Before we charge into the Bad and Ugly “FORWARD” strategic plan, I want to stress some critical GOOD facts. D-20’s most recent accreditation in Colorado is with distinction. It is absolutely unprecedented for a School District as large as D-20, but this is the 14th year in a row that D-20 is accredited with Distinction. Further, D-20 is rated 11th out of 177 School districts in Colorado.
This is not just GOOD… It is AWESOME!!!
I get to serve on and interact with Dr. Susan Field (Assistant Superintendent for Learning Services) and Becky Allen (CFO) on the District Accountability Committee (DAC) and see first-hand the passion and effort they and their staffs pour into these accomplishments as they work with Principals and Schools. In addition to that, I get the privilege of seeing the passion and love Principals have for their schools, students, and teachers.
That’s the really good news, and those awesome people execute Continuous Improvement in education to remain steadfast in D-20’s commitment to inspire students to thrive.
Now for the UGLY News before it turns BAD.
Across COVID and lockdown foolishness the past three years, the left has creeped into D-20. I’m not talking about election turmoil or bad sex education and gender agenda books in school libraries that could not be included in a movie rated less than R. Those things must be dealt with to protect the development of critical thinking in our students but are not the deeper and more subtle Big Platter issues.
D-20 is a massive, complex organization with a budget in the hundreds of millions of dollars. It is cool that D-20 has the lowest funding rate per student in Colorado. Yet, being ranked number 11 in the state emphasizes that D-20 very efficiently focuses taxpayer dollars on education in math, reading, science, and history. We should be very proud of that accomplishment as parents and taxpayer citizens in D-20.
My deep UGLY worry is that the D-20 ‘Strategic Plan’ presented last summer by a Woke consulting group will distract from education with its Woke style Indoctrination. The words in big bold block type on their brochure reads, “FORWARD”. For those who don’t recall, that was the title of the Marx and Engells daily newspaper for the Social Democratic Party from Germany in the 1850s. The ‘Strategic Plan’ has little about GOOD Education but everything about UGLY Indoctrination.
The key in this swirl is Money, People, Time, and Resources. All of these are limited and in a large, complex organization like D-20, reveal the priorities of the school district, schools, and principals, but not necessarily the voters / taxpayers who elected the school board. Working through specific Budget Funding Lines linked to school improvement plans, it is interesting to see DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusiveness), SEL (Social Emotional Learning), and Woke concepts like belonging and unity linked to specific budget lines. That is where we discover the underlying priorities of individual schools in spite of the public turmoil and vitriol at school board meetings over BAD books and club signs.
My analysis / opinion is that under the hood, Woke style Indoctrination has great momentum in D-20 and is about to steal substantial funding and effort from the proven Education excellence D-20 does so well.
The next big fight on the horizon will be the selection of a new D-20 Superintendent as Mr. Gregory retires in June. Who’s going to win that fight? The Educators or the Indoctrinators?
Jay Inman - Doing Cigars to calm down on a glorious Colorado Day.
Love it