Commentary
It is sadly predictable that in the same week a bipartisan poll of likely voters showed widespread disaffection with the Denver school board, that same board decided to severely curtail the public’s one monthly opportunity to provide it with in-person feedback.
The Denver Education Vision Project left us with a sense of fulfillment, knowing that we were part of an initiative that truly cared about the community it was serving
Anyone who says they are a strong proponent of both neighborhood schools and integrated schools in a segregated city is either fooling themselves or trying to fool you.
For a district seemingly obsessed with power and control at the higher echelons, the safety plan is rather vague. There are no timelines for implementation or completion, no specific tasks to key leaders, no cadence of progress updates, no rollout timeline, no KPIs, no specifics on budgeting, and much of the language directs decision-making to principals.
Repeatedly using deliberately inflammatory language (incarceration room instead of de-escalation room, for example) and premeditated outrage, Denver school board Vice-president Auon’taiAnderson and his willing accomplices are destroying a man’s reputation long before all the facts are in and any investigation completed.
AEA is a cultural summer program that highlights the experiences of Black/African American, Latinx/Indigenous, & Asian American/Pacific Islander families, students, and educators.
Superintendent Alex Marrero apparently doesn’t want public scrutiny of how his employees view his leadership. Previous superintendents were far more transparent.
This excellent commentary on the illegal Denver school board executive session last March was written by Quentin Young, editor of Colorado Newsline, and first appeared on that website: https://coloradonewsline.com/
Moonshot aims to solve several interconnected problems. We address the achievement gap for students of color, which we believe is driven by the lack of diversity in leadership and the type of learning environments learners can access. Although 75% of students in Denver are students of color, 71% of the teaching force and 60% of school leaders are white.
I frankly am more worried about the state of public education than I was when I made the leap 15 years ago. But I still have hope for public education. Much of that hope lives through resilient students and committed teachers.Â
The big-district superintendent pipeline has run dry. What can school boards do?
Not long ago, the right superintendent, especially a non-traditional one, could land on the cover of Time, get regular New York Times coverage, and pull in serious money from Gates, Walton, Broad and other foundations to remake a district. That’s a different world than the one Jeffco, Cherry Creek and Denver are hiring into right now.