A Denver school is being named for former House Speaker Ruben Valdez, a fixture in Colorado politics and government for more than 40 years.
The Denver Public Schools Board of Education on Thursday voted to name the campus at 2626 W. Evans Ave. the Ruben Valdez Achievement Campus. A ceremony is planned for August. A number of the board members, including Barbara O’Brien, Happy Haynes and Rosemary Rodriguez, have known Valdez for years.
“I was just thrilled and honored,” said Valdez, a Trinidad native.
Valdez’s family attended the ceremony. He and his late wife had three children. Valdez lobbies at the state Capitol with his granddaughter Amber.
The campus named for Valdez opened this past fall on Evans Avenue as STRIVE Prep-Ruby Hill with grades K and 1. It will be K-2 this fall and will grow to K-5, DPS spokeswoman Nancy Mitchell said. In addition, STRIVE Prep- ederal, the original flagship campus serving grades 6-8, is moving in this fall to the Evans location. The campus will be K-8 at full capacity.
Here is the resolution sponsored by the board:
WHEREAS, in August 2014, a naming committee was established to solicit suggestions and consider recommendations for the name of the new school facility for STRIVE Prep elementary school students located at 2626 West Evans Avenue; and
WHEREAS, in January 2015, a second school program was added to the site to serve STRIVE Prep middle schoolstudents, and it became an opportunity to consider naming the campus in honor of someone who represents a living pillar of the community; and
WHEREAS, Ruben Valdez, a man of humble beginnings who has achieved success in business and government through self-determination and perseverance, is a role model for students of all walks of life in Denver; and
WHEREAS, Ruben was born in Trinidad, Colorado in 1937, the youngest of nine siblings, dropped out of high school and ventured north to work at a Pueblo brickyard, moved to southwest Denver for trades work, returned to school and earned a college diploma, raised three children who all graduated from Denver Public Schools, and has never stopped contributing to Denver and the State of Colorado; and
WHEREAS, Ruben Valdez, ran for office for the first time and was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives representing west Denver in 1970 and served through 1978, was elected Speaker of the House in 1975, making him the first Hispanic to ever serve in that position; and
WHEREAS, Ruben Valdez was also the first Hispanic to serve as Governor of Colorado when in 1975 the Governor and Lieutenant Governor were out of state and as Speaker of the House, he was third in succession; and
WHEREAS, after retiring from the House in 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed Ruben as the Regional Director for the United States Department of Transportation and the following year, was appointed by Colorado Governor Dick Lamm to serve as Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Social Services. Following in 1985, Ruben accepted an unprecedented dual appointment by Governor Lamm as Executive Director for both the Colorado Department of Social Services and the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment; and
WHEREAS, Ruben, during the legislative session in 1975, had a major accomplishment in shepherding the Bilingual and Bicultural Education Act, for which he garnered bipartisan support, including support from State Senators and whose legacies are also honored in a named DPS campus and facility; and
WHEREAS, Ruben is recognized for his achievements in the private and public sectors, in shaping the bilingual and bicultural programs in Colorado, and for his service to the people of Denver and the State; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT PROCLAIMED that the Board of Education of School District No. 1 in the City and County of Denver and the State of Colorado this date, June 18, 2015, in honor of a lifetime of achievements, that the campus at 2626 West Evans shall be named Ruben Valdez Achievement Campus.