News Release
Nov. 12, 2004
Denver Public Schools' Commission On Secondary School Reform Holds Student And Teacher Forum On Friday, Nov. 19
The Denver Public Schools Commission on Secondary School Reform will hold a Student Forum and Teacher Forum on Friday, Nov. 19 at the Convention Center in downtown Denver to engage Denver's high school students and teachers in conversation about their secondary school experience. At the forum, teams of students and teachers will get together to discuss their ideas about high schools and create their ideal high school. The teams will then present these ideas to the commissioners.
The Commission's charge is to make recommendations to the DPS Board that will significantly improve the success of all students, increase graduation rates and lower dropout rates. The Commission will identify priorities for the Board of Education and Denver Public Schools' administrators for the use of the funds from the mill levy that voters approved in Nov. 2003. The mill levy initiatives included $2 million earmarked for secondary school reform. The Commission also will suggest how existing resources can be maximized to make positive changes in high school education.
The Commission has 27 members, including students, postsecondary educators, and representatives of foundations, think-tanks, businesses and community organizations.
The Commission is co-chaired by Lucia Guzman, vice president of the Denver Public Schools Board of Education, and Dorothy Horrell, president of the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation. Patricia McNeil serves as the executive director of the Commission and Elizabeth Aybar as the assistant director.
The Commission began its work last May and will make its recommendations to the Board of Education in January 2005.
The Forums will help Commissioners hear students' and teachers' perspectives about their ideal high schools. The Commission has invited each Denver high school to send five students and a teacher to the forums. Participants will spend the day (8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.) in small groups thinking about their current high schools and creating their ideal high schools. At the end of the day, students and teachers will present their ideas to Commissioners.
The Commission will hold a Community Forum in early December.
For more information about the Commission, please visit the Commission's website http://dcssr.dpsk12.org or contact Liz Aybar via phone at 303-594-1509 or via e-mail at Elizabeth_Aybar@dpsk12.org.