DCTA Statement on the Redesign of Schools
Editor:
The redesign decisions made by the Denver Public Schools this week forces teachers to take the full brunt of decisions made by others. It assumes that teachers are part of the problem; not part of the solution. To eliminate current staff without a coherent plan for changes in the schools grounded in research and what teachers and parents know works, does not serve the community well.
We (the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, DCTA) are lacking confidence in the district’s stated desire to include teachers in any reform conversation. We know that struggling schools need extra support. Teachers and parents want to know that the tools and resources necessary to help kids succeed are available. Adequate support systems need to be put in place to improve at risk schools. There are many research-based examples of this across the country. Columbus, OH has tried various redesigns in their district, and did not see improvements in achievement. Their greatest gains were made by developing a collaborative school improvement process. It gives the necessary tools and resources to schools so that they can achieve at higher levels.
We know that teachers and parents want reform, but it needs to be done in a more thoughtful and orderly process. DPS should learn from its past mistakes. The stories regarding Manual students is a prime example. If we learned from experience, we would genuinely involve teachers, parents, students, and community members in developing a plan. There is no evidence that razing the school community to the ground makes things better for kids.
The Commission on Secondary Reform's recommendations that were embraced by DPS emphasized the importance of Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships. Redesign dynamites relationships between teachers and students, parents, and community.
DCTA deplores the bulldozer approach to school reform and calls on the district to re-evaluate whether it would be better to involve teachers, parents and the community in efforts to improve student achievement.
Kim Ursetta, President
Denver Classroom Teachers Association
kursetta@nea.org

We Don’t Consent
Editor:
James Dean, an army reservist from Maryland, locked himself in his father’s house and threatened to commit suicide on learning that, after having already served 18 months in Afghanistan, he was being sent to Iraq. A neighbor said that he was a good boy, but the notice of his deployment sent him into a spiral of depression.
The standoff with police ended when he was shot in the chest and killed.
His death will show up on Maryland homicide statistics, not the Iraq war deaths.
I have been in a state of low-grade horror ever since we knew the outcome of the 2000 Presidential election.
It was clear to me that we had elected an insecure person as President who would not be the primary-decision maker in his own administration.
It was also clear to me that he substituted a commitment to ideology and religion for knowledge, study and analysis. He compensated for a lack of intellectual discipline by denying that the products of intellect matter.
In 2000 I didn’t predict that in six years he would have done as much damage as he has--I was hopeful that he would have humility and take advice from a broad spectrum--but in retrospect it does not seem surprising.
There are experts about Iraq, Iran and the Middle East. I am not one of them. What I do know, though, would have made me very cautious about attempting to impose our will on this region by force.
America has a history that has created a positive legend and a justifiable pride in its citizens.  We fought for our own liberty. We created a democracy. We fought again against slavery and again against egregious dictatorships. Our prosperity and strength has made us proud but has also made us insular and arrogant.
Iraqis have a history and legend as well. This I don’t know as well, but I know that the people of the region remember the Crusades where Europeans came into the region and committed ruthless and indiscriminant murder. After the First World War, the British imposed their will by force. In 1953, the American CIA helped overthrow Mossadegh of Iran and imposed the Shah, a cruel and heartless leader, albeit an American “friend.”
Perhaps the pride of the Iraqis is bound up in throwing the foreigners out of the region. Maybe the Iraqi patriots are those who fight against us. It is likely that we are on the wrong side of the history of the region, a region that nurses a sense of wronged injustice and humiliation.
Now, the administration is saying put more troops in Iraq, a ”surge” it is called. We have 130,000 troops there now. Some are saying that if we had 160,000 it would make the difference.
I don’t know, but I do know this. We had 550,000 troops in Vietnam, a country of similar population. I also know that I don’t trust the people who are saying a surge will help. They have been wrong so many times. And they aren’t just accidentally wrong. They are programmed to be wrong because their decisions are ideological and not fact-based.
They cannot admit to making a mistake. This is more true of people who rely on ideology than those who rely on facts, because if someone who makes decisions based on ideology is wrong, than the ideology is wrong, and that is all they have. It is their core. If Bush’s ideology is wrong, then he has nothing.
This Administration is causing Americans and Iraqis to die in the Middle East, with a consequent reduction in the influence and safety of our country, in order to protect an always doomed and now obviously failed ideological approach.
I went to Washington in November of 1969 to protest against the War in Vietnam. As an attorney, I represented people who were arrested for protesting against aid to the Contras and who blocked the entrance to the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant.
The current situation, even more, strongly demands action by the American people. We buy the bullets and the bombs with our taxes. We elected the President who decided to send James Dean back to the war. Our silence is consent.
Our President does not have the moral seriousness, the intellectual strength or the mature judgment for us to acquiesce in the decisions he is making in our name.
We need to take some form of peaceful action to demonstrate our lack of consent. Any suggestions?
Ken Gordon
Majority Leader
Colorado State Senate
www.kengordon.com
ken@kengordon.com

Civil Service Commission’s Testing Procedure Biased
Editor:
There has been considerable media attention in the last few weeks about the fact Denver has not hired one single Black firefighter is six years. Six years? It seems impossible for that to be happening today and not have Mayor Hickenlooper or Manager of Safety Al LaCabe hopping angry about it. Instead we’ve heard nothing from the Mayor, and LaCabe is left facing the difficult job of finding a long term solution to a very critical problem for the city.
The Civil Service Commission denies it has a biased testing procedure, yet they insist they have tried to hire Black firefighters, but can’t find any qualified candidates. That’s the excuse used when agencies like the Civil Service Commission are confronted about their dismal record and lack of diversity.
Well, here is another problem the Mayor needs to address and make sure he has a short term solution ready to go. Looking at the number of police officers hired for the city in the last three years, there is a similar situation in the Denver Police Department. It seems the Civil Service Commission is beginning to cement their reputation of not caring about diversity in its hiring practices. The number of minority cops has not kept up with the diversity needs in the department.
Since 2001 and as of July 31st of this year, 515 police officers have retired from the force. These officers take with them years of experience that will be sorely missed, but given time, I am confident we will have a good department. The fact that 515 cops retired are pretty amazing when you consider the authorized strength of the Denver Police Department is 1,551. In other words, one third of the police force has changed. But, what do those changes look like?
At a Denver Police Department meeting about a year or more ago, some members of the community were asked to come in and talk about ideas to recruit more officers. The purpose of the meeting was to create some catchy billboards and bus signs to attract more people to apply and become a cop. At that meeting, I cautioned the department to be aware of the number of police retirements coming, and whatever ideas we agreed upon, they should set the goal of changing the face of the police department.
Well, the bus signs never got to the print shop because there was no budget for them.
So, what do the changes look like now that a third of the police department has been retired? In 2004 there were four police academy classes. In 2005 there were four police academy classes. And so far in 2006, they have done one, one in progress, another starting next month.
The reason for so many academies in 2004, 2005, and 2006 is due to the fact the Budget Office would not approve the budget to hire more cops in the years 2000, 2001, and 2003, even though the Budget Office had been told the retirements were on the way. I looked in the city’s 2006 budget book and still couldn’t find a line item for recruitment in the police or fire departments. Now the city is being forced to crank cops out as fast as they can train them.
For the 10 police academy classes here is a break down of how we have done so far in ensuring the police department reflects the community they serve and protect: seven Native Americans were hired or about 1.8 percent of all the academies. Ten Asians were hired or about 2.5 percent of the academies. Twenty-seven Blacks were hired or about 7 percent of the academies. Sixty-nine Latinos were hired or about 18.4 percent of the academies. Fifty-five women were hired or about 14% of the academies. The Academy hired 282 Anglos or about 72 percent of the academies. A grand total of 395 police officers have been hired so far. And imagine this, some 395 cops on the beat with little or no experience on the streets.
Now, if our hope was to change the face of the police department and make it look more like the community, the Civil Service Commission failed miserably in hiring more minorities and women. The chance of the century to hire one third of the police force and they missed the target. Blacks, Latinos, and women (39.4 percent) together don’t even get close to the number of Anglo cops (72 percent) hired.
Here was an opportunity to hire more minorities and women to reflect the changes in Denver demographics and they blew it!
The city Planning and Development Department lists the Denver demographics as:  Anglos 51.90 percent, Latinos 31.7 percent, Black 10.80 percent, and Other 5.6 percent.
As of Aug. 31, 2006, on the Denver police force, there are 6.50% Black officers and 19.83 percent Latino officers. 11.5 percent women officers (heavily represented as District Commanders… 4 out of 6 are women, the other 2 Latino males).
The hiring of the 395 police officers does not bode well for even keeping the percentages we have now, much less upping the numbers to reflect our changing community.
It is imperative that the Civil Service Commission be investigated about their hiring practices. Why is it that minority police officers, much like minority firefighters, are not making the grade to enter the Denver Safety Department? Why is that?
I recommend that a complete audit on the hiring and testing of minority officers by the Civil Service Commission be undertaken. There must be something inherently wrong with the testing process. Either the Commission embraces diversity as a way of doing business in Denver, or changes should be made to ensure the Commission does what is necessary to test and hire so that the faces of the Denver Police and Fire Departments reflects our community.
There will always be those who will say there aren’t enough qualified minority applicants. I dispute that and contend that the Civil Service Commission along with the Safety Recruiting Office need to work together to get the job done.  Enough of these turf battles.
We need more Black, Latino, Asian, Native Americans, and women in the Denver Police Department.  Since the numbers clearly show that we are not going to change the face of the Police Department, can we at least make sure they measure up to what we have now?
Fidel “Butch” Montoya
fmon@hotmail.com

Where’s The Black Leadership?
Editor:
I am writing this letter to you and the Colorado African American community in general. As a long time Denver resident and concerned African American, I’d like to ask a relatively simple question: where is the “Black” leadership in our community?
As the New Year rolled in I was literally ashamed of all the senseless violence in the Black community that occurred and continues to occur. As African Americans we are, at best, only 5% of the state population but account for a large, disproportionate percentage of crime and other negative aspects. And lately our so-called Black leaders, preachers, civic leaders, the NAACP and the Urban League have been completely silent. Why has African American culture been perverted and twisted into a sick but acceptable lifestyle by so many of our people? Keeping it real is just a pathetic excuse to be a bum/thug type. Why is it that if you do the right thing you are acting white or labeled a sellout?
Bill Cosby was right on target when addressing these issues in the Black community. I have seen teenagers to people in their 50s behave like complete idiots on the job, in church, at school and basically in any public place. I know that every race has its share of knuckleheads, but we as a people can do so much better.
Concerned Citizen
Name Withheld