Next steps forward, the lone dissenting vote

Community,

It is likely my initiative on alleviating the burdens caused by student fees will fail tonight.

First I want to take accountability for not seeing this sooner, as many of you know I’ve had a rough five months and was out of office for two months. I desperately wish I could’ve caught this sooner to give the district and my colleagues more time to go over my proposal to Board Policy JQ.

Although I will most likely be the lone dissenting vote, allow me to explain why I am staying steadfast to voting ‘NO’ tonight.

• Our families are being asked to supply the majority of their school supplies out of pocket, adding additional fees would be an extra burden our families can’t lift.
• Families should not be responsible if a child doesn’t pass a college level course, especially in cases where the school is designed as an Early College where majority of classes are college level classes.
• The waiver system is authorized by school principals and we are failing to acknowledge how we address potential relationship fractures amongst families and school leadership.
• Fees for extracurricular activities for sports have created systems where low income students are not able to participate due to financial restrictions.
• Each school leader is able to pick and choose the fees that apply for their school.

I appreciate the changes Denver Public Schools has made and sought to find other areas where we can make small adjustments, but I can not vote for something I simply do not believe in and believe will continue to cause a burden to our families.

I’ve never backed down from a fight and I won’t back down now. That is why over the next year I will work with our Superintendent and his staff in Denver Public Schools to find more solutions on how our families can save money as it relates to student fees.

Director Tay Anderson