from the DPS Superintendent. Smartest thing Ive ever seen him write. Proud of the DPS kids, the Denver Police Department, and The DPS Superintendent for having the coursge and common sense to help the students deal with these ussues. Vitally Important Conversations for Us All to Have on Race & Social Justice Dear DPS Community: This week, hundreds of DPS students have engaged in marches and demonstrations to express their concerns about the events in Ferguson, MO, and their broader concerns about justice and race in our community. These are vitally important issues, and it is essential that we as a community have the courage and openness to engage in candid reflection and conversations around them -- and to do so in a thoughtful, respectful way. Yesterday, I asked Police Chief Robert White and other community leaders to join me and our school board president Happy Haynes in a discussion with student leaders at East High School to hear directly from our students about why they chose to march and to highlight the importance of productive dialogue in our communities and between our students and law enforcement. At the meeting, we thanked the Denver Police for all of their work in keeping our students safe during the marches. In a very moving moment, student leaders at East yesterday presented Denver Police Chief Robert White with flowers to give on their behalf to Officer Adsit (the police officer injured by an automobile at the end of the march on Wednesday). We are deeply grateful for the work of our police force in keeping our students safe over the past two days, and our thoughts and prayers are with Officer Adsit in hopes of a full recovery. During the conversation, our students articulated their desire to have more opportunities in our schools to have meaningful discussions about critical issues around race and justice and the events that they are witnessing every night on the news. We agree with our students that we need to do a better job of making sure we provide these opportunities. At the core of our educational mission is to help prepare our young people to become leaders of our community. The ability to reflect on and discuss critical issues around race and bias and the impact they have on our society are among the most vital lessons our students can and should learn. Our students also expressed the desire to build stronger relationships among our communities, especially our communities of color and law enforcement. I am very grateful to Chief White and Executive Director of Public Safety Stephanie OMalley for having a very productive discussion with our students about how to best work together on this issue. That is why we in DPS, both on our own and in cooperation with the city of Denver, are moving forward to set up student forums across Denver to discuss race relations and social justice. It is our sincere hope that, as a result, our students and the DPS community can together address these issues in a way that builds understanding and diminishes the negative impact of social inequity. These student dialogues will complement the effort we undertook earlier this fall, as we held Conversations on Race. In these events, we hosted conversations about the impact racial stereotypes and bias have had on education in the United States and the very real gaps in academic achievement and opportunity many of our students face as a result. As Bill de la Cruz, DPS Director of Equity and Inclusion, said: We can do three things around race: Not talk about it and act like it doesnt affect us, wait for a problem and react to it, or we can get past our fear and just have the conversation and talk about the impact of race. We all have a responsibility in shifting race relations, and we need to work together to create a dialogue thats safe. In addition to the student forums, my leadership team has provided guidance to school leaders to help them engage students in a constructive dialogue on these issues so we can provide the meaningful opportunities our students are looking for. We have conveyed very strongly to our students the importance of all our students conducting themselves in a respectful and thoughtful manner as we deal with these challenging conversations. But we also have made it clear that we at DPS believe that our students opinions matter. We believe our diversity at DPS is a source of extraordinary richness and strength. But it will only be as rich and strong as is our willingness to talk candidly about issues of race, the historical divisions that endure in our society and what we must do as members of our community to bridge those divisions and move forward together. Best, TomDenver Plan 2020: A Call to Action Forward this email This email was sent to jpsandscl@yahoo [email protected] | Update Profile/Email Address | Rapid removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. Denver Public Schools | 1860 Lincoln St. | Denver| CO | 80203
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 05:51:18 +0000