Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg. (David Zalubowski, Special to The Denver Post)
Re: “DPS empowering Denver schools with autonomy,” June 14 editorial.
While I applaud Denver Public Schools for giving schools more autonomy, for this to be successful, a major shift in responsibilities and accountability must occur.
First, district administrators must change from dictating policy to providing rapid response assistance for principals’ data-driven requests. It should be understood that student success drives programs, resource allocation, etc., and that it may very well cost more to provide 10 different curriculum models to schools as opposed to providing one uniform curriculum district-wide.
Second, clear authority must be given to district administrators to remove principals (and for principals to remove teachers) not meeting student achievement goals. A robust evaluation system with specific benchmarks must be in place so that every employee knows how they are being judged every day.
Third, every student must be pushed to succeed. Principals must put student needs first and recommend students attend the school best suited for them.
John Freeman, Highlands Ranch
This letter was published in the June 21 edition.
