Safe Schools
Our children need a safe learning environment. Safe from harassment, bulling and threats so they can focus all their attention on learning. Safety must be at a school’s foundation to be successful. When I organized communities in my district for the D.A’s Office, safety in school was one of parents’ biggest concerns. Our children should be safe in our schools.
I also believe that we should refine our effectiveness in administering school discipline. Schools should not fall back on the juvenile justice system; rather they need to utilize Community Accountability Boards more. There, Restorative Justice practices can be used, where the victim, offender, administrators and community representatives discuss how the harm can be restored.
Accountability
We need to hold each other accountable for the future success of our schools. Nearly 100% of teachers in Colorado’s largest school districts received satisfactory ratings in each of the past three years, yet only about half of all DPS kids graduate in 4 years, with a majority of students not proficient on CSAP, and most schools fall short of federal, state and local district ratings. This shows flawed metrics for teachers’ ratings, which I will address.
I also see firsthand how unprepared our DPS graduates are for College. We have a very high remediation rate at Community College of Denver, where I work. This is not acceptable and we should be willing to own up to our mistakes. We must not send our students out into the world without a proper education.
We must end direct placement in our poorest schools. When your child has had a teacher who doesn’t take their profession seriously, it reflects directly on your child’s learning, and when it comes to our children, every year counts.
We need to better recognize and reward excellent teachers, offer support and development to moderate excelling teachers, and address those who are mediocre. Teachers, parents, administrators and the community must work to perpetuate the value of going to college. Our students need more pre-collegiate opportunities, college prep courses, and rigorous feeder schools starting at the ECE level.
High Performing Neighborhood Schools
In 2006 only one 8th grade Hispanic female out of 1,097 scored “advanced” on the science portion of the CSAP in DPS. 15 of the 17 traditional DPS middle schools were rated low or unsatisfactory by the state. Nearly 2,000 students dropped out of DPS middle and high schools in the 2006-2007 school year. And more than 20,000 students living in Denver enrolled in non-DPS Schools in search for better options. This is why our children deserve high performing schools in their neighborhoods. I have experience in delivering on that promise in my district. I was one of the founding board members of West Denver Prep. West Denver Prep is now one of the highest performing schools in all of Colorado, with a 90% minority and FRL (Free and Reduced Lunch) student population. This shows me that every student in Denver has the ability to achieve success in school, regardless of their background. We need to provide more local, better performing options for our students and parents of low-income families. We have to deliver on the promise that every school can and will be a high performing school.
