Southwest Early College Art and Culture Show

(Originally published in the Dec. 10 Denver Herald-Dispatch)
(story and photos by by Joshua Cole)

It's difficult to get teenagers excited too often, especially at school, but at the Southwest Early College Art and Culture Night, hundreds of teenagers and their families hooted and hollered, clapped and cat-called, laughed and screamed for nearly two hours at the school's little auditorium, Dec. 4.

And they yelled and applauded for a variety of performers: poets, beat makers, ballroom dancers, hip-hop/break dancers and a rock band.

“It was phenomenal. It was energizing. It was unforgettable,” said sophomore Omar Reza, who read poetry, and danced ballroom, hip hop and break. “I expected fewer people because it's a small school. It was very supportive, and it was a great crowd. They had a lot of energy, and they never got bored.”

Having the little auditorium filled to capacity at Colorado Heights University, where Southwest Early College is based, energized and inspired performers, most of whom had either never performed in front of a crowd or never in front of a crowd so large.

With her estranged mom in the audience, junior Christina Langfield read her untitled poem about running away from home, living in the streets, not getting allowed back with her family, yet still dreaming and hoping for a happy reunion.

“Before I read it, I was really nervous,” Langfield said. “There was a lot of energy. My friends helped me, and I read it.”

The act of performing was also a catharsis and made her feel better.

“It got out a lot of emotion,” Langfield said. “This was about letting my mom know how I felt. Knowing she was listening, it made me feel relieved.”

Like Langfield, many poets spoke about their personal perspectives and struggles, including Jesus Reza, who dressed up in a poncho and a sombrero. Reza made jokes about being a Mexican, but then he ended more serious, about how he gets frustrated being looked down upon and stereotyped.

Emmanuel Delgado spoke from a political perspective.

“Everybody was calling my name, and I felt appreciated. That's what helped me speak,” Delgado said.

Southwest Early College is a charter high school – a public school of choice – with a student population of about 300 students. The school doesn't have sports teams (although students can join the teams of nearby high schools), so getting students to rally together has hardly happened since the school started in 2004 and needs to be something different and unique – which the Art and Culture Night provided. Also, unlike many larger schools, where different groups would have performances on different nights – such as dance programs one night and music another – one advantage for the small-sized Southwest Early College was to put everything together.

(Go to Southwest Early College's Web site)

More role models

College Literacy teacher Lisa Levad organized the event following an informal study she performed last spring. Although freshman enrollment had stayed consistent at the high school, many of the upper-class students had been leaving before graduating with a high school diploma – and an Associate's Degree, one of the draws and promises in an early college program. An Associate's Degree usually takes two or more years after high school.

One of the main problems Levad found: there weren't many good male role models for students, nor were there connections to the school.

“It was research for myself,” Levad said. “I wanted to help the school.”

In late September, Levad took a ballroom dance class for herself, and after talking with the instructor she got him to volunteer twice a week at the school for her students. About 40 students practiced regularly and then performed Dec. 4.

“What really impressed me was that there were more boys than girls when it started,” Levad said.

Soon, the Art and Culture Night came together as a way for the ballroom dance students to show off their newly learned skills. And all of the other clubs could show everybody else what they do as well.

Before the performances, artists displayed their canvasses, and a student-created documentary played. The robotics club ran a contest to raise money.

“They're all in their little enclaves. I wanted to bring them all together,” Levad said.

Levad is optimistic for the rest of not only the semester but also the lives of her teenagers. All of the volunteer instructors were male: band supervisor Stephan Hume, of Band Dynamics; hip-hop/break dance leader Ray-Ray Maestas, with Get With It; ballroom dance teacher Micah Spiers, or Fred Astaire Dance Studio; beat maker Maki Lucero, with Latenite Productions; and Micah Sturr, a teacher at the school, helped make the documentary.

“My male students could see there are other people to look up to,” Levad said. All of the students at the school “were so proud of each other. I loved that the kids recognized one another and celebrated each other. It fills my heart.”

Picture identifications (photos by Joshua Cole)

1. Jesus Reza dresses up to perform his poem about being a Mexican. He joked – “It's better to be 'wet' than to be red in the neck” – but also was serious – taking off his sombrero and describing the pain of being a chubby Latino, he said, “Just because I'm Mexican doesn't mean I'm stupid.”

2. Ray-Ray Maestas does a hand stand during the break dance performance, part of a thrilling acrobatic conclusion to the night.

3. Analisa Martinez and Omar Reza dance the tango during Southwest Early College's Art and Culture Night, Dec. 4. The little auditorium at Colorado Heights University was packed with screaming teenagers and their families to watch the night of ballroom dancing, break dancing, hip hop, rock music and poetry, all performed by the high school's students.

4. Students congratulate on stage Southwest Early College teacher Lisa Levad, who organized the Art and Culture Night as a way to increase pride and identify at the 300-student school.

Southwest Early College approved and art show

Early College, a charter high school on South Federal Boulevard near West Darmouth Avenue, was approved to get a 3-year renewal of its charter license at the DPS Board pf Education meeting Nov. 30.

On Dec. 4, the school will be host to its first annual Art and Culture night, from 5:30-9 p.m., with art and performances (dance, music, poetry). See next week's blog and next week's Denver Herald-Dispatch (publication Dec. 10) for pictures and a story.

Info on the school (also in the Dec. 3 DHD):

Link to Southwest Early College

Southwest Early College, which started in 2004 and has about 330 students in grades 9-12, focuses on giving students a chance to take college courses and earn an associate's degree while enrolled in high school.

Faced with problems, the school's board of directors hired Scott Rubin as its new principal in 2008. The school's academic performance showed a better median growth percentile compared with similar schools in 2009, bumping the school from “accredited on watch” in 2008 to “meets expectations” for the 2009 district School Performance Framework.

Survivor: DPS School Board

Michelle Moss, right, gets congratulated and hugged by Board President Theresa Pena as Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg waits behind them. Moss, who was term-limited, was praised at a congratulatory send-off, Nov. 30. She wasn't so happy earlier in the night, though, when her elected replacement unexpectedly took office seven hours earlier than she was scheduled to and denied Moss her final votes.
Photo by Joshua Cole




(Note: This complete article will be printed in the Dec. 3 Denver Herald-Dispatch. A feature on Michelle Moss's history on the board is scheduled to be printed in the Dec. 10 DHD.)

The Nov. 30 DPS Board meeting started out like an episode of Survivor rather than the celebratory send-off for leaving members.

Just as the meeting was starting, new Denver Public Schools Board Member Andrea Merida blindsided Michelle Moss, the member she was scheduled to replace later in the night.

As Michelle Moss stepped up to the dais for her final meeting as representative for southwest Denver on Denver Public Schools Board of Education, Merida told Moss to take a seat – somewhere else.

Holding the certification, Merida said, “I was sworn in this afternoon and you can't vote,” Moss recalled.

Merida, who won the fall election to replace the term-limited Moss, was sworn in at noon on Nov. 30, the Board announced. She had been scheduled to be sworn in after a special meeting. By getting sworn in early, Merida denied Moss her final votes, including a proposed new high school in southwest Denver and the fate of a middle school on northwest Denver.

New at-large representative Mary Seawell and northeast representative Nate Easley were sworn in at the originally scheduled time.

“That was probably one of my low points of service,” Moss said. “It's a classic example of putting yourself over the needs of the kids. I have served on this board for eight years and have never been accused of not putting our students first.”

In the end, after three hours of deliberation, Merida's votes didn't swing the rest of the Board. The main issue concerned co-locating a charter school and restructuring the leadership of the current program at Lake Middle School, next to Sloan's Lake about West 20th Avenue and Perry Street. The Board approved the motion 4-3, with Merida, Jeannie Kaplan and Arturo Jimenez voting against the change.

“I'm a (military) veteran, and I swore to uphold the Constitution. I had to make a stand,” Merida said.

Merida also joined Jimenez in voting against bringing an alternative high school to southwest Denver next school year – a school that had been proposed to first be put in northeast Denver. But Moss argued with the superintendent to place it in the southwest, and she won. Multiple Pathways and Choice Academy was passed by a 5-2 vote. The school would be an alternative school: a small-school, “family-friendly” environment geared toward students who may have acted like misfits in a regular school or who may be leaving jail. It doesn't have a plan for students with severe needs or students who need a self-contained environment.

Andrea Merida takes her place on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education. Merida was scheduled to be sworn in after a special meeting, Nov. 30, but she was sworn in the earlier, shocking the rest of the Board and Michelle Moss, the term-limited Board member she was replacing.
Photo by Joshua Cole

“I made an impassioned plea to reevaluate where they would put the first charter,” Moss said. “We have a huge number of dropouts in southwest Denver.”

Merida said her decisions on the Board weren't to deny change, but to delay in order to hear more voices from the community and get more detailed data. Members who voted in opposition to Merida didn't want to delay indefinitely.

“One of the cornerstones of my platform was community engagement,” said Merida, who won the fall's election by 116 votes, or about 1.1 percent. “Even though there are good-faith reasons, we missed the essential component of community engagement. We haven't taken those opinions and hard work and the sweat from the brows of the people that send their children to school every day.”

With Pathways, Jimenez said that the school didn't have “enough meat,” meaning that the proposal lacked some specifics.

Other members of the Board noted that the the Multiple Pathways proposal wasn't complete, but they disagreed that it should be denied an opportunity to open.

“For four years on the Board, I've been waiting for more meat on the bones,” said at-large member Jill Conrad. “It is something I have waited for for a long time. There are some remaining questions, but I am happy to vote in support of it.”

She added, “This one's for Michelle.”

Former supporter

When Merida told Moss she couldn't sit down, Theresa Pena, the Board's president who had sat adjacent to Moss, hissed into the microphone, “Arturo, you have to win by any means necessary.”

Moss teared up and spoke out against her replacement.

Then, leaning on her cane, Moss, who fought cancer this year, limped out of the Board room, her head sunk, her eyes scrunched in anger.

Moss had endorsed Merida in Merida's election bid. Moss recorded a robo call, gave her advice and encouraged others to endorse her.

“I wish her success because the children of southwest Denver deserve it,” Moss said.

Moss said she won't talk to Merida.

During a break in the Board meeting, Merida told reporters, “I regret the emotional impact on Michelle Moss; I do not regret that the voters' voices were heard. If I had the opportunity to talk to her again, I would continue to apologize.”

Following the meeting, as Moss was talking to the Denver Herald-Dispatch in an office next to the Board room, Merida, silent, snuck in past Moss and just as quickly went out, her face half-hidden behind a certificate. Other Board members, community members and school leaders filed into the room for a quick hug, congratulations and good-bye, and Moss welcomed them with a warm smile, eye contact and open arms. When Kaplan entered, Moss, her tone of voice cold, kept her eyes on the table she was sitting at and refused Kaplan's request to talk.

Change coming

Merida has said that she is not against charters or changes to schools, but she is a proponent for looking at alternative choices. Jimenez echoed that sentiment.

“There's nobody against turnaround strategies,” Jimenez said. “No one is anti-charter. The community process is something we have not perfected yet. It is always important to begin with the data but not end with the data.”

However, even if the way that Merida, Jimenez and, at times, Kaplan voted weren't meant as knocks on charters, they did represent a shift from the quick and substantial change that the superintendent and the Board had been moving toward to improve student achievement in the district.

“The proposal isn't just about where to locate a charter school; it is about getting serious about matching real, timely effective solutions,” Conrad said. “These kids need a 'game-changer' at this point of their life.”

Schools in Denver are in desperate need of change, the superintendent and other Board members said.

“It is shameful we are a school district in 2009 where students of color and Hispanic students are 35 points behind our Caucasian students,” superintendent Tom Boasberg said. “In past years, it seemed there was an unwillingness to take on challenges. We’re seeing progress in our system, but it’s not fast enough. We still have too many students who aren’t on track to graduate from high school ready for success in college and careers. We owe it to our kids – to all of our kids – to make the very difficult but necessary decisions to give them far better opportunities than they have today.”

The actions at the Nov. 30 meeting gave concern to many, including the superintendent.

“This game of political destruction is so sad because it can serve to destroy only one thing: the hopes and opportunities of Denver students,” Boasberg told reporters after the meeting.

About Me

My name is Joshua Cole.

I'm a community newspaper reporter in the south-Denver-metro area, with Cherry Creek Schools (CCSD), Littleton Public Schools (LPS) and Denver Public Schools (the southwest area) in my two newspapers' coverage area.

I'm also a former teacher. I was a substitute teacher, and I taught middle school English before teaching took its toll on me. But I still love learning about education and talking with educators. Although I cover everything for the two newspapers -- sports, city council, other features -- my favorite thing that I get to write about is education-based.

One thing that my newspaper professors and teachers always tried to pound in our heads was to write at a level so that normal people can understand something. I take that approach with education. Most of my articles are about the students, the classrooms and the schools -- where the parents and kids are every day -- and not so much about the administrations or the boards of education. And thus, the Denver "Classroom Reporter."

On this blog, I'll post many of the articles I write or comment about things I see, hear or read.

My e-mail, and I'm on Twitter, @classroomreport.

I am hopeful that you may enjoy what you read and learn from it.

Our newspapers (they are NOT online):
The Denver Herald-Dispatch
The paper has been serving the southwest Denver community every Thursday since 1926 -- we're the only ones that give a damn about southwest Denver, our slogan used to say. The paper covers the city of Denver proper, from West Sixth Avenue to the southern border, and from West Santa Fe Drive to the western border. The traditional public high schools include John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln and Denver West, with charter schools KIPP Collegiate High School and Southwest Early College, and private schools J.K. Mullen and Denver Lutheran. We also are home to the Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy K-8 and the first KIPP middle school (Sunshine Peak Academy) and first two West Denver Prep middle school campuses.
For info, call 303-936-7778

The Villager
Since 1982, Gerri and Bob Sweeney have been informing the south suburban area of news and events. The paper started off just for the cities of Greenwood Village and Cherry Hills Village but has since expanded to cover Arapahoe County and the cities of Centennial and Littleton. We cover all of the Cherry Creek School District, which is one of the best and largest districts in the state, as well as Littleton Schools, which are also well-respected in the metro area.
For info, call 303-773-8313