At-Large School Board Candidates Highlight Their Differences

Newcomer Robert Speth Hopes To Unseat Allegra “Happy” Haynes

In the Nov. 3 election, Park Hill residents will have the opportunity to weigh in on one race in the Denver Public Schools Board of Education. Incumbent Happy Haynes and challenger Robert Speth are running for the open at-large position.

Haynes, who was sworn in as the new executive director of Denver Parks and Recreation on Sept. 8, said that, if elected to the school board, she would serve the full four-year term. “I cannot foresee any circumstances short of health or family issues that would change that.”

Haynes and Speth, who works in the telecommunications industry, responded to 10 questions submitted by the Greater Park Hill News. Here are their responses.

Greater Park Hill News: What experience(s) do you have with DPS that prompted your school board run?

Haynes: Having nearly completed a four-year term on the DPS Board with two of those years as Board President, I am seeking re-election to a second term to accelerate the progress that has been made to boost student achievement and school quality and to drive additional innovation and change where current strategies and practices are not working effectively. I am proud of the work I helped to lead that produced the Denver Plan 2020 with clear and ambitious 5-year goals for the District, expanded the groundbreaking teacher leadership program, expanded the work on equity and inclusion and student leadership, and increased the minimum wage for our paraprofessional educators, to name a few accomplishments. I am also proud of my accomplishments in my prior role as the Chief Community Engagement Officer for the District.

Speth: First and foremost, I’m a proud DPS parent. My children attend what I consider to be an awesome school, Escuela Valdez, which is a dual language immersion elementary school. This a very balanced school, both ethnically and economically. Five years ago, our principal asked if another parent and I could work on securing funding to renovate our school, addressing a wide variety of health and safety issues. We battled DPS administration for years to try and secure funding to address these issues. We were finally able to achieve our goals by building a comprehensive $18.7M package solution for the 2012 bond that addressed similar issues in 10 neighborhood schools around the district. This journey, coupled with recent experiences within our community wherein the DPS administration was starving our neighborhood of strong neighborhood school options, and where DPS has imposed enrollment zone rollouts that lacked genuine community input, made me realize that I had to try to change the course of DPS at the board level.

GPHN: If elected, what changes would you try to bring to Denver Public Schools, if any?

Haynes: I want to focus greater attention on improving and changing the systems for recruiting, supporting and evaluating school leaders and expanding the leadership roles of teachers; investing more in the early grades to ensure grade level literacy by 3rd grade, which data shows will substantially increase chances for successful graduation; dramatically increasing focus on strategies and investments to close the opportunity gap; providing a stronger emphasis on whole child development with a commitment to equity and inclusiveness, culturally responsive practices and social emotional learning that is imbedded in instruction; creating greater flexibility for schools to meet the unique needs of their students and families while maintaining accountability for progress and success.

Speth: I would stop the onslaught of new schools. I would have an objective evaluation of what is working and what is not. As I have visited with people across the city, I hear the same thing over and over: Please give our neighborhood schools the proper resources and support they need. We want to walk our kids to school. Our schools are the center of our communities. Nurture them. Most parents do not want to have to choose schools. They want their choice to be down the street. DPS has neglected that overwhelming choice by outsourcing public education. I would really like the dialogue to change from “What schools are we targeting for closure?” to “What do we truly need to do to help this school be one of the best in the city?” Personally, I have witnessed how successful neighborhood schools can and should be when communities and DPS work together hand in hand. They look like Escuela Valdez and so many more all across Denver.

GPHN: Please define what “school reform” is to you and assess its successes and shortcomings.

Haynes: School reform is making changes to current systems, practices and investments and expectations that are not providing the conditions and environment for every child to be successful. It means continually raising expectations to drive improvements, encouraging and supporting innovative practices where current ones are lacking, balancing the urgent need for change with the practical realities that some changes take time to develop successfully, and employing the right data and constant feedback to assess progress and change course as needed. Great progress has been made in establishing goals and standards, accountability and implementing strategies to improve teacher effectiveness. Leadership, especially at the school level, is critical to the success of any reform and is an area that needs improvement particularly around change management and stability. Striking the right balance between accountability and flexibility is another area of needed improvement and always, the need for better ways to engage families and communities in partnership with schools and the District.

Speth: To me reform means taking an objective look at what is working, what is not, and making changes as needed. We need to engage directly with front line educators, our principals and teachers, and get them what they need to improve outcomes and close the achievement gap. I’ve been having a LOT of these conversations lately. The overwhelming response that I receive is “we need to get more professional certified teachers into the classrooms.” Unfortunately, for the past decade at DPS, when you say “reform,” it has really only meant one thing: privatization. The idea that if we outsource our schools to private corporations for operation, magically, things will get better. The problem with this approach is that it has led to few successes and many shortcomings. Little progress if any has been made on key metrics resulting in stagnant proficiencies and ACT scores and narrowing curricula due to increased testing. We are 10 years into this version of reform, with very little to show for it.

GPHN: What are your thoughts on the Common Core?

Haynes: The Common Core standards have been thoughtfully developed by educators, community and businesses across the country and I believe, appropriately reflect the knowledge, skills and traits and practices that our students will need to be successful in their future careers, higher learning opportunities and personal lives. Much of that work was done with hundreds of educators and community right here in Colorado and the Common Core standards were adopted in Colorado because they aligned so closely with those established in our state. These three challenges associated with Common Core should not diminish its importance and effectiveness: the scope of the task of learning and implementing standards at such a scale was vastly underestimated; the books and materials needed to support the new standards lagged too far behind the adoption and roll out of the standards; while the assessments developed appear to accurately reflect the standards, how much, how often and when they should be administered are important questions that need to be determined in a way that these tools don’t become the substitute for learning.

Speth: Common Core is a program that I believe truly began with the best of intentions, but in its current state, it leaves much to be desired. The good: Trying to develop a truly “common core” of curriculum for our students that can be relied upon for its consistency across the nation is truly a commendable goal. Consistency of curriculum should lead to an improved outcome for students on the move. The bad: The quantity of testing being forced upon our students in the classroom is nothing less than shocking! As an example, my children will have spent almost one full YEAR taking standardized tests once they graduate high school. This quantity of testing, and focus on tying test results to teacher compensation, is warping the classroom experience to focus on only reading, writing and math. This narrowed focus leads to other important subjects being left by the wayside, such as science, social studies, civics, arts, and music. I do not believe this is a positive direction for us to be taking our schools, and as your board member, I will be laser focused on pushing to “right size” the testing load being placed upon our students.

GPHN: Where do you stand on school vouchers?

Haynes: I am strongly opposed to vouchers or the use of any public dollars for private schools that are not publicly accountable in every way.

Speth: I do not support school vouchers.

GPHN: What are specific challenges faced by schools in Greater Park Hill? How would you address those challenges?

Haynes: While schools in Park Hill are showing academic growth, including significant growth for one of them, several are still performing below expectations. I worry that some of these lower performing schools are also disproportionately enrolled with lower income, disadvantaged students and that choice out rates for more affluent families is higher. Of all the neighborhoods where this trend is occurring, it distresses me most in my Park Hill community where diversity and integration has always been such an important value. Family and student choice is extremely important to ensuring that the diverse needs of students are met, however, more needs to be done to ensure that families are informed and empowered to make the best decisions for their students and that the system functions more equitably. Examining transportation needs more closely to ensure equity must be done. Planning with community involvement to meet the increased need for middle school seats remains one of the top priorities and represents, in my view, the most important opportunity to create once again a diverse school that reflects our community. Finally, working to ensure strong and stable leadership in Park Hill schools is essential in light of several recent transitions.

Speth: You know, I was just speaking to a young mother from Park Hill just the other day. And guess what? She wanted the same thing that the folks I’ve spoken with all across town want. Strong neighborhood schools. Well-rounded, balanced schools that are ethnically and economically integrated. Now this may come as a shock to some at the administration of DPS, but it really is that simple. The issue that we’ve seen of late is that the district is extremely focused on its privatization agenda and that’s causing them to take their eye off the ball. This belief that the only way to improve a school is to outsource its operation to a private corporation. I can speak from experience when I say that I have seen school after school turned around by working in partnership with the communities yields top notch, well -balanced, high functioning neighborhood schools. As your board member, I would make every effort to sit down with local communities to understand what you truly want. I find that most often, local folks in communities know what is best for themselves. My goal is to work with you to bring those ideas to fruition.

GPHN: As a Board member, what attempts would you make to engage the community and address its concerns regarding schools and their management?

Haynes: My role is provide multiple forums and opportunities not only to hear the concerns of the community, especially families and students, but also to facilitate better ways for families, students and community to contribute to the success of their schools. Whether it is a one-on-one conversation, hosting a community meeting or attending an event hosted by a community or school group, as a board member, I welcome all of these opportunities and constantly look for better ways to listen and share ideas and concerns. My most important role is to influence policies and practices that promote increased communication and collaboration between the entire district and the community.

Speth: I think this is one the key differentiators between me and my opponent. As a parent in the district with my own children in DPS public schools, I know firsthand what it’s like to have “lightning bolts” fly out of the skyscraper downtown, completely changing the educational landscape in your neighborhood. The rules seem to be rewritten almost daily, and what was once certain is now completely up in the air. We’ve also seen how community meetings seem to be extremely tightly managed and not set up in a balanced fashion to truly include community input. The current administration would probably disagree with me on this front, but that is fine, it’s actually one of the main reasons I’m running. If elected I’m committing to spend at least two hours each month in one of the 5 districts, rotating my way around town to hold “office hours.” The purpose is to sit down with parents, students, and community members to truly discuss what the local neighborhoods want. For those of us who have suffered through “public comment” at board meetings, you know it’s not a very engaging and open process.

GPHN: In September, GPHN published an article detailing DPS and the Relay Graduate School of Education (the story is online at greaterparkhill.org). What are your thoughts on this program?

Haynes: Amazing educators are not born, but require investment and support to grow their skills and expertise. This is even truer for educators serving as leaders. Modern human resource techniques must be employed to recruit and identify talented and committed educators along with a significant commitment to providing ongoing, robust and relevant professional development. Strong accountability for results must be accompanied by equal measures of support and flexibility to meet the specific needs of students in their care. Systems for providing this support must be adapted to ensure that customized services and efficiency are equally important. I wholeheartedly support significantly increased investment in the development of school leaders, including teacher leaders. Relay is only one of multiple resources and opportunities to support the professional development of school leaders. The program focuses on effectively using data to guide instruction, using timely feedback to assess practice, and examining and adapting different management strategies. I trust our educators to find what they find beneficial from this experience and to apply it critically as it fits their schools’ needs. Likewise, I trust [school principals} Kurt Dennis’ and Jason Sanders’ judgment about Relay far more than national critics that are not accountable for what happens in DPS schools.

Speth: Relay Graduate School of Education is yet another example of the privatization of public education. Like the Board Superintendents’ Academy, Relay is a non-accredited, pseudo “graduate” school. Relay is receiving taxpayer money for private professional development which to date has made very little impact on student achievement. Relay has attempted to insert more standardization in the teaching profession, which has resulted in less creativity and professionalism. Programs like Relay thwart the individualism that draws so many to teaching and tends to thwart students’ love of learning. Finally, programs like Relay are often used to punish and bully educators into teaching one way and one way only. What is most important to me is getting more highly trained professional teachers into our classrooms here in Denver. I personally write significant checks each and every year to fund the actual salary of our art teacher. I do this because our Student Base Budget (SBB) is so constrained which is caused in part by funding programs like Relay. So on top of the concerns I have with the philosophy of Relay, I cannot help but constantly translate the program cost into how many teachers were eliminated in our schools to fund this program.

GPHN: Please list your top five donors and the amount donated to your campaign. Where do they reside?

Haynes: Contributions to my campaign go directly to an accounting firm that records and deposits the funds and provides me, by my request, with only the names and addresses of the donors for purposes of sending a thank you note. I have no way to distinguish a $5 donor from a $500 one, thus, there are no “top” donors. Thus far, all but three of my donors reside in Denver.

Speth: Complete campaign finance reports will be released by the Secretary of State in mid-October, which will detail all donors. I encourage everyone to review both my reports, and my opponents. As of 9/15, my top donors are:

1. $2,500 – Robert Speth – Denver

2. $1,000 – Scott Gilpin – Denver (Campaign Manager)

3. $500 – Assam Alsabih – Denver

4. $500 – Laura Curtis – Denver

5. $400 – Craig Kaley – Parker

As you can see, this is a grassroots operation. These are all close friends who support the change we are fighting for. By the way, we are battling against a candidate that brought $290,000 to bear on a campaign for an unpaid school board seat four years ago, and we have every reason to believe she will spend even more in this election cycle. This is the challenge with unlimited contributions for school board races. This should be a battle of ideals. Instead it’s a battle of money.

GPHN: Please share your bio, including your education, neighborhood where you live, and whether or not you have/have had kids in DPS and where they go to school (optional)?

Haynes: Allegra “Happy” Haynes was elected in November of 2011 to the Denver Public Schools Board of Education and is currently President of the Board. Prior to that, she served as the Chief Community Engagement Officer for the District from 2006 – 2011 and as the Director of Civic and Community Engagement at CRL Associates from 2011 through September 2015 when she accepted a Mayoral appointment as the Executive Director of Denver Parks and Recreation. Happy is a Denver native and attended Denver East High School. She received a BA degree in Political Science from Barnard College at Columbia University and an MPA from the University of Colorado at Denver. Happy served 13 years on the Denver City Council from 1990 – 2003 and was President from 1998 – 2000. She currently chairs the Colorado Advisory Board of the Trust for Public Land and serves on the boards of KUVO/Rocky Mountain PBS and Denver Museum of Nature and Science. She previously served on the Colorado Commission on Higher Education and the Colorado Children’s Campaign board. She is single, has lived in Park Hill for over 35 years and has a niece and two nephews currently attending DPS schools.

Speth: I was born and raised in Wisconsin where I attended public schools K-12. I was fortunate enough to be accepted to the UW-Madison Engineering School where I earned a BS in Civil Engineering and a MS in the Materials Science Program. I began working at Intel where I met my now wife and we ultimately made our way to Northwest Denver where we have been ever since. We remodeled our home ourselves over the course of five years, then had kids and here we are today. Our two children attend Escuela Valdez, a dual language immersion program, in NW Denver. At Valdez I do the Science enrichment course after school, and am generally known to all as “the science guy.”