O’Dea Families,

Remember, we have no school on Monday.  Enjoy the extra day off and the wonderful early spring weather!  The Book Fair!!! It's almost here!  We would love to see everyone for the 2/24 (8:00-9:00) Family Book Fair Breakfast.  Come grab a donut, coffee, and purchase a book.  A great opportunity to mingle with other O’Dea families and have some fun! Book Fair Flyer Here & ¡Feria del Libro Scholastic!

We are looking for some fabulous parent volunteers to help us with the Book Fair and the Donuts and Books on Tuesday, February 24th!  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0D49ABAA2FA5FB6-61791918-spring

Earlier this week, Superintendent Brian Kingsley shared an update regarding the budget challenges PSD is facing for the upcoming school year.  The O’Dea Leadership Team met on Wednesday to begin discussing how these challenges will affect our own staffing and operations for 2026-27.  Due to declining enrollment across the state, a significant Colorado budget deficit, and the loss of several federal grants, PSD is projecting a funding reduction between $8 million and $17 million.  What this means for O’Dea - while we won’t have the finalized numbers until this afternoon, we anticipate cuts to our staffing and building budgets.  Parent voice and input are important as we consider how to reduce our overall budget.  We are inviting all families to complete this short survey (Family Engagement, Budget & Staffing Survey 2025-26) to gather parent input on how we are doing as a school, how we can improve, and capture parent voice in our budget and staffing plan for the 2026-27 school year. 

We have also invited three parents to join the O’Dea Leadership Team next Wednesday, 2/18, to help create our Staffing Plan/Budget for next year.  This team is a representative body of parents and all grade levels/departments at O’Dea.  This team will present recommendations to the entire O’Dea Staff on 2/25, and on 2/27, I will update our community on how O’Dea is planning to navigate budget reductions for 2026-27.

Special thanks to all the parents who came to PTA on 2/10!  If you have not joined a meeting we would love to see you there!  Our amazing PTA is looking for some new officers for the 2026-27 school year (President, Vice President, and Treasurer)!  If you are interested, please contact Kim Murray, our current PTA President @ ODeaPTA@gmail.com.  Don’t forget our next PTA meeting next month on 3/10 (more information below).

Opportunities to Get Involved or Let Your Voice Be Heard 📣

Feel passionate about spoiling our teachers and staff?  Do you love planning fun events? Got a little time, a big smile, or a fun idea to share? We’d love your help as we plan some exciting things coming up — Teacher Appreciation Week, our school-wide end-of-year Core Fair, and even helping shape the future of our PTA! Whether you want to jump in, help behind the scenes, or just learn more, we’d love to have you involved. 

We’re excited that PTA meetings are back in person, and everyone is welcome! This year, the PTA is focusing on building stronger family engagement, and we’d truly love your voice, ideas, and perspective. Our next meeting is on 3/10 (in the media center, snacks and childcare provided!) and we’d be thrilled to see any parents who are excited to jump in and support O’Dea. (see additional PTA news in the PTA Newsletter)! 

🙋 Volunteer Opportunities

Library Helpers Needed (Quarter 3)
Our amazing Library team is looking for volunteers to assist students with finding and checking out books on Wednesday and reshelving books on Thursdays. It’s a great opportunity to support literacy and connect with students!
👉 https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0D49ABAA2FA5FB6-61302404-q3library

A Note From O’Dea PTA

Looking for O'Dea gear!?  The O'Dea Gear store is open and can be purchased here: https://odeaelementaryschool.givebacks.com/shop 

AND - REMEMBER: If you plan to volunteer in the school please, please register with the PSD volunteer registration website (link below):

https://www.psdschools.org/community/volunteerThank you, families, for being such an important part of our community. We couldn’t do this without you!