Changes, Updates and Other Happenings At DPS
Redistricting of DPS Boundaries
On October 23, the Denver Public Schools Board voted unanimously to adjust the boundaries of its districts. The legal impetus as noted on DPS’ BoardDocs is that “the DPS must adjust the boundaries of the five districts based upon the most recent United States decennial census; and that the school district’s population be as evenly divided as possible between the five districts and that the districts be compact, contiguous and consistent of whole election precincts of the City and County of Denver.”
This impacts Park Hill, which used to be entirely within DPS District 4. Now, the neighborhood is divided between District 3 (from Colfax to Montview) and District 4 (from Montview north). District 3, which now includes Park Hill Elementary, is represented by Mike Johnson. District 4 continues to be under Landri Taylor’s purview.
If the districts’ populations are more or less evenly divided, the number of schools per district is not. District 3 includes 20 schools, while District 4 includes 64 schools. Extending into Stapleton and the far northeast area of Denver, the latter is by far the district with the largest number of schools.
East-Manual Alliance
After proposing a merger between East High School and Manual High School that was heavily criticized by the community at Manual on May 19 and again at East on May 27, DPS announced on Oct. 19 that it was backing off from its original plan.
In its letter to the Manual community, DPS stated it would implement a small, rigorous, DPS-led STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) program next year. The letter qualified the plan by stating, “A key part of these offerings would be strong career and technical education opportunities in the health sciences.”
In addition, DPS vowed to run a national search for a new principal. Don Roy, a former Hill Middle School principal, has been managing the school as its interim principal. DPS removed principal Brian Dale from Manual in January and then its assistant principal, Vernon Jones, in June. This means another hiatus for the school. This will be Manual’s sixth principal since then-DPS Superintendent Michael Bennet – now U.S. Senator Bennet – vowed to reform the school in 2006.
East Principal Andy Mendelsberg, in a recent letter to the East community, noted, “we do want to continue exploring opportunities for our two schools to work together,” but also that, “we will not be exploring anything as extensive as the 9th grade academy we previously discussed.”
New Test Results
This past spring, the Colorado Measure of Academic Success (CMAS) tests were given for the first time in 4th and 7th grade social studies and in 5th and 8th grade science. The following results were released in late October.
The State’s results are very low, and DPS’s scores are even worse. The CDE states that students who achieve Moderate Command “will likely need academic support to engage successfully in further studies in this content area,” whereas students with Limited Command “will likely need extensive academic support […].”
If more than 80 percent of DPS students need more support than what they are already receiving, what does the road ahead look like in terms of financing, staffing, and other resources?
In his community letter about CMAS, Superintendent Tom Boasberg stressed that, “these new scores cannot be compared to the old CSAP and TCAP scores.” In addition, he did not mention the actual DPS scores.
But the data is the elephant in the room. What do these scores reflect? A student body that is so far behind one has to wonder if “catching up” will ever be possible? A school district incapable of teaching its children? Or are the cut scores (the scores that determine in which category a student is placed) set so high that most of the student population cannot succeed? If so, why? Are these new tests an accurate measure of what teachers and students can achieve? Or do they continue to reflect zip codes, stating clearly that poverty matters?
High school seniors in Colorado took their first CMAS tests before Thanksgiving. Most DPS students seem to have taken the test. But many – and in some areas most – of their peers in the Cherry Creek School District, Douglas County, and Boulder Valley refused to take the tests.