Ashley Elementary on Watch, McAuliffe Plan Emerging
April has been a busy month for meetings focusing on Park Hill and Stapleton schools as well as Ashley Elementary. Though technically neither a Park Hill nor a Stapleton school, Ashley, on the corner of Syracuse and Montview, sits on the periphery of both neighborhoods. Questions about its future and the greater boundary zone have arisen this month.
Denver Public Schools Office of Community Engagement held a community meeting at Ashley Elementary on the evening of April 11, because the school’s performance rating designates it as “accredited on priority watch.” At a staff meeting a few days before, DPS had informed Ashley’s teachers that it would bring new leadership to the school for the 2014-15. This new leadership would have the power to fire and hire staff.
The school’s auditorium was packed and many people stood for the entire meeting that quickly became contentious. DPS would not clearly state its intentions and the dissembling infuriated parents who wanted concrete answers about the future of their school and teachers. DPS provided data but the print on the slides was too small to be read. Answers to questions about the data resulted in more questions that could not be answered.
One parent asked if Ashley was being targeted because of Stapleton’s need for seats for its growing student population. The question was ignored. When a parent asked why Ashley had not been included in earlier community meetings, DeVita Bruce from the Office of Community Engagement said, “There has been no other process where we’ve said that Ashley would be closed.” Ms. Bruce knows better for she was present at the meeting on May 23, 2012, where one of the suggestions for Ashley was a “strategic intervention” or bringing in a new program. Strategic intervention can mean closure as well as turnaround. It is difficult to conclude anything but that a drastic change, the one Tom Boasberg and his team is preparing for Ashley, was already in the works more than a year ago.
To her credit, Veronica Figoli, head of the DPS Office of Community Engagement, stated, “I want to say that tonight we have not done a good job, we haven’t answered your questions. You have every right to answers.”
Another community meeting is scheduled at Ashley for April 24, 2013. This time, DPS is collaborating with parents and staff to organize the meeting. DPS has also stated it will hire an outside consultant who will work with the Ashley community to help create a proposal for the school. It will be a challenge to put together a proposal in a very short amount of time but the first meeting showed this was a determined group.
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The recommendation to move McAuliffe into the Smiley site was formally presented to the Board of Education at their work session on April 15. In that presentation, there was no mention of the proposed “boundary zone.” School Board member Jeannie Kaplan said that many Park Hill and Stapleton parents had written to the Board to express their discontent or concern with the expanded boundary. A March 19th community vote showed support for a larger boundary but that vote was primarily to show support for the move of McAuliffe to the Smiley building. One could not vote for one without voting for the other.
A community meeting was held on April 16 at the Stapleton Recreation Center. The room was packed but Park Hill residents represented less than 10 percent of attendees. DPS will be starting two new middle schools in Stapleton that would be included in the proposed boundary shared by Park Hill and Stapleton, one in Conservatory Green north of I-70 and the other in the space now occupied by McAuliffe. The Board is scheduled to vote on these new schools in June.
DPS staff explained that a new school could be opened via one of two methods: through the Call for Quality Schools, or by hiring a principal who would work with the community to create a program. DSST is the only middle school that has put forth a proposal through the Call for Quality Schools. Consequently, staff said they were looking for a principal for the second school.
Concerns revolved around the expanded boundary, the loss of a neighborhood feel, and the need for increased transportation. Even though Stapleton residents have had an “enrollment zone” for elementary schools, the boundary for that zone keeps getting bigger and potentially sending children to schools further and further from home.
Some Stapleton residents expressed discontent at having a second DSST school in the neighborhood given that the school, they said, did not serve Stapleton adequately and that its program is not necessarily a good fit for all children. Indeed, DSST Stapleton has its own contract with DPS that stipulates its enrollment policy.
The next Greater Park Hill/Stapleton Community meeting is scheduled from May 7. Park Hill residents are encouraged to attend and express their desires and concerns regarding future schools for the area.
12-year Park Hill resident Lynn Kalinauskas’ children attend Park Hill Elementary and Smiley Middle School. She works for an educational nonprofit and teaches at UC Denver. She can be reached at lkalinauskas@hotmail.com. For materials from DPS’ community engagement meetings, visit communityrelations.dpsk12.org.