The Gloves Are Off
Protesters Call To End School Closures; Ready For November DPS Board Elections
By Lynn Kalinauskas
If June 15 is any indication, this November’s Denver Public Schools school board races will bring us heated debates, new and young faces – as well as little patience for the usual rhetoric.
Before the regular DPS board meeting commenced on June 15, approximately 30 community members, parents and education activists held a demonstration outside its administrative offices at 1860 Lincoln St.
They wore black, held up tombstone-shaped signs and called their protest “Mourning the Death of Public Education.” The signs bore the names of different schools that DPS has closed in the recent past.
Tay Anderson, a candidate for District 4 – which includes most of Park Hill – participated in the demonstration, holding signs for Manual High School and Gilpin Montessori. Anderson, 18, is a recent graduate of Manual High School, where he was the student body president. His platform includes safeguarding neighborhood schools, investing in teachers, advocating for homeless students, fostering diversity and improving the DPS lunch program.
“Several neighborhood schools have closed in District 4 and the reform ideology has led to several more closings,” Anderson said. “I don’t believe in closing neighborhood schools to implement private charter schools.”
“I love neighborhood schools,” said Rachel Lehman, who supports Anderson’s campaign and whose daughter walked to Smiley Middle School at 26th and Holly in Park Hill, before it was closed a few years ago.
Over and over, that is what the protesters were calling for: an end of neighborhood school closures and the return to community-centered schools.
Jo Ann Fujioka, candidate for an at-large seat, also stood with the protesters before going to speak at the public comment session during the board meeting. “Our mission is to restore the foundation of public schools and community by recreating the neighborhood school,” reads her campaign website.
From street to board room
The scene painted by the outside demonstration was mirrored inside at the board meeting. In a microcosm of what regularly plays out in the district, both neighborhood school and charter school advocates were placing their bids for the restart of Amesse Elementary, a low-performing school in the Far Northeast quadrant of the city.
The Montbello Children’s Network, partnering with nearby McGlone Academy, advocated for starting a neighborhood school. Many showed up in light blue shirts to speak and show support for the school.
STRIVE Prep charter school students and supporters, wearing white, also showed up to advocate for restarting Amesse as a STRIVE Prep elementary school. The STRIVE charter network currently has eight schools within DPS.
The board members will vote in the near future on the fate of the school.
No more closure, please
Gilpin Montessori parents who saw their school in the Curtis Park neighborhood permanently close at the beginning of June – and who have become vocal advocates to oppose school closures – were joined by others also calling for alternatives to school closures. Anderson stood by their side, in solidarity, as they spoke.
Amy Carrington, a former public school teacher, parent of two young children and an education committee leader for Indivisible Front Range Resistance, quoted a recent National Education Policy Center policy brief on school closures:
“School closure as a strategy for remedying achievement in low performing schools is at best a high risk, low gain strategy that fails to hold promise with respect to increasing student achievement or promoting the non-cognitive well-being of students.
“The strategy invites political conflict and incurs hidden costs for both districts and local communities, especially low-income communities and communities of color that are differentially affected by school closings. It stands to reason that in many, if not most instances, students, parents, local communities, district and state policy makers may be better off investing in persistently low performing schools rather than closing them.”
Fujioka, with Anderson by her side, did not mince words. “I address you today to express my deep concern in the action of the current Denver board … Your policy on school closures and consolidations have effectively destroyed neighborhood schools and communities.
“Because the schools you are targeting are attended primarily by students of color, your actions have essentially brought racial segregation back to the Denver public schools. Under the guise of offering school choice to these children in schools with low test scores, you have taken away any choice they might have had and forced them into charter schools that can and do have staff who are not licensed to teach in Colorado.”
Fujioka referred to a recent Nation Report article that states DPS has closed or restructured close to 50 schools in the last 10 years of education reform. Noting that these have been replaced mostly by charters, Fujioka added, “More than half of these charter schools are managed by corporate management companies that have no obligation to follow the Denver Public Schools curriculum. This is taxpayer dollars going to private corporations, pure and simple.
“Preparing for gentrification of neighborhoods by closing schools that serve students of color and replacing them with choice-charter schools is not acceptable. Denver schools are not for sale,” she concluded.
Choice and campaign cash
Alison Wadle, a former Gilpin parent, called the choice system “forced choice.”
“It is a premeditated, systematic discriminatory practice – meant to make DPS look better on a global scale at any cost,” she said, referring to the closure of schools and choice system she feels is imposed on communities. “I hope you all feel at least a shred of guilt for taking away the only choice that any of us really wanted,” she said.
Kate Burnite, who just graduated from George Washington High School, addressed the issues of campaign financing. Noting the Koch brothers plan to fund pro-charter literature leading up to the campaign, Burnite also slammed the board for their association with and support from Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), which she called a shell organization for corporate and billionaire interests.
“DFER funds through a pack that has small donor in its title but almost all of its money comes from a group called Education Reform Now, which receives million dollar donations from corporate billionaires like the Walmart Walton family,” she said.
“I implore you, along with all of the people here tonight, to remember that you represent the people who voted for you, not the people who funded your campaign.”
Welcoming diverse voices
Rachele Espiritu, current District 4 representative, was appointed to the seat when Landri Taylor resigned the position in February 2016. I asked her about her thoughts regarding the demonstrations and the meeting.
“As a DPS parent myself, I know how much impact a board vote can have on the future of our kids. So I welcome a broad diversity of views and work diligently to take all perspectives into account,” Espiritu said.
After the demonstration, DPS issued the following: “DPS applauds our families, students and community members who attend our public comment sessions and we believe our schools are made stronger through such engagement. That’s one reason we created the Community Review Boards this year to assist in decisions about new schools at Amesse and Greenlee. The community boards have recommended two high-quality, district-run applicants for these schools and Superintendent Tom Boasberg supports these community recommendations.”
Time will tell
How all this will play out is up in the air. Four school board seats are up for election this November in Districts 2, 3 and 4 and one at-large. Current board members Mike Johnson (District 3), Rachele Espiritu (District 4) and Barbara O’Brien (at-large) will be running. Rosemary Rodriguez (District 2) will not be seeking re-election.
To date, the following are running against them: Angela Cobian (District 2), Tay Anderson (District 4), Jennifer Bacon (District 4), Julie Banuelos (at-large) and Jo Ann Fujioka (at-large).
Whatever the outcome, we are sure to see Denver’s youth speaking out more than previously and lines clearly drawn in the sand.
Lynn Kalinauskas is education chair of GPHC, Inc. For more on the DPS plan to close Gilpin Montessori, see the March issue, online at greaterparkhill.org.