Tony Curcio for DPS Board of Education

My Recent Endorsements

2007-10-14T23:02:00.000-06:00

I am proud to have the support of several leaders in our community, like Rick Garcia and Mike Dino. I am sharing this exciting news in a mailing to the homes of District 5 voters.
view mailing in PDF

"Tony brings vastly superior experience, vision and leadership skills to the job....I support Tony because, simply put, he is far and away the most capable, effective, reform-minded, coalition builder in the race for DPS District 5."
- Rick Garcia, Denver City Councilman

"Tony has a vision for our neighborhoods and our community to make sure our kids have the best education possible for now and into the future."
- Mike Dino, CEO of Democratic National Convention and District 5 Resident

Learn more in this recent newspaper article.

Yard signs are now available!

2007-09-18T16:50:00.000-06:00

Have you seen Tony Curcio for DPS Board of Education signs in your neighborhood?

We are hitting the neighborhoods hard and letting people know that I am the reform candidate dedicated to making sure that all kids have access to great education. I have been busy visiting schools. I have also been talking with parents and community members about their neighborhood schools.

Each weekend we will be walking streets, talking with families and distributing yard signs. If you are interested in distributing yard signs, or if you would like to get a yard sign for your yard, request one online and we will deliver it to your house.

Candidate forum

2007-09-11T23:38:00.000-06:00

Tonight was the first opportunity for the public to see all four of the candidates together, and my message came through loud and clear: reform, experience, and action-oriented. Watch video clips below to see my opening and closing comments at the event.

Tony Curcio's plan for North Denver’s public schools

2007-09-10T19:14:00.000-06:00

Originally published in the North Denver News
September 7, 2007

We are at a crossroads for the future and the quality of public schools in North Denver. In August the A+ Denver Committee met with Denver Public Schools Board of Education to present its criteria for school closure, realignment and reprogramming.

If you haven’t heard about the A+ Denver committee, it is the “blue ribbon” civic group formed at the request of Superintendent Michael Bennet to provide recommendations for improving schools in DPS. The most important developments from the committee are the school closure criteria – a critical counterpart to the Denver Plan.

The Denver Plan was completed in 2006 and has three goals: provide highly skilled staff, highly trained principals and an involved community. The plan is aggressive, comprehensive and under funded.

The funding gap comes, in part, from under-enrolled schools in DPS. DPS schools have the capacity for nearly 100,000 students. Currently, there are more than 88,000 school age children in Denver, but fewer than 68,000 students attend DPS schools. 20,000 kids leave DPS for their education. Some of them go to Jefferson County, some go to Douglas County, some go to private schools, but all of them take $6,800 – the per student funding allocation that every student receives from the State – away from DPS schools. This flight from Denver public schools means that DPS is losing $136 million per year in potential funding.

Superintendent Michael Bennet’s responsibility is to teach our kids, and to prepare them for the future. A daunting task given that we have 30,000 empty desks and a spiraling budget crisis.

This is where the school closure criteria from the A+ Denver report comes into play. DPS believes that the district can save money by consolidating under-enrolled schools, and eliminating facility and administrative redundancies. This will hit hardest in our poorest and most under-represented communities. Under-enrolled schools often lack the financial resources needed to face these challenges, and therefore, they are more susceptible to closure.

The A+ Denver report identifies criteria for closing under-enrolled and under-performing schools. In October, DPS will publish a list of schools and, probably 30 or more schools could be recommended for closure. The list will go to the DPS Board of Education for approval in November. Those schools will be closed after the 2007/2008 school year. This gives us only nine months to prepare kids and families for a massive migration to other neighborhood schools.

As I have talked with families across North Denver in my campaign for the Denver School Board, the community is consistently supportive of DPS— but they want effective action. We must measure and track every step, and student achievement is the only priority that merits disruption of our schools.

DPS anticipates that the financial savings from school closures can be used to bridge the Denver Plan funding gap. Money can be used to provide full-day kindergarten for all students and to add more teachers, social workers, and nurses to our schools. No one wants to close schools, but DPS must demonstrate how the money will provide more resources for our students, and how that will help our kids succeed in DPS and beyond graduation. Unfortunately, much of the A+ Committee work has gone under the radar.

DPS held five meetings to discuss the school closure, yet only 315 people attended the meetings. The A+ Denver report instructs DPS to include “extensive public
participation,” yet the committee calling for public participation was unable to effectively engage Denver families. Additionally, the A+ Denver report is silent on how the schools are to manage the huge influx of students. The report mentions “reprogramming” but again, it is silent on what reprogramming is and how it occurs.

If there is to be any silver lining in this grey cloud, DPS must do four things. First, DPS must restart the public involvement process now. If history has any lessons for us, it’s that school closure is a painful and divisive process. If we give this process anything less than our full attention, we will not be ready for Fall 2008, and kids will suffer. DPS cannot wait until November to reengage the community, we must start now.

Second, reprogramming may be a viable option for some schools. It is imperative that DPS not continue to reinvent the wheel and dilute our professional development budgets. We need to look to a few proven school models that are shown to benefit all kids and serve a range of demographic needs: Core Knowledge, International Baccalaureate, and Montessori, to name a few.

Third, DPS must invest in ECE and full-day kindergarten. ECE and full-day kindergarten are critical to the success of our kids. Denver (and Colorado) trails the national average for ECE and kindergarten enrollment. ECE and kindergarten attendance is critical to the long-term success of students.

Fourth, and maybe most importantly, DPS must launch a comprehensive evaluation to determine why kids are leaving and how we are going to get them back to DPS schools. A+ Denver did a great job of providing a budgetary baseline for DPS schools, but if we can’t determine how to stop the exodus of students from DPS schools, we’ll be talking about the next round of school closures in five or ten years.

If DPS can provide the community a clear vision of life-after-school-closure, we have a chance of rebuilding our troubled school system, but we must demonstrate how we are making investments into our schools to successfully educate our kids.

Tony Curcio is running for DPS Board of Education for District 5 (www.tonycurcio.com). He asks for your support and vote.

House Parties

2007-09-10T16:25:00.000-06:00

House parties are in full swing, a great way for me to connect with the community. At each one, I hear more about what is important to you, as parents, students, teachers, administrators, and community members.

If you would like to host a house party, please contact me using this form or by email.

Northwest Denver – Creating Excellence for All Kids in All Schools

2007-08-15T23:03:00.000-06:00

Originally published in the North Denver Tribune
August 12, 2007

"We believe that over the next decade Denver can lead the nation's cities in student achievement, high school graduation, college and career preparation, and college matriculation." (Excerpt from Denver Public Schools’ The Denver Plan.)

The Denver Plan is bold and ambitious, yet grounded in the reality that "we have a lot of work to do." We all know why DPS has a lot of work to do: decreasing enrollment, lackluster CSAP scores, and budget crises. But we can simultaneously identify our weaknesses and claim our victories.

In the years I’ve lived in North Denver, I have:

Watched voters pass a mil levy to fund school revitalization, arts and music;
Participated in the revitalization of Brown Elementary into an International Baccalaureate program;
Supported the collaboration of teachers, students and administrators to select IB for Lake Middle School;
Watched construction of Academia Ana Marie Sandoval, and witnessed the dual language Montessori model flourish;
Supported Bryant Webster and Fairmont Elementary as they adopted a dual language program; and
Watched the revitalization at Skinner Middle School and Remington Elementary.

Just one year ago we as a community came together to challenge DPS to make North High School a beacon in the community. Since that point, DPS has redesigned North and put an exemplary leader at the helm. By empowering teachers to raise expectations for students, students will rise to higher expectations. Every place I go, people are talking about North with expectations of success.

I believe that we are at the tipping point in Northwest Denver. We are constructing the building blocks for substantive reform in Northwest Denver. We have a strong board of education; we have a reform minded superintendent. The community is expecting change. So where do we go from here? Superintendent Michael Bennet has given us the Denver Plan which provides a clear path to teaching our kids, not just K through 12, but into technical schools and college.

But let’s not be naïve; we have been failing our kids. To make it worse, we will probably make more mistakes before this is over. But if we have the courage to commit to our schools, North Denver can be a model of success for DPS, and potentially, for other urban school districts nationwide. This is more than a rally; this is more than a slogan; this takes hard work and dedication from students, teachers, administrators, and parents. This is a whole community effort. This November will be your chance to elect a school board member who will work for you to create excellence for all kids in all schools. For more about my platform and how to get involved, visit www.tonycurcio.com, or stop by Haney’s Coffee shop on Saturday’s in August from 8:00 am to 9:30 am.

Welcome

2007-08-01T15:00:00.000-06:00

Welcome to my blog, where you can stay updated on events and news about my campaign. I will be writing articles for publishing in the local media, and I will include copies of those articles here, too.

This election is very important for the community of District 5, and I will work hard to earn your support and vote. Please visit my website for more information and learn how you can get involved.