Education |

Black educators in Denver Public Schools feel mistreated, according to report

Listen first, then take action. That’s how Denver Public Schools officials said the state’s largest school district plans to respond to a recent report that found its African-American teachers feel mistreated — and feel that the needs of black students are being ignored.

“To truly figure out how to make transformational and systemic change, it’s going to take the entire community,” said school board president Anne Rowe.

The district commissioned the report in response to concerns from black educators about how they and their students are treated. Black teachers made up just 4 percent of the teacher workforce last year, while black students comprised about 14 percent of the nearly 91,500 students. That percentage has been shrinking since the 1973 court decision that directed Denver to desegregate its schools, a trend the report partly attributes to gentrification.

The 70 African-American teachers and administrators interviewed reported feeling isolated and unaccepted. They said black educators in DPS have had difficulty securing promotions.

“African-Americans in DPS are invisible, silenced and dehumanized, especially if you are passionate, vocal and unapologetically black,” one educator told the report’s author. “We can’t even be advocates for our kids. It feels a lot like being on a plantation.”

Chalkbeat Colorado is a nonprofit news organization covering education issues. For more information, go to chalkbeat.org/co.