Article Published in Education Organizing -
Center for Community Change,
Issue 26, Winter 2007
Written by Padres and Jovenes Unidos

A little over four years ago, Jovenes and Padres Unidos launched a broad reform effort at North High School in Denver, Colorado. The reform effort was the result of a report published by Jovenes, entitled, "North High School Report, The Voice of Over 700 Students." (Click here to see full report). The report documented serious problems at the school, but even more importantly, it presented clear demands to improve North High. One of these demands was the formation of a reform committee that would be open to all who wanted to participate. After several months of mobilizing and organizing in the North High community, a reform committee was created, which included school personnel, students, parents and community members at large.

Unfortunately, throughout the four years of the reform effort at North High, students and parents were met with constant resistance from the administration and staff at the school. There was seemingly always a reason why the reforms couldn't be fully implemented, why aspects of the reform had to wait until later, why it was something out of the school's control and couldn't be done, why certain things weren't necessary, and so on. In spite of the never-ending excuses, some aspects of the plan were implemented, but never quite as completely as intended.

North Reform: On March 2004, Jovenes Unidos released The North High Report: The Voice of Over 700 Students.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

After Padres Unidos and North High School had collectively raised over $360,000 for the reform at North, the Education Trust had worked with the school for three years, professional development had been provided for all staff, and clear goals, timelines and benchmarks for the effort had been developed, student indicators at North were still abysmal. In the 2005-2006 school year:

◗ 723 students opted out of North High School

◗ There was space for 976 more students to attend North

◗ Graduation rates had declined by 10% in two years

◗ Only 206 of the original 733 students graduated four years later!

◗ On the state math test:

- 6 students were advanced

- 44 were proficient

- 142 were partially proficient &

- 403 were unsatisfactory

School Board member Lucia Guzman, expressed anger and dismay regarding the pace of the North effort when she stated at a press conference, "It is immoral to let these kinds of scores happen."

It was obvious that, without the support and buy-in by the majority of the staff for reform and particularly without the belief that low-income students of color have the intellectual capacity to do high level work and succeed - the reform was going to continue at a snail's pace. This was not acceptable to the students, the parents or the community of North High School.

Save North Coalition: "This is to save North" says Rev. Lucia Guzman, Denver Public Schools Board Member at press conference.Formation of the Coalition to Save North High School -
Spring of 2006

In response to the lack of progress at North, a broad-based coalition was formed to demand immediate action by the Superintendent of the Denver Public Schools, to Save North High School. The coalition included city council members, a school board member, Padres & Jovenes Unidos, Escuela Tlatelolco, NW Parents for Excellent Schools, leaders of the business community and many more. Ultimately, the Coalition decided to call for the total redesign of the school, which is allowed under Colorado State law and requires all staff of the school to reapply for their positions.

The Coalition demands to the Superintendent and School Board included the following and were presented at a meeting hosted by Padres & Jovenes Unidos with over 250 attending in June of 2006:

1. North High School will not be closed.
2. North will become a Premier High School, reflective of its global citizens,where all students are prepared to attend college and succeed.
3. North will have educational equity, i.e. students will have full access to Advanced Placement and accelerated classes.
4. Superintendent Bennet will immediately commit District resources and expertise necessary to make North a premier High School.
5. In order to achieve all of the above, there will be a full Redesign of North High School by the District.

On August 29, 2006 Dr. Darlene LeDoux, principal of North, resigned from her position for medical reasons. In early September, Joanne Trujillo Hays was assigned to be the new principal. Ms. Hays had a track record of high performance and excellence, and had previously been the principal at Academia Sandoval, a school started by Padres Unidos and others with public bond money.

North High: Jovenes Unidos North High members push for redesign at their school at a community meeting.

In order to ensure a democratic process for determining what to do at North, the District held a series of meetings, both at North, and at all of the feeder schools to North (over 22 meetings in all) to ask, "What would it take to keep your children in NW schools, including sending your children to North High School?" Over 600 people attended these meetings.
On December 12, 2006, a delegation of parents from Padres Unidos delivered a letter urging Superintendent Bennet to take action at North.On December 19, 2006 - Superintendent Michael Bennet announced the decision to redesign North High School under the leadership of Principal Trujillo Hays. The components of the redesign include the following steps and strategies:

◗ "Zero-based staffing," meaning that all staff in the school would need to reapply for their positions. Interviews will be held with all current staff to determine who wants to reapply to North for the coming school year;

◗ Recruitment and interviews of new candidates for positions in the school;

◗ Creating of a new staffing team at North for the coming year;

◗ Begin training for new staff, with the College Board.

Specific reforms include the following:

◗ Implementation of the College Board EXCELerator Schools Project at North, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation;

◗ Implementation of Springboard by College Board as a rigorous program in English, language arts and math - aligned to state standards and the College Board Standards for college success;

◗ Utilization of the Harvard Review Strategy of students writing at the end of each class what they have learned and what questions are outstanding;

◗ Creation of a caring culture by forming Learning Families that all students will belong to and will meet after first period four days a week;

◗ Creation of an early student release on Wednesdays so Professional Learning Communities of teachers can meet to evaluate their students' work and improve upon their instruction;

◗ Making available to students: AVID, Post-Secondary Options (college level classes for high school and college credits), and timely student assessments;

◗ Implementation of a mandatory Ninth Grade Summer Academy for all incoming freshman who are testing low in their studies; and

◗ Adjusting the master schedule to ensure that there are strategic academic and social supports for students to succeed in school.

Jovenes Unidos presents over 700 signatures of students at North High School who want college classes at their school to principal JoAnn Trujillo Hays.

Lessons Learned in Reforming North

Padres Unidos and Jovenes Unidos have persevered with the campaign around North High School for four years now. There is so much more to be done. We feel optimistic that the redesign of North, with the Superintendent's commitment, will help move the school in the right direction. Meanwhile, as we keep their feet to the fire, we are reflecting on some lessons learned through the long effort:

1. School reform requires strong administrative leadership and must be supported by the district.

2. We need to look at new structures that allow for the schools and community to create changes that are outside of the box (longer school days, longer school year, different hiring practices, higher expectations).
3. Teachers unions must be open to change and modifying their contracts to allow reform efforts that go beyond the traditional contract guidelines.
4. All staff must fully believe that low-income students of color and poor white students have the intellectual capacity to do high level work - otherwise it is impossible to implement a true reform in a failing school.
5. Organizers must be willing to use educational options in the fight for educational equity when schools and/or districts fail to move. For example, Padres stated publicly that it was willing to pursue North High School as a charter school if the District would not implement redesign. We saw this as a tactic to achieve educational justice for the students at North as well as a tool to force the school district to transform a public school or run the risk of losing it all together.

Objectives:

1. Develop a rubric to evaluate progress and successes of the North redesign plan.

2. Ensure that the redesign implementation includes strategic student support services.
3. Run a school board campaign to maintain support for school reform of the entire district.
4. Pass district policy to allow principals in redesigned schools to hire whoever they want in the first three years of redesign.
5. Increase retention and graduation rates for students of color - 100% graduation and 95% attendance by 2009.
6. Prepare students to graduate and go to college - 100% graduation and 95% attendance by 2009.