You're probably sick of hearing from us, but....
We want to make sure our members, friends and their networks are well informed this on the issues and importance of the quickly approaching DPS school board election. Please make sure your friends, neighbors and anyone you know come to the last candidate forum before the polls close on November 1.
October 18, 2011
6pm - 7:30pm
University of Denver - Davis Auditorium - 2000 East Asbury Ave
Register Today!
Parking is available in Lot L (turn left on Gaylord St. off of East Asbury) for $6, otherwise there is limited street parking on surrounding streets that is free.
The candidate forum is sponsored by A+ Denver along with Get Smart Schools, Univision, Fox31, Colorado Children's Campaign, Colorado Succeeds, Metro Organizations for People, Padres Unidos, Colorado League of Charter Schools and Teach for America. We expect it to be widely covered by the media given it is the last forum.
This will be a critical election for the deciding the future of DPS and voters will need to get beyond the campaign rhetoric to make an informed decision about who should set policy and lead the Denver School Board.
In order to assist Denver voters and the larger community on recent reforms in Denver, A+ Denver released our report, Denver School Performance by School Board Member District: Results and Trends. This report describes in detail the distribution of quality schools by Denver school board member district.
The report shows that while there are enormous disparities in school quality and size by DPS board member district, there is no district that is not in need of serious reform. For instance, the most affluent district in Denver, district #1 in SE has many distinguished elementary schools but most High school graduates in SE require remedial classes for entering college.
We also have a recent report on the Denver School Board candidate responses to a questionnaire given to all of the candidates back in August by A+ Denver.
For those of you that have not been following the election in the news (yes I know there are other important things happening in the world), you can catch up here and here on the overall races and for those interested in the hotly contested NW race, see here and here for more details. While there has been some decent coverage of the races, I've been disappointed that there has not been more reporting on the real policy issues and what candidates will do to improve achievement, rather than the usual politics of a school board race.
Ballots will be arriving this week, please take the time to help your friends and neighbors make an informed choice in deciding the next DPS school board members. It will have a lasting impact on Denver becoming a truly great city.
And we understand you've probably been bombarded with a million education events lately - we promise we did not plan this and hopefully things will mellow out in November!
Thanks, Van
