When I arrived in this country in 1998 my first job was stocking the shelves at the iconic Tattered Cover bookstore. It was with the vast menu of books and audiotapes there that I taught myself to read and speak English. Since then I’ve risen to become a vice president at BBVA Compass, and branch manager at Wells Fargo and Key Bank.
The American Dream is alive and well for me. But as a community leader in the African immigrant community, the fastest growing population in Aurora, I fear for the next generation.
With the poor state of Aurora Public Schools (APS), the American Dream is beginning to dim for many students, regardless of background.
The city of Aurora has become split into two: one for students in Cherry Creek School District with some of the best schools in the country, and one for students in APS, with some of the worst.
The graduation rate in APS is an abysmal 55 percent, and only one in 10 students are prepared for college when they graduate from APS high schools. Even for gifted and talented students, the graduation rate is a shockingly low 72 percent.
That is not right and it cannot be allowed to continue.
As the President of the African Leadership Group, I speak to families every day who are growing increasingly concerned that their children are being left behind. If a student does not graduate high school, there are very little options for them to succeed in life.
They are more likely to live in poverty, more likely to get in trouble with the law, and far less likely to accomplish the great things their parents dream for them.
Having been a board member of a charter school where my children attend, I know there are ways we can provide the children and parents in Aurora with more options. We do not have to accept that our schools are failing and stand by without doing anything.
We can work together to create a better future for our children. While I do not have all the answers for how to fix the schools in APS, I do know we can’t continue along this path.
I urge the school board and leaders in APS to do whatever it takes to turn things around.
No one has a monopoly on the right ideas, which is why the school district must listen to everyone. We must work together to create a better future for our children. We must work to build a better school system that finds and develops the potential found inside every student.
While some find the diversity of APS schools to be a challenge – there are over 130 languages spoken by students in APS – I believe it is an opportunity. We should embrace our diversity as a strength.
That takes the community of Aurora, from parents to business leaders to elected officials, to work together to find solutions. If the school district needs to pass a bond to build more schools, we as a community should stand behind that.
If closing failing schools and opening new ones helps improve the education of our children, we as a community should support that.
If bringing more charter schools into the city is the right path for our students, we as a community should support that.
I don’t have all the answers, but as a parent and a leader in the African immigrant community, I do know we need to stand behind bold changes. For if we don’t, we will fail our children. And that is an option we cannot accept.
Papa Dia is the president of the African Leadership Group and a Denver-area banker.
I hear your plea Papa Dia, but more charter schools may NOT be the best option. I was fortunate enough to get my son in a charter school for his elementary years. But as he began middle school I was not impressed with how the charter school handled his transition to multiple classes and teachers. The final straw was the complete lack of communication to me about the progress my son was not making. Over the winter holiday we ended up choosing to leave the charter school and return to an APS public school middle school. My son has had this or a similar scenario happen to two of his friends as well.
After attending his new APS middle school for less than a month he has found a renewed interest in school and is engaged again. He says his teachers are responsive to him. He is now using technology in the classroom – which was not an option at the charter school. The school has an after school program that is not selective or creates stigma to attend. This program is available should he have a question in any of his classes or should he just want time to finish homework. The APS schools are connected to Infinite Campus which means he and I have access to review his progress, attendance, and grades at any time. And finally, I am hearing the lunches are even better.
My point is that I do not think vast overarching statements should be made about public vs charter schools. Both structures have their strengths and their weaknesses. I do agree that some common core-knowledge levels should be required to ensure our elementary students receive similar messages and levels of information. I think the individual student’s success is determined more by how invested the student and the parents are than whether the school is a public or charter school.
As for diversity, my son is white Hispanic. Given the choice I prefer the diversity of the public school to the mostly white charter schools. I want my son to grow up meeting and working with as many different kinds of people as possible. His adult world will be internationally diverse and technologically connected. APS is helping him learn how to succeed in that world much better than his charter school was.
“my son is white Hispanic. Given the choice I prefer the diversity of the public school to the mostly white charter schools. ”
You are a racist. Your son will make a fine neo-marxist drone.
Reason #257 to home school.
Which in your family is a union member? The public schools are failing because of just that, union members as teachers, beholding to no one but their union.
Read your last line, how special, perhaps your white Hispanic (what?) son can learn Farsi, now, wouldn’t that be swell.
How about we address the multi generational bastardy in our minority communities? Children need a stable home life with a mother and a father. Having children out of wedlock and divorce were once frowned upon. Perhaps they should be once more.
If you want to help the kids, abolish the government school system. Give parents vouchers for $10k per student that they can use to reimburse homeschooling costs or to pay for tuition to charter and private schools. I can pay $5k per year to a private school right now that would give a far superior education than any aurora public school. Also not all kids should go to college. Start up apprenticeship programs that will teach a trade.
Papa,
You fail to address the most obvious reason why APS is hurting when compared to Cherry Creek schools. The APS schools that perform poorly are overwhelmed with illegal immigrants. The parents lack any skills in English and can only perform low skill manual labor jobs for small wages. The lack of education limits the parents ability to help struggling students. The schools are meant to teach English speaking students with text books written in English. I see African immigrants from Ethiopia, Senegal, Ghana and many other countries that make the effort to learn English and their children do very well. APS schools the have a strong English speaking population do very well in comparison to Cherry Creek. You must compare apples to apples. Comparing apples to tortillas or apples to injera does not work. The solution is to learn English but that wont happen because those who don’t know it are disadvantages and are working two or three jobs to get by.