Jen Walmer
Colorado State Director, Democrats for Education Reform Denver
That we're not doing enough fast enough keeps me up all the time. It's not even about the outcomes for students, it's are we keeping students safe in the classroom? There was a child attacked on the bus last week. It's the constant kind of pressure about what we're doing for the kids in Denver who come to those school buildings every day and I'm not sure if we're doing enough, fast enough, and I'm fearful that we're going to spend too much time resting on the laurels and the small increases and academic performance and while those are incredibly important, we still have a generation of kids sitting in our buildings every day that aren't getting what they need. We have schools that have 11 percent proficiency in reading, and that's a crisis.
I'm deeply concerned about NEA's annual conference and what we're seeing nationally about charter schools being the No. 1 thing for them to be opposed to — that's not in the best interest of kids. I don't think at any time in history, especially this time in history, we should be separating and dividing people around what's best. Let's focus on what is a high-quality education. By all means I want to be partners with them — if charters aren't serving kids well, they should be closed. DPS has actually closed more charter schools than they've traditional schools, so I think they're focused on high quality — it's what's really important — but I think the union is misguided.
