Aurora – Martin Trujillo wants the new Aurora Public Schools superintendent to provide more discipline and improve education for his two children.
“They are my kids, the trophies of my life,” said Trujillo, who joined parents, students and business leaders Tuesday to quiz four finalists for the district’s top job.
Questions to the four – Sonia Diaz, John Barry, Anthony Amato and David Barbosa – focused on changes Aurorans want for the state’s sixth-largest school district.
Change is already underway in the district, which has 31,113 students and is experiencing rapid student growth.
Whoever is hired faces the challenge of leading a school district with low student performance on Colorado Student Assessment Program tests.
Over time, APS has grown into an urban district with urban issues. About 49 percent of the students speak English as a second language. Overall, 48 percent of students are Hispanic, 21.7 percent are black and nearly 25.8 percent are white.
Brenna Isaacs, president of the Aurora Education Association, said teachers want a superintendent to acknowledge their achievements.
The district hires about 250 to 300 new teachers each year, only to see many of them leave within three years, said Isaacs, who taught for 22 years there.
“Stress and pressure, not feeling respected” is behind the high turnover, Isaacs said. “Morale is about as low as I’ve seen.”
Questions also focused on achievement.
“We need to raise academic achievement for all students,” said board president Matt Cook. “It’s really critical.”
Nineteen students selected from Central, Gateway, Rangeview, Wil liam Smith and Hinkley high schools grilled the candidates. They asked questions about the lack of funds for marching bands, tardiness and concerns about excessive absences, dress codes, health issues and if the superintendent would be accessible to them.
“I’m looking for ideas and support behind those ideas,” said Michelle Warman, 16, who will be senior class president next year at Gateway.
Barry, a software executive, said he would apply his extensive military training to working with teachers.
“Being a teacher comes in many forms,” he said.
Amato, a longtime educator who has been credited with raising test scores of students in inner-city Hartford, Conn., and Harlem, said his vision for Aurora would include a rigorous pre-kindergarten program, rather than the “sophisticated babysitting services” he said he has seen in schools around the country.
Barbosa, superintendent of the Grand Prairie Independent School District in Texas, talked about community involvement.
“We should reach out to members of the community and look at ways to bring people together to see how we can better serve our children,” he said.
Raising student achievement is a priority for Diaz.
“I’ve got a very powerful vision about student achievement by looking at curriculum and resources,” said Diaz, a former deputy superintendent in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
Staff writer Annette Espinoza can be reached at 303-820-1655 or aespinoza@denverpost.com.
Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-820-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.
