Diversity in Poudre School District
The Department of Language, Culture & Equity (LCE) offers services for students and families. We support students who identify as BIPOC, LGTBQIA+, any national origin or ancestry along with students/families from all religious backgrounds. We support students and families through state & federal programing including: English Language Development, Migrant, Immigrant, Title Programs, Family Engagement & McKinney-Vento.
LCE’s Mission: Honor humanity by building bridges to success through advocacy and service. We provide equitable and inclusive support to our students and families that have historically been underserved.
Support Students Experiencing Homelessness
Eighty percent of the support PSD can offer students experiencing homelessness comes from community donations. You can easily donate through SchoolPay. All donations are tax deductible. Please share this message far and wide, and the opportunity to give does not end now, this link will be live throughout the holiday season. For more information about our program and this campaign, visit the McKinney-Vento Homeless web page.
English Language Development
Students enrolled in the PSD English Language Development (ELD) program receive instruction based on both the Colorado Academic Standards and Colorado English Language Proficiency frameworks. Several ELD program options include indirect service, direct service, bilingual/dual language (Spanish/English at select schools), and Newcomer (at Lincoln & Boltz Middle Schools, and Poudre & Fort Collins High Schools).
McKinney-Vento Homeless Education
The McKinney-Vento Act ensures that all students who lack fixed, regular or adequate housing, including unaccompanied homeless youths, are afforded all the same educational opportunities as their peers. The PSD Homeless Education program works to remove all educational barriers resulting from their living situation that could hinder their enrollment, attendance or success in school.
Family engagement
The Family Engagement office helps support eligible students and families via our federally-funded Immigrant/Migrant/Refugee Program. We also have a dedicated team of Family Liaisons serving students and families throughout the district to offer additional linguistic and educational resources to students.
After school programs
Poudre School District provides before and after school care for qualifying students at Title 1 schools and 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) sites throughout the year with the PSD After 3 program. We also partner with AlphaBEST and Boys & Girls Club of Larimer County for certain programs during the year and in the summer for Camp SOL. Scholarships are available for qualifying students and families.
PSD retention guidelines
Some teachers or parents/guardians may want to hold a student back a grade for a variety of reasons. PSD considers these requests following these guidelines.
Federal programs (Title I)
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 was enacted to build upon programs established in 2002 by the No Child Left Behind Act. It provides necessary support to all students regardless of race, income, zip code, ability, home language, or background. Poudre School District utilizes these federal programs in a number of ways, including Title I funds, one of the largest areas of the ESSA.
Interpretation and translation
PSD provides interpretation services to events and activities for linguistically diverse families. The Department of Language, Culture, & Equity also provides interpretation equipment to school sites to help facilitate communication to community stakeholders.
Translation services are provided by one full-time person in the Spanish language. Other languages are available upon request. Our department has an established list of interpreters/translators available to schools. Our primary languages are Spanish, Arabic, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese.