A plan by Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg to overhaul a half-dozen failing schools is an effort to do what’s right for children at these troubled schoolsnot the grown-ups who run them.
We applaud Boasberg’s political courage in pursuing ideas that are going to draw flak from teachers, administrators and even some parents.
His ideas, grounded in best practices gleaned from DPS and other districts, sound good. Whether they will work in sparking significant improvement in student achievement is an open question.
It would be disheartening to see such reform efforts fail, but what would be worse would be to just tinker around the edges and hope for a different result, which seems to be the preferred course of action of some.
Boasberg wants to dramatically change operations at six schools — three district charters and three traditional DPS schools.
These schools not only have lackluster student achievement, but detailed assessments by the state Department of Education show them to be deficient in other important ways.
Some have organizational difficulties, such as school leadership that fails to ensure a safe and effective learning and work environment. Others have poor school culture in which teachers do not regularly communicate with families about student progress.
Any one element may not be exceedingly problematic, but stack up dozens of these issues and what you have is a dysfunctional school where it’s just more effective to start over.
That, by and large, is what Boasberg pitched to the DPS school board Monday, proposing big changes for Lake Middle School, Philips Elementary, and Greenlee K-8; and three charters up for renewal: Skyland Community Charter High School, Northeast Academy and P.S. 1 Charter School.
The proposal generating the most controversy involves Lake Middle School, the district’s poorest-performing secondary school.
Lake’s International Baccalaureate program would shrink to half its size and would undergo an administrative overhaul. It would share space with West Denver Prep, a very successful charter approved for expansion.
We think Boasberg’s ideas for Lake are sound on a number of levels. Bringing in West Denver Prep as a boundary school — meaning neighborhood children get first dibs on slots — is good news for area families.
Keeping the IB program, albeit retooled, gives families another choice. Making the two schools compete for students ultimately benefits kids, and that should be the goal.
The board is set to vote on Boasberg’s proposal on Nov. 30. New board members will be sworn in later that evening.
We hope the newly reconfigured DPS board also gives Boasberg’s ideas serious consideration, keeping paramount in their minds that their first obligation is to the district’s children.
