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new leadership, new members, new hope.
What to watch for as a new board is seated
- The Fate of McAuliffe: Will the new Board vote to revoke McAuliffe's innovation status? Will they permanently fire interim principal Micah Klaver and other staff members in retaliation?
- Superintendent Marrero: What will the new Board do with Marrero? What can they do? Remember, thanks to the brilliance of the Board's decision last spring to extend Marrero's contract, along with a hefty raise, Denver taxpayers are now on the hook to pay out his contract if he's fired. Let that sink in a bit, and then feel free to punch a wall or howl at the moon. Can the new Board at least reign him in, put some accountability metrics in place that limit the damage he can do? Or is it better to just fire him and suck up the cost? Or will they do nothing?
- Safety: How will the new Board tackle the ever present issue of safety in our schools? What will they do with the Discipline Matrix? As recently as a month before the election, Superintendent Marrero and the Board were still advocating for students who are charged with attempted murder to return to classrooms in their neighborhood schools. That needs to change. How will the new Board members live up to their campaign promises in this regard?
- Innovation Zones: In addition to the specific questions around McAuliffe, how will the old/new Board members vote on the future of innovation Zones in Denver? These zones and schools have been a critical part of DPS's portfolio of schools for years, yet the current Board has seemed hell-bent on destroying them because they can't "control" them.
- Oh, let's not forget about ACADEMICS: How will the new Board show that they prioritize actual academic outcomes? We know the current Board members think this is a secondary issue - how will our new Board members elevate academics as a priority?
"Both lives should haunt DPS Board members who consistently rejected the advice of school leaders, neglected safety data and abandoned their legal responsibility for the safety of Denver students, teachers and staff."
Denver Post OpEd: Denver's Board of Education ignored safety warnings before East High shooting and should resign
"When students return to school this week, their Principals will remain limited in what they can do with potentially violent students inside their own schools."
Next With Kyle Clark: DPS principals limited in what can be done with potentially violent students
"After listening to this meeting, we now understand the “Resign DPS” signs that have been popping up in yards across the city and in hashtags on social media. This is not a board serving the public or even taking school safety seriously. The members engaged in an egregious abdication of their responsibilities as elected officials."
OPINION: DENVER’S BOARD OF EDUCATION BROKE THE LAW AND VIOLATED OUR TRUST
"Just when you thought Denver’s hapless, rudderless and feckless school board had run out of ways to display its ineptitude, it found another. It broke the law."
The Denver Gazette: EDITORIAL: Denver’s school board shuts us out
"...We need leadership. Genuine leadership – not finger-pointing excuses, self-serving press conferences, or muddled and ambiguous promises of future policies. [T]he buck stops with [our] elected school board."
Boardhawk OpEd: As East High parents, we demand the school board resign. More than 1,600 others agree
