With so many challenges mounting for Aurora Public Schools, a school board willing to try new things and the fortitude to fight old problems will be critical to the district’s success.
APS continues to be beset with the challenges that come with a school district bursting with immigrants, money woes, poverty and often unworkable state and federal regulations.
It doesn’t mean that APS can’t and shouldn’t be showing much better results in getting more students further ahead than they are, and faster. And getting those badly needed results for more students will depend on a board willing to take risks and try new things, because, clearly, what the school district has tried during the past two decades isn’t working. APS has the inauspicious claim of regularly making the list of Colorado school districts with students posting the some of the worst test scores.
While each of the seven candidates vying for APS’ three school board seats would contribute something important and vital to the critical mission of getting the school district to surge ahead, three candidates offer the best formula for success.
Incumbents Cathy Wildman and Dan Jorgensen should both be returned for another term to the school board. Both candidates are well versed in what’s gone wrong before, and how relatively new Superintendent Rico Munn plans to get significant results from a slowly emerging comprehensive plan. Wildman brings a wealth of classroom experience to the board, having spent four decades in every level of Aurora schools. She understands that APS simply does not have the resources to conquer this difficult challenge alone, and it must reach out to other groups, governments and agencies to make a difference.
Incumbent Dan Jorgensen brings an amazing level of expertise to the school board as a state expert in school district data analysis.
With so much educational expertise and big-picture, what would benefit the school board most is a the perspective of an engaged parent in the trenches of getting a child through the system. The logical choice then is parent Grant Barrett. He has five children in the school district, runs a small business and understands how critical a successful school district is not only to families with children, but the entire area.
“The schools affect so much of our community, I feel like it’s a pretty important piece to have running smoothly,” he said in an interview. “Right now our schools are failing our kids.”
Clearly, Barrett will learn a lot about what failing means and who’s responsible, but his being able to be a reality check for experts without children in schools right now will round out the school district’s board to tackle a seemingly impossible challenge.