New Visual Arts Teacher For Denver School of the Arts

To:
Mr. Tom Boasberg, Superintendent, Denver Public Schools
Ms. Kim Ursetta, President, Denver Classroom Teachers Association
Mr. Dave Hammond, Representative, Denver Classroom Teacher’s Association
Ms. Linee Peroncel, Standing Principal, Denver School of the Arts
To Be Announced, New DSA Principal
Mr. Antwan Wilson, District Superintendent

cc:
Theresa Peña, President, Board of Education
Michelle Moss, Vice-President, Board of Education
Kevin Patterson, District 4, Board of Education
Sallie Baker, member, Teacher’s Union

From:
The undersigned parent body of the Visual Arts department at DSA on behalf of our children

Re: Growing problem turned dire, in need of immediate action

We request your immediate attention and commitment to resolve the void that exists in one of the two teaching positions within the Visual Arts program. Too much time has already been lost over the last two years and our students’ education has greatly suffered. In this magnet program, our students have committed to a major at the expense of other academic subjects. It is imperative that a permanent, strong, dependable and qualified Visual Arts teacher be in place before the 2009/2010 school year begins.

The excessive and chronic absences, multiple sick leaves and general performance of Ms. Hawkins has caused extreme upheaval and disruption in this program. This present semester especially has been a disaster. Our children report being angry, disappointed, hurt, disillusioned and abandoned. Many are resentful, depressed, floundering, unmotivated and according to teachers, many have become difficult to control. Their revolt against authority has driven several would-be permanent subs out. For the first time, truancy is a problem with the upper-class students and post-secondary opportunities have suffered greatly. Discipline has had to become the priority and it is the students who have suffered most due to an effective solution not being found. Just this week, upper class students fought with the teacher, was broken up by Ms. Rosenbaum in front of all the students and mediation was hopeless. Students are rightfully fed up and we hope you respect the legitimacy of our advocating on their behalf.

Many parents/guardians have made numerous individual attempts to address this concern over the past few years with the present and past administrations, to absolutely no avail. We are now presenting ourselves as a unified body with a single voice which needs to be heard.

We are requesting that the six above parties agree to a meeting with 4 parent representatives from our department community on Friday, May 8th at any time possible for you all. An agreed upon solution must be in place by May 15, 2009. We are dismayed that DPS has allowed this to continue as long as it has with no indication of resolution prior to the next school year.

This is not a situation where parents are grieving about a teacher. We are sympathetic to Ms. Hawkins' illness/condition and believe that a humanistic resolution which can be of help to Ms. Hawkins is also part of this solution. However, we do not find it acceptable to have Ms. Hawkins return for the 2009/2010 school year. There has been too much damage done to date and based on history, we believe this would only further be detrimental to our students’ education and the Visual Arts program.

Considering the long-lasting situation our students have endured, we believe our request is totally reasonable. We further hope you will agree that what has been allowed to happen to the students’ education within the VA department is simply wrong and this injustice must be rectified.

We look forward to meeting with you this coming week to find an acceptable solution before this school year is over and release our department to search for an acceptable replacement in this full-time, permanent
position.

Respectfully submitted by: