Commentary
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.
While the district is trying to frame the firing as the removal of a principal who violated federal privacy law and meted out discipline disproportionately to kids of color, that sounds like putting a politically palatable veneer over a load of BS.
Based on my own experience and armed with research, I founded Students Cultivating Dignity (SCD) Enrichment Program in 2018 to support, recruit and retain BIPOC secondary students with gifted and advanced education.
Recent developments continue to demonstrate that the current Denver school board and leadership want to hide key matters from public scrutiny. Why?
Engaging parents in the absenteeism conversation
We knew the methods we were using to deal with poor attendance weren’t working. We theorized that part of the solution might not look linear. We had to put ourselves in the shoes of our parents and ask ourselves new questions. Why, on the hardest days and in the hardest situations, might I move mountains to get my student to school? And when might I not?