Back in 2002, with an $84.5 million bond for school construction, many of us tried to get a "small schools" conversation started - all the research showed small schools outperforming the large comprehensive model of two thousand students.
When the superintendent told the school board that a "second high school" would cost an extra million dollars a year right off the bat, members decided not to "go there" and a public conversation about school models never happened, except in the Letters to the Editor pages. The public information campaign to get out the vote then assured voters that "small schools research didn't apply in communities like ours."
Fast forward five years -- community organizers today have created a very comprehensive proposal for a "small high school" (450 students) and will be engaged in the next few weeks in presenting their model to the Colorado Charter School Institute.
Browse the website of Animas High School. Read the Durango Herald's recent excellent editorial. Take a look at the educational philosophy and research behind this proposal and think about our options.
Those of us who believe in choices, flexibility, and innovation are excited by the positive energy being directed toward such a wonderful project. Read about their model - the original High Tech High in San Diego.
“Building strong school communities means fighting the social trend of bigger everything.”
--Ron Berger, An Ethic of Excellence
AND if you wish to show support, the best way is to attend a public forum sponsored by the Colorado Charter Institute Monday 9/24/07 at 6:30 to the Durango Rec Center. They need to hear what parents, students and community members think about the need for educational choices for our Durango students.
NOTE: The CCI forum had standing room only. See Herald 9/25/07 Parents turn out in force to support Animas High
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25 comments:
I think choice is crucial for our community. Parents need the option of other educational opportunities for their kids when DHS fails to provide an adequate education.
Would my kids attend Animas High? Probably not because they are too involved in DHS activities, but I'd like to see it as an alternative for other kids.
The more choices we have, the higher expectations we can have. Choice is a good thing.
Kudos to those who've researched and put together this new school. I hope it goes well.
Animas High has yet to open its doors yet is being touted as the best thing since sliced bread. To me it sounds like Amway...turn your friends into clients. Its reasons for opening are not about responding to a competive environment but creating one.
A sense of genuine self-determination results from playing a role in deciding HOW schooling happens, not from having one's parents decide WHERE it happens. Turning education into one more commodity does nothing to foster real choice. It simply invokes a comfortable faith in the magic of competition to make educational problems disappear.
American education is so segregated and stratified today that the elite mingle mostly with one another. Parents seem to care a lot more about who might attend Animas High (namely, their own children and a few others who look like them) than about how they are taught. A list of explanations for the actions of these parents, then, would include a simple desire to do what's best for one's children and a preoccupation with what is most flattering to oneself, as well as a prejudice about those children who aren't like us. With a limited enrollment selected by lottery (at least that's what we're told) it will be interesting to see who gets in as well as who gets left out. Will the student population represent ethnic diversity, learning styles, and special needs? Or will Animas High become a public subsidy for private ambition. It is elite parents who see the most to gain from the special distinctions offered by a stratified educational system, and they are therefore the ones who play the game of academic one up-manship most aggressively. Unlike the more blatantly racist parents of an earlier generation, who resisted school desegregation policies because they did not want their children in school with "colored" children, today's influential parents are more subtle and savvy in their manipulation of their children's educational path. Witness those parents who avoid Park Elementary (their district school) and truck their children to Riverview through the benefits of open enrollment.
Our public schools are a place you attend to find out who inhabits this society other than people like you. Parents who opt for "choice" in schooling, wanting to make sure that only their children, or an arbitrarily limited group of similar children recieve the best possible education is not legitimate and should not be honored.
To the second anonymous person's comments: Given that the 9R school district bag of bread is rather moldy right now, then yes, Animas High does "sound like the best thing since sliced bread".
As you so rightly said, Animas High will create a competitive environment, but ONLY because the 9R school district does not. With Animas High creating a place that parents actually want to send their children to, verses a district where we have little or no choice unless we have money in our pocket for private education, I feel that Animas High will benefit all students, because DHS will now have to live up to it. Competition is healthy.
DHS has some good teachers, and some on tenure who ought to do the honorable thing and resign. DHS now has a principal, who by all accounts, is up to leading these good teachers onto greater and better things. We have teachers there who have been suffocated under the current administration, and who might now or certainly a year from now, be encouraged to flourish and do what they know best--teach.
If Animas High opened tomorrow, I would pull my child from DHS in a heart beat. Why? Because, there is HOPE. There is attitude. There is positivity. The smell of a successful education never smelt so sweet. There is a chance to succeed, based upon the willingness of those involved in Animas High, and the model the school will be based upon.
Why would A Parent, not wish for the best education for their child verses a mediocre one? Why would you put them down for wanting a decent education?
9R is depressing. Some of the administrators are either crazy or downright rude. They always say "No" and they cannot think outside the box. Some are simply mean, bullies no less. They rule the district with an iron fist of intimidation, with total disregard to (1) teachers (2) students (3) parents (4) community wishes. The district administration is afraid of Animas High, which is a good thing, because perhaps now, they will start to put programs in place that benefit the gifted and talented students, the special education students, and the "normal" students, i.e. all those who get left behind.
You are wrong by saying: "having one's parents decide WHERE it happens". Totally wrong. If your child has to receive an education by law, then why not provide them with the best education? Why mock those parents who open enroll their children to Riverview, when Riverview has the best CSAP results in the area? Why waste or ruin your child's life, by putting him or her in a school that fails year after year?
Do you even have children in the school district today?
State education problems will never disappear. They just get worse. The bureaucracy that eats up state education also strangles it.
Our school district has a "cabinet" of bullies, made up of a superintendent, finance director, public information officer and a human resource director--those four are the bane of our school district. The rest of the "cabinet", if given enough rope, could lead our district onto greater things. When we get a new superintendent, hopefully he or she will "clean up", and give us an administration that actually wants to work for the best possible outcome for our students.
How many good students drop out of DHS, because the school cannot support them?
There has always been a social strata. Class, race, religion, old money--have always ruled the roost. I disagree that potential Animas parents care a lot more about "looks" rather than education. You really have not been paying attention, if you think the 120+ people who turned up tonight for the first in a series of meetings about the Charter School don't care about education, and only about who their children go to school with.
Oh wow. I can't read more of your post, because I'm wondering if you have taken your med's tonight. Will Animas Valley be diverse? Represent all cultures? Social economic interests? Learning styles?
Read the literature. This type of school not only has the winning ingredient to successfully educate ALL students that you so blatantly think they will disregard, High Tech High schools are largely made up of the students that school district 9R so eloquently put down every time they try to explain their appalling CSAP results or AYP results at the High School.
Dr. Barter: "Oh! It's those 14 special education students who made us fail AYP at DHS".
One day 9R will realize that they left a big section of our community out on the trash heap. Constantly blaming the students, and failing them--their parents.
Animas High say they want parental involvement, unlike 9R who only want you if you are dumbed down enough not to think about the value of academic achievement. God forbid you complain at 9R. Animas High say they want students who WANT to learn. They don't have a lottery either. Anyone can apply. And, anyone can stay, they just have to work hard. You can't say that about DHS. You can get an A or B grade at DHS, which results in a "below proficient" at CSAP level. That tells you a lot about grading within 9R.
I want a school that challenges my child. That raises the bar above the paltry 50% mark. That provides an excellent environment in which to learn. That holds my child accountable. I want a school that BELIEVES in the students, rather than berates them or blames them for their lack of success. I want a school that my child can be proud to be apart of, rather than a school my child wants to drop out of.
Animas High School will be that school. The people involved in setting it up, have a tremendous vision, and our community deserves that.
Dr. Barter didn't want two high school's during the Bond Issue. So I don't know why the cabinet is so upset.....oh...yes...it all boils down to money. The administration don't actually care about our students, they only care about the bottom line.
It was amazing to see so many people turn up at the Rec Center last night for the Animas High School meeting in support of the new charter school. I haven't seen that many people interested in education since the football coach debacle.
I support the new charter school, because I believe in educational choice, small school environment, and a model of education that has been proven to work.
I'm excited for all our children who will be lucky enough to attend.
I have watched and tried to study what Animas High will mean to my children and their friends. I have no doubt that Animas High is based on a strong model. I DO doubt that it can be successful and strong in our community. I would love the energy and passion that has been, and is, involved in the creation of Animas High to work on Durango High. I know some of you will say that that energy would be wasted, but the tide appears to be turning.
I am not convinced that creating a new school will contribute positively to the educational environment of Durango. I do believe that just talking about it IS contributing to the school district working to improve what is offered to our children. So...thank you for your work and pointing out how things can be done differently.
I don't want any children in our community to suffer because of Animas High. And, the truth is, taking funds from Durango School District 9-R for Animas High will effect the many students left in grades kindergarten through 12th grade in the rest of the district. I think this proposal would work in a much larger community, but I have not been convinced that it would be positive for a relatively small community such as ours.
I respectfully disagree with poster who "doubts ... Animas High can be successful and strong ...and contribute positively to the educational environment?"
Whoa. Where have you been? Not at any AHS presentation or you would have had your questions answered.
If your children are fine with DHS , that is wonderful!!! Some thrive at DHS, but some don't. This is about creating choices for those who don't - who could catch up and blossom in a different educational setting - have you read about the first generation college bound students succeeding in the High Tech High model... miracles seldom happen in a big box setting too large to hear from staff or parents, much less from students.
Wouldn't it be great to see a District leader who actually "gets it" that the "small school" model is very different than just repeating the make believe that "our big school operates with schools within the school?"
The Committee for Strategic Change worked hard, but administrators at the top are so comfortable with the status quo that they have effectively blocked the kind of changes teachers would love to see.
I will probably stay at DHS a few more years, but have to say I'm very intrigued by the AHS model - mostly because it offers a realistic and fair way to raise the bar for students who are currently failing to succeed. Read about the San Diego students and then picture our own local first generation college bound students, getting what they deserve and need in resources and support. Let's not keep losing our great kids who need adults behind them. I would like to be part of a team committed and supported to making such miracles happen.
#2 “Anonymous” you sound very angry and prejudiced against parents willing to work hard for children to have choices. There seems to be a disconnect between your view and reality. Have you ever met the supporters of charter schools – any of the Animas High supporters? Students who need a different model? Are you painting anyone who questions the big box model as bad? If you were to understand what Animas High is about - you would see it is the exact opposite of your description.
There are close to 5000 Special Interests in the district, namely all the children attending 9-R. Parents advocate every day. Parents will develop new schools based on the everyday needs of their children, especially if they see them failing to thrive. The Liberty School is a great example of parents advocating for the best educational choices. Parents who waited and waited for 9-R to respond finally took it on themselves to develop a new school this year – yes, in time for some of their own children to get the education they deserve. What is wrong with that? 9-R has counted on parents not having the time and means to change the system and now they feel threatened because there are more choices coming.
Parents make a difference in their children's lives every day. What's your point Anonymous #2? You say these are Elitists parents because they care about our own children? Thought that was our job as parents.
Animas High will begin enrolling students next year, the year after that and the year after that. Providing an opportunity for Excellence in Education. Begun by parents who cared enough about their own children to look ahead and see they could make a difference in the lives of hundreds of students who will be their children’s peers.
Open your mind and open your heart #2; you may surprise yourself.
Mimi, Parents Advocating for Student Success, 247-1691
You rock Mimi. The best thing about the Liberty School opening for dyslexic and gifted and talented children is that the Director, Joyce Bilgrave, offered to start a pilot program in 9R school district years and years ago, and the good Doctor turned her down.
Shame, because if Joyce had begun a pilot program our children would have more than an elementary reading and spelling age by now.
I wish Animas High School the best of luck, and I really hope that they get their Charter from the state, because then 9R won't be able to use it as a dumping ground and kill it, like they did with COL, EXCEL and soon to be their very own Durango Academy.
Great news in Saturday's Herald. I'm so glad to see the back of Doney. Three down, one to go.
To the person who left the comment above me.... did you ever consider the fiscal situation of the school district before Doney? I always find it interesting when people who have no financial education try to tell those who have had the training and experience how things should go. I just hope that the next person in the Finance Director's position can juggle all of the fiscal issues facing the district as well as Diane did.
I do hope the district is in as fantastic shape as we're led to believe; I know it was in a miserable shambles before this finance director was hired - she's always seemed quite reasonable and very professional; the problems have been with her boss's utter disregard for anyone else outside her inner circle.
When all is said and done, the legacy of this administration means the next superintendent, finance director and public information officer will have to convince the public that the days of denial and extravagant claims are over. But Doney was not the problem. She just did what she was supposed to do and if her decisions carried too much weight, it wasn't her fault.
The comment was not about Doney's financial acumen, but about her personality and character. Have you ever sat in a meeting with her? She treated us very badly. A lot of staff will be relieved to see her gone.
I have sat in numerous meetings with her and was always treated in a professional manner. What meetings would you be referring to? Based on my experience Diane was diplomatic and always willing to speak with those who had concerns.
Can some of you folks please try to be constructive with your comments? Diane Doney, Mary Barter, and Deborah Uroda are not the enemies of our kids! I don't agree with all their positions, expressions of support, or ways of dealing with situations. In fact, sometimes I've even been angry. But...I think it is destructive to our community to be so narrow minded that everything is painted in black and white. For "anoymous" to say "3 down 1 to go" discredits the work that these people have tried to do. I know some of them personally and know that they try to do the very best they can. Isn't that what we all are trying to do????
When any of us try to depict these folks as the "devils", we are bound to show our ignorance and shallowness. They too are trying to do the best for our kids, even if I don't agree with them.
PLEASE, can we tone down the rhetoric and be more constructive? We owe it to our kids and ourselves to be positive change agents.
Devils??? Where'd you read that, Ms. Hypersensitivity?
We’re asked to be constructive – great! But let’s not suspend our critical faculties. We blew through $84 million about four years ago to double our square footage, but in the aftermath we've lost the kids. And now we're in a panic about losing more students to a charter school (as if charter schools are “the devil” to use your words ) Barter, Doney and Uroda drew top salaries and were given a free rein with our children's lives. "Trying to do their very best" won't cut it any longer. We deserved and expected educational leadership, but Barter and team failed us....that's why Mary is leaving early and that's why people are happy. It's what happens when the PR dies.
Glad you brought up the schools and the bond. A hugely successful campaign with tons of us spreading the word and then what we did we get? Buildings don't teach kids anymore than great teachers just spring up out of the ground. I can't wait for the superintendent search to really get underway. Cross your fingers and hope we get lucky. The kids deserve the best.
"9-R to be placed on improvement plan", reads today's Herald. I think we should have been placed on an "improvement plan" 8 years ago.
Given that special education does nothing to remediate children, despite all the paperwork, 4 hour IEP meetings that mean nothing, and lip service, we will forever fail this large section of our school district, and we cannot and must not continue to PRETEND that we are offering anything of value to, say, the dyslexic students (albeit that's only about 234 students diagnosed...and maybe 600 un-diagnosed, as estimated by the NIH).
If they want my son to get more than a U on his math CSAP, every year for the past 7 years....then I reckon 9-R will have to offer a scientifically proven method of teaching, but they don't care about that, even though it would prevent so many of our students dropping out in 10th grade, or moving to private schools or home schooling.
They are content that over 90% of our DHS special ed. (and that doesn't mean "Stupid, lazy or crazy") students fail their CSAP.
The head of English even had the nerve to proudly say this year, that "partially proficient" is acceptable. NO it's not! We will always fail, if we keep the bar so damn low.
I just hate it when the District says: “We will continue to identify early in the year those students at risk of scoring unsatisfactory, and then determine the changes we need to make in our instruction to improve their performance".....ha ha ha ha. Yes. For sure.
In 7 years of sitting math CSAP nobody ever listened to my concerns that the state say my son does not understand the basic structure of math. I even suggested he had Dyscalcular, and I was blown off.
And as for "tutoring" programs...I can't stop laughing.
It's lip service. No more and no less. And until we provide highly qualified teachers who can teach a scientifically proven method of teaching to this section of our school children, we will always fail AYP.
LISTEN!! DO SOMETHING!! ACT!!
"Oh...it's just Anne causing problems.......what does she know...she's just a parent..let's just ignore her for 8 years...."
Uh huh.
I do blame the Super and her Cabinet for not listening and acting. We have been asking for years for services for these bright children who can't read. Why should we care how they feel? They never cared how we feel or they would have done something. This blog is for this type of dicussion and it does create change. 2 Presidents of our School Board-Gone! 1 HS Principal-Gone! 1 BOCES Director-Gone! 1 angry Social Worker-Gone!
1 Special Ed Teacher-Gone!
A new Postition created for Special Ed Director for 9-R.
Doney just adds to the list of folks wanting to leave before the ship sinks. These people did listen and couldn't handle it!
1 CFO-Gone!
Doney has left, in my opinion, because she knew the story was coming out soon concerning AYP. How will the District pay for the supplemental services and School of Choice now they have failed to make AYP for 3 consecutive years? What does this classification really mean and what can Parents now expect from 9-R? In today's paper Mary Barter is ,in my opinion blaming a small number of students who score unsatisfactory. Our Latino Population and Our Spec Ed children. "Don't worry about their scores, we are doing a great job meeting the needs of the majority." However, it does matter, if of course your child falls into 1 of these 2 Unsatisfactory Categories.
Sorry Mary Barter, NCLB means ALL Children and obviously 9-R has problems with meeting the needs of ALL Children.
One more jumps ship before this Captain and her vessel sinks, makes perfect sense to me.
Hmmm. I wonder why the 10th grade math CSAP scores for students on an IEP have been left off the 9R/PIO website results. Maybe because 97% of them failed?
Are you all for real???? Do you operate in reality????
How many of you actually know anything about the inherent flaws in CSAP in measuring how our children are really doing? How many of you really even support measuring the success of our kids based on one test that the state says will tell us how well our kids are doing? Do we use these measures when it suits our purposes? Are we acklowledging how difficult it is to meet all needs? Is this blog just a site where people belly ache but don't provide constructive solutions and saying when the district actually does things right???? I am an employee of the district. I try diligently to meet the needs of each child, and I feel undermined by your narrowminded criticism. We're not all bad!!! And neither are our administrators...
Walk in our shoes and then maybe you would understand why we "Complain and Belly Ache" They put us through hell using CSAP as a big determinator for how well our son does. (Knowing it is flawed)No CSAp is not the only test our son has been administered. On the contrary he is tested quite extensively. And they still say there is not enough DATA. Give me a break! Until you walk in our shoes while attending meetings after meetings with a small rugby team you don't know what it is like.
They patronize,demean, ignore parents, you name it. Too bad you work for the system that ties employees hands for change. Maybe after Mary is gone things will change. I will continue to use this site as a forum to express my discontent. You don't like it, don't log on. Until you have walked in our shoes for the many years we have been trying to provide services for our son, don't spit your discontent toward us. Get outside the box you may find one size does not fit all. Isn't it great about Animas High School. Geselle, you rock! Parents making a Difference
I agree with anonymous...and I will take bellyacher's advice by never logging on again. What started as a blog for thoughtful discussion centered around educational issues has morphed into a soapbox for a small group of self-righteous malcontents who feel as if they are beyond reproach. Goodbye
Here's a piece of constructive commenting to do something right. I have asked since 1999 for our school district to hire highly qualified teachers for teaching dyslexic children using a "scientifically proven method of teaching" (Federal law)...those who can actually remediate dyslexic students, so that they can read, write and spell above an Elementary grade age when they are at DHS.
Nothing was done. They didn't hire anyone. I didn't ask them to hire 11 such teachers, but 3. One in each level of our school system, so that we might open enroll our dyslexic students to the Elementary or Middle School that had such a teacher.
Nada. Squat. Nothing. Zilch. So, because of their lack of caring about 15-20% of our school population estimated to be dyslexic by the NIH, every dyslexic child in Durango will be doomed to graduate with an Elementary School reading age.
Do you think that is fair? Do you think we are happy that our children will never learn to read unless we pay an outside provider who is highly qualified to teach them the English Language?
Nobody is saying our teachers are bad....nobody is saying ALL our administrators are bad. Some are though. The one's that NEVER advocate for my dyslexic son are rotten. All they care about is not rocking the boat, in case they lose their job. They don't think of my son when they sit down at the IEP table and talk rubbish, saying nonsense such as: "He is such a lovely bright young man"....and his spelling age, which is what we were sitting down to talk about is that of a 3rd grader, whilst he is in 11th grade. "He is so lucky to have a parent like you"....."He is not dyslexic...he is ADHD and you should put him on Ritalin so he can focus in class"....."You can take a horse to water, but you can't make him drink"...."In my opinion, he is NOT dyslexic".....
What a crock of you know what.
If a teacher, or an administrator, or a member of the San Juan BOCES psychological department can't say ANYTHING that will provide a scientifically proven method of teaching to my son, then they might as well not sit around the table.
All the idiots who said stupid comments like the above, no longer work for our district. You can't say nonsense and get away with it. It is illegal to suggest a diagnoses and a drug without MD certification.
It still goes on. The ignorance about dyslexia is mind blowing.
Sure, I bit the bullet, and hired a private Certified Academic Language Therapist, one hour a day, five days a week -- and guess what? My "horse" of a son, was incredibly thirsty, and together the two of them went from a 4th grade reading age (where 9R kept him down for four years), to an 11+ grade reading age, in 256 hours of TEACHING.
So, next time you consider that our district "can't teach all of them", reconsider that if they hired highly qualified teachers in a scientifically proven method of teaching -- they sure as hell could try.
And, no, it's not good enough to allow our 9th and 10th grade special ed. students to fail their CSAP in abundance. And guess what? It isn't the fault of the High School teachers is it? Because they just got Little Johnie to teach. It's the failure of the Elementary School teachers and the Middle School teachers who didn't bother to teach them in the first place.
I am tired of the pussy footing around. Pretend all is well. It's not well, for 15-20% of our school population, and Dr. Barter has constantly refused to improve these children's academic future. I don't buy in to it, because with every problem there is a solution.
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