Commentary
The structure and systems remain in place. Supremacy ideology continues to choke the potential of this district to be anything but talk when it comes to transforming the lived realities of black children, families, communities, teachers and leaders.
Two educator-moms are leading Denver Public Schools through the COVID-19 crisis. They help us remember something we too often forget: Parents deserve a major voice in their children’s education.
I must stop obsessing about poor families being on a predictable path to economic exile, and remember that the white middle-class college-educated people working public school jobs with full benefits are the real victims of the system.
Podcast
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Is Denver Public Schools capable of producing the next Gladys West?
What struck me most in reading about Dr. Gladys West’s life was not only her brilliance, but her perseverance. A deep love of geometry sparked a career that unfolded in the face of profound racial and gender discrimination, in an era when Black women were systematically excluded from advanced mathematics and scientific fields. Her story raises an uncomfortable question closer to home. Are Denver’s public schools systematically cultivating the next generation of Gladys Wests, or are they leaving that talent unrealized?