I was hired as Manager of Learning & Development in August of 2022, after twenty-three years as a classroom teacher, which culminated in my being named 2021 Colorado Teacher of the Year, the first Chicanito from the East Side to receive the honor. I was hired by a director who did not know me, and had to put blind trust in me. She was new to her role in a newly-created department. When I arrived, there were two specialists sitting within twenty feet of my desk. The floor was eerily empty. I remember thinking to myself “who’s letting me just wander around unsupervised?” My director and I worked hard to understand our new roles. I was a deer in the headlights, no idea how to even answer the questions being asked of me.
The reason? “The Re-Org.” The phrase that is whispered, known among all Denver Public Schools Central Office. The ghost in the machine. The once and future fate that tempers any enthusiasm or excitement that we may have about the work we do.
Dr. Alex Marrero was forced to make painful decisions during this time. The first superintendent to declare “Put some respect on my profession,” he dramatically reduced central office staff to better invest in teachers and schools. It had a price. The team that previously did this important work of creating access for people of color aspiring to become teachers? Eliminated. All eight specialists and the manager. I would be the new manager over a new team that was half the size. My team of four is small but mighty, and scrambling to learn as quickly as possible. It’s a steep learning curve but we know we need to support the educators who depend on us.
In the meantime, I had paraprofessionals, mostly women of color who relied on my competence to continue their progress toward being fully-credentialed teachers. I had new teachers who relied on my support to remain in the profession at the toughest moment in the history of public education. And I had to hire a team to do work that I did not yet understand myself. I went from managing my classroom to managing the experiences of between 700-800 adults whose very success hinged on my ability to meet the moment.
I hope that when you vote in this election, which is mostly about the DPS Board of Education, you are not a prisoner of the moment. Not only is Dr. Marrero the fighter that our kids need, so many of us are steadily building a better experience for those same kids. We are anxious, some of us terrified about the implications of Tuesday. Will Denver voters be reactionary and elect reactive people who may undo everything we have been working for? Will we face another re-org, another year zero, another season of empty cubicles and uncertainty? Will the people who endured the last re-org have enough resilience to continue? It’s in your hands.
Dr. Marrero must be supported. We cannot have a board that will remove him and undo the important work we’re all still learning to do. Elections matter. Vote intelligently.