An education advocacy group wants to put the brakes on the approval of 11 new Denver schools, 10 of them charters.
The Denver Education Advocacy Network on Wednesday asked the school board to postpone a vote scheduled for today, claiming the district has not provided adequate information about the proposed schools’ finances and performance data, or discussed possible locations.
“If they move forward with these schools and they do not do a better job, then irreparable damage will be done to our kids that you cannot go back and undo,” said Deborah Ortega, a member of The Denver Education Advocacy Network. “That’s why we’re adamant about insisting that due diligence be done before they make this decision.”
Ortega, a former Denver councilwoman, described the network as a “diverse, representative group of concerned parents and community members.”
School board member Jill Conrad said she does not expect the board will postpone its vote, but said that holding a vote does not guarantee all the schools will be approved.
“The process is very rigorous, and that means some schools will not be approved and some will be,” she said. Today’s vote “is about deciding is this a new school that’s worth pursuing, that’s worthy of our approval?”
DPS spokesman Alex Sanchez said information about the proposed schools is publicly available, and that the district held 10 community meetings this spring to collect input.
After reviewing 21 applications for new schools, DPS recommended 11 for approval.
“We incorporated that community feedback when we submitted our recommendations,” Sanchez said.
But Ortega said those community meetings did not accurately reflect public opinion.
“The information was manipulated to dictate the outcome that they want,” she said. “They asked specific questions on a PowerPoint, and take those answers to use and justify community support, even though across the city people are saying that they want neighborhood schools to be supported.”
Ortega and other members of her group say that while they are not opposed to charter programs, they are not convinced that charters are better than public schools.
“They have not shown us anything that justifies that these people do a better job,” she said.
Conrad said that the approval of new charter schools does not mean older schools will be neglected.
“There’s this false dichotomy that’s being promoted that the creation of new schools means the demise of existing schools,” she said. “There’s room for both.”
There are now 21 charter schools in DPS.
More than 6,450 students of all grade levels would attend the proposed schools, which would be located across the district. Seven of the new schools would be run by charter programs that already have schools in Denver, including four by the high-performing Denver School of Science and Technology.
The other schools being voted on are two Spanish and Mandarin Chinese-immersion charters, a performance school that would focus on developing green jobs and an academically rigorous charter elementary school.
Claire Trageser: 303-954-1638 or ctrageser@denverpost.com
