I think it is quite telling about The Denver Post’s and Denver Public Schools’ closed view of what the community needs with regard to education when guest commentaries written by insiders are published instead of those from the community, which are often on the other side of the opinion.
Having been a DPS parent for 19 years and a DPS graduate, as well as a case manager who works with homeless families, I have been on the inside viewing this school system devolve.
My children went to Cory Elementary School, which was made a magnet for Gifted and Talented, to try to maintain integration after busing. It has turned Cory Elementary into a whiter school than it was when I went there as a child. My children were neighborhood kids, and they went to Merrill Middle School and Denver South High School. Being able to walk to school is a huge advantage. I let my son go to East High School for a period but brought him back to South High School, in part because it made my already busy life much simpler.
Guess what, all of these schools were very good. All of the teachers were good with perhaps one or two exceptions, and they no longer teach. All professions have a few bad apples, this is not unique to teaching.
All of these schools were neighborhood schools but the real problem with neighborhood schools is that they do not get the good public relations and support from DPS that the charters and other designer schools get. This is true not only for my neighborhood schools but for others neighborhood schools with which I am very familiar.
Working with families in poverty, I am keenly aware of the stresses they have to deal with on a daily basis just to survive, often just to obtain food and financial assistance for their families. If you are working two jobs to put food on the table or you are stressed out from other life situations, having to feel like you need to shop for a school, as you do a car, only adds more unnecessary stress to a community that does not need it.
I have worked with many DPS schools and other public schools in my career. I know that most schools and teachers are very dedicated and talented. They are doing the best they can with the resources they are given. The responsibility for the inadequacy of any school really lies with the DPS administration and how they determine the use of the district’s limited resources. Sadly, our culture does not value the cost of education, and it is very underfunded.
Unfortunately, DPS is headed by Superintendent Tom Boasberg, who specialized in taking apart corporations for takeovers, before entering into the education field. He is now in the process of undoing our school system with the support of the triumvirate of corporate takeover foundations such as the Walton Family Foundation (Wal-Mart family), Gates Foundation (whose history with social engineering in schools has only proven to be damaging) and Ely Brode Foundation (whose “administrator institute” trains and places “graduates” like Superintendent Boasberg).
These corporate foundations use their tax-exempt money for social engineering, with the goal of undoing public education from the inside and privatizing it — as we have privatized our prisons and health care system. Sadly, because the media coverage has been so one-sided, this information is not understood by the general public. The Denver Post has been beholden to the corporate sponsors in the education debate and is loathe to publish information that does not support the so-called education “reformers.”
Those who are most critical of the neighborhood public schools are rarely the parents who have children in the schools. Even Superintendent Boasberg sends his own children to a private school. All neighborhood schools should receive the support and credit that DPS puts towards their designer and privatized charter schools. The designer and privatized schools drain resources away from the neighborhood schools and make the problems worse. Remember that only one out of six charters perform better than public schools.
Certainly there are many things that need to be improved within our public schools and parents and teachers within the schools should be working together to address issues within their schools. But the support of the DPS administration will be crucial to truly improve the schools. This is why the upcoming school board elections will be critical. I am sorry to say that I am glad my children are almost through school as I worry that the system will continue to devolve under the current administration, and so-called “reform” proponents. Their “reforms” are increasingly demonstrating failures.
Lynn Anderson-Thayer lives in Denver. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column.
