Superintendent Jerry Wartgow issued the following statement in response to a newspaper story published today about Cole Middle School:

“Unfortunately, the headline over the Denver Post story this morning about Cole Middle School was misleading and inaccurate. Principal Nicole Veltzé is in her second year at Cole and has made remarkable progress. The district needs more principals – and teachers – to accept the most challenging positions and she should be commended specifically for doing just that at Cole. Principal Veltzé has the full support of the district. She has set high expectations for Cole Middle School and we have every confidence that under her leadership – and with the hard work of dedicated teachers and students – results at Cole will yield continued improvement in student achievement. All indications are that Cole Middle School is making significant academic progress. There is a long way to go but the trend at Cole is positive.

Buried in the story is the fact that projections indicate that 20 of the 21 schools in the district that were labeled unsatisfactory two years ago will not carry that label when the state releases its accountability ratings later this year. This represents significant progress. A focus on the strategies, efforts, talents, and hard work that have gone into improvements in these 20 schools would have presented a more accurate picture of the positive momentum in Denver Public Schools, than focusing on the one school that has yet to be removed from the unsatisfactory list.“

For more information, contact the Public Information Office at 720-423-3414.