Henry Roman and Jennifer Portillo, new President and Vice-President of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA)

Mr. Henry Roman and Ms. Jennifer Portillo, voted President and Vice-President of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, will be installed as new Executive Officers of DCTA on Thursday May 21, at the Rep Council meeting in the Denver Center for International Studies.

Our congratulations to DCTA's new leadership team!

Bruce Randolph's Principal appointed Assistant to the Superintendent for Reform and Innovation in DPS

Ms. Kristin Waters has been appointed Assistant to the Superintendent for Reform and Innovation in Denver Public Schools. Before accepting this appointment, Ms. Waters was the Principal of Bruce Randolph School between 2005 and April 2009.

According to the Colorado Department of Education’s School Accountability Report, the Overall Academic Performance on State Assessments during 2007-2008 for Grades 6-8, and 9-10, in Bruce Randolph, was low in both cases (*).

In 2006-2007 Bruce Randolph’s performance was also qualified by CDE's Report as low

Independent observers noted that Ms. Waters is leaving her old post of more than three years at Bruce Randolph School without showing a clear and substantial improvement in student achievement, as measured by the School Overall Academic Performance on State Assessments issued by the Colorado Department of Education.

The same observers are inclined to suggest that Ms. Waters should not accept the appointment in the newly created post of Assistant to the Superintendent for Reform and Innovation. They think that Ms. Waters should continue serving as Principal at Bruce Randolph enough years as to determine the success or failure of the experiment that she helped launch in that School.

However, Denver Public Schools is already looking for a new Principal for Bruce Randolph School. DPS is offering a yearly salary of $96,454, "negotiable, and commensurate with qualification and experience", for a work year of 233 days.

(*) http://reportcard.cde.state.co.us/reportcard/CommandHandler.jsp?cmdSelect=getReportCard&schoolID=39447&searchYear=2008, http://reportcard.cde.state.co.us/reportcard/CommandHandler.jsp?cmdSelect=getReportCard&schoolID=39448&searchYear=2008).

(**) http://reportcard.cde.state.co.us/reportcard/pdf/2007_0880_6350_M.pdf

New DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg comes to the District from a private corporation showing serious decline in its stock value

Mr. Tom Boasberg, Superintendent of Denver Public Schools since January 2009, and Chief Operating Officer between April 2007 and January 2009, comes from a private corporation featuring serious decline in its stock value.

According to the biography of Mr. Boasberg published in DPS' web site, "Before DPS, Boasberg worked for eight years at Level 3 Communications, where he was Group Vice President for Corporate Development, responsible for the company's mergers and acquisitions and strategic partnerships. At Level 3, he led negotiations for dozens of transactions, including nine transactions worth over $100 million each and three valued at over $1 billion each. Boasberg spent his first three years at Level 3 in Hong Kong as Senior Vice President for Asia Corporate Development and Head of the Asian Lines of Business, establishing and running operations in China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong." (*)

The same website reports that Mr. Boasberg worked in Level 3 Communications for eight years, between 1999 and April 2007.

The week of April 5, 1999, the share of Level 3 Communications Inc. (LVLT) traded at $84.75. Eight years later, the week of April 2, 2007 the same share quoted at $6.13.

Not a very good performance for the corporation in which Mr. Boasberg was Group Vice President for Corporate Development, don't you think?

It seems that Level 3's growth between 1998 and 2007 was not precisely development. At least, this is what the markets thought. Looking at the stock performance, two words may be more appropriate – decline and decay. Or, if you want, it may be accepted that it was development. Negative development.

After labeling Mr. Boasberg as "a bargain for the District", the Denver Post reported that the former Level 3 excutive will earn "a base salary of $170,000 a year, with the chance of a $50,000 bonus if certain goals are met." (**)

(*) http://communications.dpsk12.org/newsroom/biography/superintendent/

(**) http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_11606655