AURORA | It’s hard to recite the list of new programs implemented in the Aurora Public Schools district over the past six years in a single breath.
Vista 2010 and Vista 2015, PACE Setter (short for People, Achievement, Community and Environment), Pathways, Aurora LIGHTS. Then there was the launch of a new P-20 campus on the east side of Aurora, the passage of millions in bond and mill levy issues and massive growth of the district’s concurrent enrollment program.
As Rico Munn starts his first days on the job as the new APS superintendent, he’s not looking to create that many new programs. Those initiatives are part of the legacy of Munn’s predecessor John Barry, just as they’re the cumulative work of current and former members of the APS Board of Education. Munn, who formally started in his new role on July 1, sees those policies as part of the infrastructure.
“Part of the conversation that I had when they hired me was that it was not the board’s perception and not my perception that this is something I want to blow up and start over again,” Munn said days before officially starting in his new job. “It’s something that I’m trying to build upon … to reorient things so that it’s even better.”
Munn is no stranger to the subtleties of education policy. Formerly a lawyer at a Denver firm, Munn’s resume is also packed with high-profile posts at local education agencies. He is the former executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education and a former Colorado State Board of Education member. He currently serves on the 15-member Board of Governors for the Colorado State University System, a body appointed by Gov. John Hickenlooper.
That experience will come into play as Munn begins his work with the school board and starts to dig in to the long list of programs and policies that have been at work in APS for the last several years. In looking at each policy, the district’s gains in state test scores and achievement will play a role. The district’s progress on the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program tests has been modest, and Munn said that has to be a part of the equation.
“Yes, there’s an art to what we do, there’s a nuance to what we do, but at the end of the day it has to pay off in results,” Munn said. “You have to have a conversation about the actual achievement that you’re having and the impact and the difference that you’re making.”
Many of the district’s signature programs have achievement at its core. The “Pathways” program connects students with specialized, career-oriented education starting in elementary school. The expansion of the district’s concurrent enrollment program has seen hundreds of APS students taking college-level courses through the Community College of Aurora while still in high school.
With two children enrolled in an APS charter school, Munn has a personal stake in making those connections. It’s all part of making the school district a “circle of stability” in the community, a place that can offer guidance and direction. He likens the role of schools to that of the home, the church and the business community. While that kind of security may be tricky to measure, Munn will keep numbers in mind as he starts to go over the long list of policies and initiatives that have been established in the past five years.
“There are times when people get swept up in the idea or the goal of, ‘We want to be the best school district in the state.’ I don’t know what that means,” Munn said. “I think our job is to be the best and highest service to our community. At the end of the day, some of that is going to be reflected by standardized tests.”
Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at 720-449-9707 or agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com