It was a high-profile moment for Denver Public Schools Superintendent Jerry Wartgow.
Cole Middle School’s chronically low test scores had it on the brink of a state shutdown, and Wartgow stepped forward to offer a plan for turning it around.
At a January 2004 news conference, Wartgow announced a series of tutoring sessions, with help from teachers, administrators, even Mayor John Hickenlooper himself. Everyone would join together to teach Cole’s students to read, write and do math.
They followed through with eight Saturday tutoring sessions. But the intervention didn’t improve Cole’s test scores, and the school became the first in the state to be forcibly converted to a charter.
“Did Jerry believe that he had a chance … to save Cole? I think he did,” said school board member Theresa Pena. “…The trouble is, we don’t have enough time to save one kid at a time in this district.”
In many ways, the Cole Middle School story underscores both successes and shortcomings of DPS under Wartgow, who leaves his job this week after four years at the district’s helm.
He rallied people to the cause, got them to care, sought and received their involvement in his effort.
Districtwide, he brought a sense of purpose and restored stability to a school system where he was the fourth superintendent in three years.
When Wartgow took the reins at DPS, 21 schools were ranked “unsatisfactory” in the Colorado Student Assessment testing program. Over the next three years, most of those schools rose in the rankings – something Wartgow says he’s proud of.
But Wartgow could not solve a persistent problem of public education: the large gap in achievement between the affluent and the poor.
Elementary school CSAP scores remained mostly flat during his tenure, and in middle and high schools, the gap between scores registered by higher-income and poor students widened, according to a recent analysis by the Colorado Children’s Campaign and the Piton Foundation.
Wartgow, who made notable improvements in bringing “unsatisfactory” students up to “partially proficient,” said further growth could take “generations.”
“No one is proud of having a bunch of low schools,” he said. “There is a long ways to go. You have to stick with it.”
The 62-year-old former state community college system president is known by staff, community leaders and school board members as a charismatic, intelligent leader who worked tirelessly to boost the reputation of a district where 61 percent of students live in poverty and fewer than half graduate.
But in the past year, his relations with some school board members became tense as the board grew more assertive about raising academic achievement. This tension hurt him as he tried to steer a major reform effort in secondary schools.
“I don’t look at his leaving as a setback,” said board member Lucia Guzman. “I see it as a continued opportunity to move forward with all this reform.”
Wartgow was welcomed to the district in 2001 as a nontraditional candidate who hadn’t spent time in K-12 administration.
In early interviews, Wartgow said he didn’t “know enough to be dangerous” about K-12 education.
He restructured DPS, making controversial hires, such as a chief academic officer who continued to live in California while working for DPS, and streamlining curricula – removing some teacher choice in the classroom.
Wartgow cited three goals: improve achievement for all children, set high expectations, and close the gap between high and low performers.
Wartgow said he’s happy with what he’s accomplished since first stepping into the big office at 900 Grant St.
He has provided leadership and enhanced the district’s image, balanced a budget, and persuaded the local teachers union to approve a nationally controversial pay-for-performance plan that wasn’t endorsed by the National Education Association.
“The district is in a good place when you look back and put it in perspective,” he said. “For all the ups and downs, I’d pay the same fare for the ride.”
The DPS Foundation is among Wartgow’s greatest accomplishments. When he arrived, it was a fledgling $40,000 outfit, which has grown into a $2.1 million powerhouse.
The foundation partly funds afternoon programs at the city’s elementary and middle schools.
“I think it was nothing short of remarkable,” said Steve Katich, the foundation’s outgoing president.
By courting the private sector, Wartgow got tony law firms to tutor poor elementary schools, and business coalitions to invest in teacher development.
“He turned DPS into a place of hope instead of a big black hole,” said Tony Lewis, executive director of the Donnell-Kay Foundation. “Before him, people just weren’t very happy with DPS, and foundation people just didn’t want to invest in it.”
But Wartgow’s ever-positive take about the district’s progress wore thin among some activists.
“I think it takes a leader to not do the happy talk all the time, not to say that everything is OK, because it’s not,” said Yvonne Sandoval, a community organizer with the Metro Organizations for People. “He didn’t improve the achievement gap, and in fact that gap is widening. It’s been one of our biggest disappointments.”
While Wartgow won over people within his administration, he had a hard time penetrating the schools, board members say.
Union leaders often lamented the lack of freedom in the classrooms.
“I don’t think the middle management turned. I don’t think he captured their hearts in the way he captured his inner circle,” said board member Pena.
Pena said Wartgow’s stability and investment in the curriculum, including the literacy program, have paved an easy path for the next superintendent.
“He really gave us a chance to take off,” she said. “I think it just gets better from here.”
Staff writer Allison Sherry can be reached at 303-820-1377 or asherry@denverpost.com.
