Stedman’s Principal Returns In Style

Michael Atkins Reflects On Life In DPS, And Park Hill

On June 1, after having spent the year as Stedman Elementary School’s Principal Resident, Michael Atkins will officially begin his tenure as the school’s permanent new principal. Having spent summers in his youth playing basketball in the school’s yard, he says he chose Stedman because “I felt I was back at home.” 

In a recent meeting with Atkins I discussed his childhood growing up in Park Hill, his education during the busing era, and his desire to drive positive change in the educational experience of children in the neighborhood. 

Bused to Bromwell

Atkins grew up on 30th Avenue and Newport Street. He has been part of Denver Public Schools since he was four years old, attending kindergarten at the old Philips Elementary at Monaco and Montview. Because of the 1973 Supreme Court case Keyes v. School District No. 1 that instituted busing to counter de facto segregation within Denver’s schools, Atkins attended Bromwell Elementary in the Cherry Creek North neighborhood for first through fifth grades. 

Every day, Atkins and other African American children from the neighborhood took a bus to Bromwell. “All the African Americans came from Park Hill,” remembers Atkins, who says he developed authentic relationships with two of his five elementary teachers. 

Growing up in northeast Park Hill, which was predominantly African American, Atkins remembers Bromwell as the place where he had his first interactions with people of a different race. 

Segregation within schools

Although the goal of busing was to desegregate children, Atkins recalls there was segregation within the schools. When he attended Hamilton Middle School in southeast Denver, he says, “The first floor was reserved for white students who took honors courses. The second floor’s east wing was for blacks and the west wing for Latinos.”

In the early nineties, while Atkins was in middle school, Park Hill experienced an increase in gang related violent crimes, including 74 murders in 1993, which became known as the summer of violence. Growing up surrounded by so much bloodshed affected Atkins. 

“I internalized the anxiety walking through the neighborhood. I wasn’t the best scholar. I got into fights. I didn’t feel wanted.” Atkins says he had enough social awareness at the time to know he was not being set up for success. “How do I navigate this place?” he wondered about Hamilton. “I rebelled. School wasn’t my number one priority.” 

Atkins nonetheless remembers the impact of Mr. King, his 7th grade science teacher, and first African American teacher. “He had swagger,” says Atkins who recalls admiring and respecting him. 

Like his grandmother, mother, uncles and cousins, Atkins graduated from East High School. Gang fights were still occurring and Atkins was grateful for his older sibling. “I was terrified of going to school with grown men,” he says, “But humbled to have an older brother for protection.” 

Atkins remembers stepping up for his African American teachers and coaches in high school. He felt a different level of accountability towards them. Speaking about Mrs. Rhone, his African American history teacher, he notes, “After lunch, I was never late, or else she would call me out and I didn’t want to disappoint. I knew there was a level of belief there.”  

Of his mostly white teachers, Atkins says, “I knew they weren’t there to oppress me, but school wasn’t set up to serve me.” 

College, custodian, educator

After graduating high school in 1998, Atkins became a father at 19 years old. Needing a job and having grown up around his mother’s daycare, he applied to be a paraprofessional in DPS. Unable to obtain such a position, he became a part-time custodian at Smiley Middle School. He attended college at Metropolitan State College of Denver and eventually also worked as a full-time custodian at Rachel B. Noel school.  

When Atkins was promoted to assistant facility manager at Lowry Elementary, he came face-to-face with Carolyn Riedlin, his old second grade teacher, one of the two teachers with whom he had bonded. She was happy to see him and asked about his family. Two weeks later, she gave Atkins a reading and writing paraprofessional position. The job paid less than he was earning, but aligned with his interests. 

This chance encounter changed Atkins’ career path. He changed his college major from business, for which he had settled, to behavioral science. He then went on to obtain his teaching certificate. He taught at Hill Middle School and Godsman Elementary on the city’s west side. While working, he continued his education at CU Boulder, where he obtained a Master’s degree. He then attended the University of Denver’s Ritchie Program to one day become a principal. 

While serving as assistant principal at SOAR at Oakland Elementary in Montbello, he caught himself treating black boys the way he had been treated in school. He then decided to work to change systemic biases within his school. He partnered with the University of Denver and had all his teachers attend the university’s Intercultural development inventory program to help them better understand their own cultures and adapt to other cultures. The program reaped rewards, says Atkins, with a decline of school suspensions from 77 to six. 

DPS’ Learn to Lead Program then allowed Atkins to strategically develop from an assistant principal to a principal. He has worked alongside Stedman’s interim principal Greta Martinez for the last year and was officially hired to be its principal in January, with a start date of this month. 

“When I walked into Stedman and saw white, African American, and Latino children,” says Atkins, “I knew this was my opportunity to shift the experience and to diversify in a different capacity; to drive community in a way that recognizes and celebrates differences.” 

Connections and trust

When Atkins first arrived at Stedman, word on the street was the school was targeted for closure. But enrollment numbers have been climbing for the past two years, a sign that the neighborhood has embraced the school. Atkins nonetheless sees some signs of segregation within the school that he hopes to change. 

Stedman’s Spanish language immersion program is mostly populated by white middle class families compared to its more traditional program. “I want to change that narrative,” says Atkins. He has been working to spread the word through “connections and trust,” he says, “not flyers and emails.” He says he can already see changes for next year with many Early Childhood Education students now staying to attend kindergarten. 

Looking at classrooms and the school, he wants to create shared spaces for the students that will help them socially and emotionally to be better students. “Black students have to see themselves in an academic environment,” he states. “It’s important for African American students to not work from a lens of compliance.” Atkins wants all children to have a voice in creating their shared space. 

Weaving the history of time

Atkin’s story is a compelling weave of the history of the times. Growing up in Park Hill, his youth and education were influenced by policies and phenomena beyond his control. 

“That journey has not been easy. It’s been emotional and adaptively difficult,” he reflects. “Because you’re still trying to fit into an environment that wasn’t created for you.” 

Yet here he now stands at another crossroads, at the helm of one of Denver’s most diverse elementary schools in a gentrifying neighborhood where he once grew up.  Here, he will have the opportunity to use his own experiences and connections to further the learning opportunities of hundreds of children. 

Lynn Kalinauskas, the author of this opinion piece, is the education chair for Greater Park Hill Community, Inc.