Superintendent Jerry Wartgow will continue to serve Denver Public Schools indefinitely after an overwhelmingly positive evaluation from the Board of Education at last night's Board meeting. Wartgow assumed all duties as superintendent on June 11, 2001. The Board said they hope he will continue to serve in this capacity for "many, many more years" to come.

"In one short year the confidence in DPS has increased dramatically," said Board President Elaine Gantz Berman. "He has shown real leadership in the way he has tackled the challenges of the district. He has assembled a top-notch senior staff. He has been a quick study by visiting schools and listening to teachers, principals, community members, church, business, and political leaders. He is a workaholic and is deeply committed to the children and the mission of DPS."

Berman listed many of Wartgow's accomplishments saying "we are extremely satisfied with the progress made over the past year, under the leadership of Dr. Wartgow. We are more certain than ever that Dr. Wartgow is the right leader for DPS. The Board could not be happier with the job he has done and we look forward to many more years with Dr. Wartgow as the leader of the district."

The list of accomplishments follows:

• A renewed focus on instruction – This focus includes implementation of a comprehensive district wide Literacy Program which includes the selection and training of instructional coaches starting in all our low-performing schools, as well as extensive professional development, which includes ten-day summer institutes involving coaches, principals, district staff, and others. For the first time, the district has appointed a Chief Academic Officer through an innovative partnership with the Institute for Learning, based in Pittsburgh.
  
• Re-organization of the district into four geographic areas – This re-organization decentralized staff out of the central office into four field offices based in the community thereby providing more direct support to schools. This decentralization was completed recently with additional people deployed into the field, including staff in the areas of curriculum, English Language Acquisition, testing and assessment, and the budget office. More than 50 staff that were previously housed at 900 Grant have been decentralized into these four geographic areas.
  
• Realignment of the district budget around the district goals – Those goals are to set high expectations, improve the performance of all students, and close the gap between better and poorer performing students. In addition, the budget was re-organized to be more understandable and available to the public. A balanced budget was presented to the Board of Education earlier this spring.
  
• Improved relations with the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) - This is evident in the successful completion of teacher contract negotiations using interest-based bargaining with the help of a facilitator. Contract negotiations were completed earlier in the year than in the past and union members approved the contract by more than 97 percent. Once again, beginning DPS teachers will have the highest starting salary of any district in Colorado.
  
• Continued focus on the Pay for Performance (PFP) pilot – This continued focus includes attracting major national resources for this groundbreaking pilot. Also, the Design Team for the PFP pilot will now report directly to the Chief Academic Officer in order to be fully integrated into the District's overall strategy around instruction.
  
• Increased significantly philanthropic contributions to the district – All these additional resources - more than 10 million dollars – are focused on district goals.
  
• Improved the process for recruiting principals – Principals are now recruited by conducting national searches for all vacancies.
  
• Reorganized the DPS Foundation - A broad-based coalition of community leaders has joined the foundation board. With a new focus for the Foundation, there is considerable momentum to attract even more resources and build partnerships to support the district.
  
• Made significant progress implementing the court ordered English Language Acquisition (ELA) program.
  
• Recruitment of an exemplary group to join the senior staff and augment other outstanding staff at the cabinet level
  Wartgow acknowledged that his success has only been possible because of the support he received from the Board, the community, and staff members. The Board offered Wartgow a pay raise and bonus. He refused asking the board to use the money for the district's senior staff. The Board did insist his open-ended contract include ten extra days of vacation.

"Let me begin by thanking members of the Board," said Wartgow. "I am ecstatic about the ability to continue to serve. It's been an exciting experience for my family and me. We have started something big and we have great momentum and I look forward to the future."