Briefs: Dougco makes its case on TV

Seeking to counteract negative publicity around reform efforts in Douglas County, the Daniels Fund is giving the school district a $150,000 grant to launch a public outreach campaign highlighting the district as one of the most successful school districts in the country.

The public outreach campaign features a series of ads highlighting three district priorities – choice, world-class education and system performance. In conjunction with ads, the district will post stories about reform efforts, great teachers and student achievement on the DCSD mobile app, DCSDk12.org, Channel 54, telephone town halls and electronic newsletters.

The first ad features Superintendent Elizabeth Fagen describing the positive impact that Dougco teachers have every day. The ad focuses on teachers as the primary reason for the success of the district’s schools. According to Fagen, the teacher advisory group is also working on a few projects of their own as part of the campaign. (Those teachers are not to be confused with members of the teachers’ union, who are in regular conflict with Board of Education and district leaders over various reform initiatives, such as vouchers.)

Television ads will begin airing on cable channels during the week of Dec. 3. The ads are expected to run through February. Watch the first ad on the district website.

→ KIPP will receive $3.3 million from Accenture, and its foundation arm Tuesday announced a $3.3 million grant to KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program), a national network of charter schools, to help students in underserved communities transition from secondary education to higher education and employment.

However, only $75,000 of the grant is expected to find its way to the three KIPP schools in Denver.

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with 257,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. The grant brings Accenture’s direct support of KIPP to $3.7 million since 2009.

The award, which consists of cash as well as the time and skills of Accenture employees, is part of Accenture’s global corporate citizenship initiative, Skills to Succeed, which aims to equip 250,000 people around the world by 2015 with the skills to get a job or build a business. The three-year grant will support the expansion of the Future Focus program, piloted with KIPP DC during the 2011-2012 school year, to deliver skills training, mentoring and internships to nearly 7,000 students across the KIPP network.

In addition, the grant will support KIPP Through College programs focused on helping KIPP students and alumni as they progress to and through college, including KIPP’s efforts to establish partnerships with colleges and universities across the United States.