will keep working to meet your expectations.Thank you for trusting us with your children and supporting us with your talents. We know this has been a good year, but we are eager to make the years ahead even better
