I just read an article about closing/overhauling/turning around (pick what you like) Denver public schools.
In this particular article, the focus was on one Montbello High School. This is a high school located in the northwest part of metro Denver. It serves thousands of students. The plan is to “phase-out” the school,which essentially means that for this upcoming school year, Montbello will not accept any incoming freshman. These students, who were otherwise slated to go to Montbello, will be directed to one of three other schools. Meaning, of course, that the students who entered Montbello as freshman during the 2010-2011 school year will be the only class present at the school in three years time.
Perhaps now is the moment to state my connection with the Montbello school closing. This past school year, I have been working towards getting my Alternative Teacher’s License. An Alternative License is different from a “standard” license because all of the necessary college course work to be a teacher occurs after the person has already obtained a bachelor’s degree. One part of this program was an Action Research Project. Everyone in my program, myself included, spent a great deal of time and energy working on our Research Projects, which we all presented at a “conference” in May.
One of the presentations I attended focused in the impact of a “closing school” on the teachers and students affected. Her school? Montbello. It’s very well and good to espouse the viewpoint that closing Montbello will make a world of difference for future students. What about the students there now? This article fails to mention that approximately 40% of Montbello’s students are in foster care, and their teachers and their school may represent some of the only stability in their lives.
I don’t believe that phasing out or closing schools is the answer. If the school is failing, why is it failing? Who’s to know that the same mistakes won’t be repeated again at the new schools? Not only will turning around schools embolden and empower teachers and students, but there won’t be the same number of students told “You are a lost cause.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/06/denver-schools-major-overhaul_n_872076.html
