by Ruthy Wexler
The November 29 announcement that Susana Cordova had been chosen as the sole finalist for Denver Public Schools (DPS) Superintendent came as good news to some but an unpleasant shock to others. Ever since former DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg said on July 17 that he would step down, rumors persisted that DPS insiders had already handpicked Deputy Superintendent Cordova as his successor. But days after Boasberg’s announcement, Denver’s Board of Education (BOE) made one of their own: they would conduct an utterly transparent, community-informed, nationwide “Super Search” to find, as BOE President Anne Rowe said, “the best possible individual to lead DPS forward.”For four and one-half months, over 4,500 citizens — families, students,educators, even DPS’s staunchest critics — attended community forums to say what they wanted in a new superintendent. Then the BOE called a last-minute meeting to say they had a finalist: Susana Cordova.
Critics got their mojo back and denounced DPS for wasting taxpayer money with the elaborate (nine Town Halls, 100 small forums, two consulting firms) and expensive ($161,375) Super Search. But Rowe proudly pointed to the high level of community involvement and, brandishing the 86-page Community Report, she defended the coincidental nature of the board’s choice: “Cordova possesses every attribute the community said it wanted.”
Was Susana Cordova truly the best person to lead DPS forward? Or had the Super Search been, as many claimed, a “super sham?”
Continue Or Confront?
Part of the answer, some said, lay in the mess Boasberg left behind as he flew off to Singapore for his new job. Besides scandals at several high schools, a more difficult-to-address mess lay in the educational policies Boasberg had cemented into the city’s school system, policies that a new superintendent would either continue — or confront.
Many parents and educators agree with East High Principal John Youngquist’s statement that “DPS needs to address failure.”
For 15 years, DPS has hewed to only one education theory: the data-driven “reform” model. Boasberg did not just follow his friend and predecessor Michael Bennet’s reform ideas. Aided by an unusually long tenure (10 years) and cooperative (or convinced) boards, Boasberg brooked no opposition as he installed reform notions like high stakes testing, evaluating teachers on student test scores and closing neighborhood schools.
In recent years, however, evidence has flowed in that reform educational notions make bold promises but bear little fruit. The Gates Foundation admits “We haven’t seen the large impact we had hoped for.” Closer to home, in April 2018, the National Association of Education Progress (NAEP) released data showing DPS’s “achievement gap” between low-income students and those from more affluent backgrounds as unusually large. Another study showed that gap to be third largest in the nation. Even pro-reform groups like A+ Colorado admit “Denver has “some of the largest [achievement] gaps between different groups of students.” Since 70% of DPS students are black or Hispanic, a majority low-income, many parents have grasped the significance of the achievement gap.
Increasing numbers of Denver parents and teachers haveformed and joined community groups to “take back” their public schools. Manyworked to elect school board candidates who felt similarly. This last election,two such candidates, Dr. Carrie Olson and Jennifer Bacon, won seats — and on November 29, voted “no” on the resolution to approve Cordova as sole finalist.(There were three finalists, but two dropped out.)
After the resolution passed, 5-2, Cordova said, “I learned a lot from Tom, but I am not him … I’m a much more collaborative leader.” Some believed Cordova was signaling her intention, once appointed, to listen more closely to the community than Boasberg ever did.
The BOE is due to appoint someone — almost certainly Cordova — on December 17. Until then, Cordova anticipates showing — at community meetings around the city — ”what I believe and who I am.”
Who Are You?
Referencing the list of attributes the community said it wanted, one DPS principal said, “They want an educator above everything. Susana has spent her entire career as a teacher, principal, administrator. Check. They want someone committed to Denver … who sends their kids to DPS schools. Check, check, check …”
Board Vice President Barbara O’Brien said Cordova fulfills other community requests “coming from the Latino community and being bilingual.”
On December 5, at North High, in Cordova’s first appearance since being named finalist, a colleague described Cordova as “warm, caring and sensitive,” then opened the floor for questions.
“What will you do about the achievement gap?” a parent asked.
“Being Latina … the achievement gap is very personal to me,” Cordova began. “I know what that gap means to families … jobs …” She then proceeded to deliver upbeat generalities; e.g., “With support, our schools can improve”; “We need to value our teachers more”; which caused an observer to mutter, “Platitudes will get her nowhere. She needs a specific plan!”
Only when asked twice if “school closings are still on the table, “ did Cordova go specific. “I think [closing a school] has to be one of the tools in our toolbox,” she finally said.
Why Not Cordova?
“The strategies [Cordova] championed as deputy superintendent are now being held up as examples of why the reform movement is not working,” says teacher Anna Noble.
“If these policies aren’t working, why would we want someone who believes in them to be superintendent?” says former BOE member Jeannie Kaplan.
“I went to the [December 5] meeting with an open mind,” says Jane Diamond, activist and DPS parent. “I believe that Susana is a bright and sincere person. What I didn’t hear was passion, innovation, energy, anything new or inspiring.”
“New direction is needed,” insists DPS parent Maggie Miller.
Activist Brandon Pryor recently brought attention to Cordova’s involvement in the “AmeriCorps scandal.” The AmeriCorps program, overseen by Cordova and two others, was terminated in June 2018, when a state agency discovered DPS hadn’t complied with requirements and must pay the program back. “This will set taxpayers back millions,” said Pryor, who said the real scandal was Cordova’s complicity “with a program that allowed unlicensed individuals to teach in DPS classrooms.”
Conflict Of Interest?
Cordova is married to Eric Duran, Managing Director in the Denver office of D.A. Davidson, a firm that has participated in bonds where Denver tax dollars go to a charter school. Contradicting O’Brien’s insistence that “there is no conflict of interest … Eric’s firm has not done business with DPS charters for 10 years,” public records show only a few years back, Duran’s firm did an $8.3 million-dollar deal with a DPS Charter School known as Highline.
Duran’s firm has pledged “not to conduct business with DPS.” But some point to Cordova’s already profiting from charter school bond deals as sufficient conflict of interest.
A Little Help From Her Friends
Months before the Super Search meetings began, parents and community leaders were urged through phone calls from a DPS insider to be “part of the campaign to support Susana Cordova.” One parent said the caller “insisted ‘Susana was her own person.’ So I asked, ‘Then why does she support Boasberg’s policies?’ and they said, ‘Oh, she can’t say no to her boss!’”
“It could be Susana has been in DPS too long,” mused Kaplan, whose vast store of knowledge about DPS and fairmindedness are respected on all sides. “But maybe … she’s biding her time, waiting till she’s confirmed to break out of the mold.”
Endgame
In a November 28 post on her blog Kaplan for Kids, Kaplan gave a blistering assessment of DPS’s history and suggested that DPS, rather than learning from failure, seeks to hide that failure by appointing Cordova.
In a more recent conversation, Kaplan said she wished Cordova well. “I want her to succeed! And I think she could, if she sees this as a great opportunity. But in order to succeed, she has to reach out to the other side.
“A perfect way to do that,” Kaplan said, “would be to name Antwan Jefferson — he does amazing work — as deputy superintendent. That would bring a whole other part of the community into this discussion.” “She could, if she really wanted to, be a bridge-builder! And that would be so amazing for DPS.” Others say that Cordova should pick a deputy superintendent that aligns with her as well as the majority of the BOE opinions.