Commentary

Last Friday’s letter to the community from Denver Public Schools Superintendent Marrero was a remarkable exemplar of what has become the norm these days for politicians of all stripes. Undermine data, ignore reality, and create a new narrative.

Alan Gottlieb’s recent commentary in Boardhawk criticizes Denver for asking the DAC to stop summarizing reviews with a decision to accept or deny charter school applications. Denver’s action is reasonable, is part of a larger effort by the district to solicit community input regarding chartering decisions, and aligns with many strong authorizers in the state.

Denver Public Schools appears poised to marginalize the state-mandated District Accountability Committee. It is the latest example of using Policy Governance to drive agendas and limit public scrutiny and accountability. It’s just the latest example of the district and board’s move away from transparency and public accountability.

Denver Public Schools’ new strategic roadmap seems content with improving student progress and addressing student needs at a leisurely pace.    

Simply put: adolescents are experiencing an internal war perpetuated by technology.

Based on state test scores released last week, many DPS students are in academic crisis, and some board members are ignoring that and opting to indulge in Trumpian grievance-fests instead of doing their duty.

Offer no excuses, because this is not about blame.

Frankly, we don’t have time for the continuing adult drama and the “as the school board turns” reality show. If individuals can’t get it together, individuals don’t need to be on our school board, impacting the current and future realities for children, families and staff.

The DPS board got back to work with a retreat Monday, and quickly got up to its old, bad tricks as well, violating the spirit if not the letter of Colorado’s open meeting law. 

When you examine the need for school closures in Jefferson County, the first thing that strikes you is the shocking scale of the problem.