Winter | Issue 30 | Date: February 15, 2023 |
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Funding Great Schools. Rooted in Community. |
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Celebrating Our Community |
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Throughout the year, RootED Denver partners with schools and community organizations to honor Black educators, amplify the voices of Black leaders, and celebrate the talent and limitless potential of Black students.
As we reflect on Black History Month, we’re proud of the work we’ve done with our partners to lift Black voices—and we recognize there’s a tremendous amount more to do.
In celebration of Black History Month and Black excellence, read on to learn more about some of the autonomous schools and community organizations we’ve funded and supported this year, and how they are supporting Black educators and students.
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Fox31 reporter Joshua Short visited Academy 360 in Montbello to learn more about the charter school’s approach to nurturing the whole child and providing culturally relevant education and wraparound services to students and families.
See how Allen and Academy 360 are supporting students and families.
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"Over 20 years, and I'm still not done helping kids and helping families."
Ron Allen
Family Therapist and Social Emotional Specialist at Academy 360
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Through the school’s partnership with CHIC, mentors meet with Wyatt’s girls to provide access to mental health services, and various health and wellness activities.
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"This is about empowering our
Black girls to tell their own stories."
Melody Means
Principal at Wyatt Academy
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The 5280 Freedom School is providing a space for Black youth to feel safe, loved, and supported.
The school is teaching students to “become civically minded and racially literate by centering Black people, principles and knowledge so that our students can dismantle oppressive systems and transform the world and liberate themselves and others,” Branta Lockett, executive director of the 5280 Freedom School, told 9News reporter Courtney Yuen.
The school is actively enrolling its inaugural classes of kindergarten and first-grade students for fall of 2023.
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"Black history is American history. Black history is world history."
Branta Lockett
Executive Director of the 5280 Freedom School
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Over the last six years, Moonshot edVentures—a RootED grantee—has developed a pipeline of diverse and talented leaders who share a common goal: to co-create with families and communities top-quality schools and education programs.
For many Moonshot Fellows and alumni, the program’s emphasis on developing diverse leaders—particularly people of color, women, and people who identify as nonbinary or LGBTQIA+—has been deeply impactful.
“It was so exciting to be in a space with other people who were thinking about ways we can explore our identities as teachers and leaders and Black, Indigenous people of color,” said Tatenda Blessing Muchiriri, who was born in Zimbabwe and identifies as queer.
in our annual report.
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"Moonshot gave us an opportunity to create spaces where we're celebrated and affirmed."
Tatenda Blessing Muchiriri
Moonshot Fellow and Founder and Executive Director of Montessori
on Wheels
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Denver Public Schools Extends Deadline for SchoolChoice Round 1 Applications |
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Families now have until Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 4 p.m., to rank their top choices of schools and submit their Denver Public Schools SchoolChoice applications.
Families can find several helpful resources to navigate the SchoolChoice process, including those below:
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Watch our Facebook Live recordings (in English and Spanish) to hear from district representatives and families about the SchoolChoice process.
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Listen to the district’s EDUCA podcast (in English and Spanish) to hear more about the SchoolChoice process.
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The application process is different for families with students in Early Childhood Education. Learn more on the Denver Public Schools Universal Preschool webpage. The Colorado Department of Early Childhood has also extended the deadline to Feb. 24 for the state's universal, free preschool application.
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Family Voices: School Choice is Needed, and Improvements Can Be Made |
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Families know what their learners need to thrive—and in Denver, SchoolChoice is an important and meaningful tool that gives them access to diverse learning environments that meet their students’ needs.
In a new op-ed, families are celebrating school choice, and advocating for it to be more transparent, accessible and equitable. Audra Burgos, Brittney Cardwell and Claudio Carillo have children enrolled in district-run, charter and innovation schools throughout Denver.
"There are so many reasons we’ve used choice, and so many ways our families and our kids have benefited from choice," they wrote. "This is what we want for every family and child in Denver."
“Not every school can meet every need. But we can improve and expand choice so that every child has equitable access to schools that do.”
Read the families’ powerful op-ed in the Colorado Sun.
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Bright Rides is Making School Choice a Reality
for Adams 14 Families
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Nicholas Martinez, the co-founder and executive director of Transform Education Now (TEN), wants every family to have access to schools that meet their children’s needs, satisfy their interests and nurture their talents. (Read Martinez's op-ed in Westword.)
That’s why he has helped create Bright Rides, a program that provides eligible Adams 14 students with free, safe and reliable transportation from the boundaries of low-performing Adams 14 schools to high-performing schools in the Denver Metro area.
Eligible Adams 14 families can learn more about the program and school options on the Bright Rides website. Families are encouraged to act quickly and, if interested, participate in Round 1 of the Denver Public Schools SchoolChoice process, which ends Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 4 p.m.
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Cool Schools: 9News Celebrates RiseUp Community School's Dedication to Students |
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RiseUp Community School was one of six Denver schools to win Gov. Jared Polis’s Bright Spot Award in November. The alternative charter high school earned the honor by making strong academic progress from 2019 to 2022, despite the learning disruptions caused by the pandemic.
The governor’s recognition and the school’s special way of supporting students and families also earned it the title of a 9News "Cool School.”
“Here you’ve got a lot of people who come from the same cloth as you, so you definitely can relate to a lot of things that they say, how they feel, and it just helps you get further,” said RiseUp junior JoJo Ford told 9News reporter Byron Reed.
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Mark your calendars with these important dates: |
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Feb. 21
Denver Public Schools Board of Education - Public Comment Session and Progress Monitoring Session
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March 20
Denver Public Schools Board of Education - Public Comment Session and Progress Monitoring Session
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1390 Lawrence Street, Suite #200
Denver, CO 80204
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