D60 puts plan together to avoid state takeover
It’s a race against the clock for Pueblo City Schools. D60 is on the verge of a takeover by the state if test scores don’t improve.
But the district has a plan to make sure that doesn’t happen.
District officials presented this plan to the community at East High School Tuesday night.
Mary Manzanarez’s granddaughter is struggling in school. She says she is failing classes at Central High School.
In her opinion, she says the district needs more qualified teachers.
“Because some of these teachers don’t understand what they’re doing,” Manzanarez said.
D60 has a plan in place to help her granddaughter, since the district has one more year to improve. The state put a freeze on improving for a year for all turnaround schools since there is a change in the standardized testing.
“The biggest focus for us and the sense of urgency all revolves around the moving our district off of the turnaround clock,” D60 Communications Director Dalton Sprouse said.
Right now, D60 is in priority improvement status, which is the second-lowest ranking for a school district in Colorado.
No improvement could mean schools closing their doors or being changed into innovation or charter schools.
One of the improvements D60 has made is putting specialized programs at different schools like the STEM Academy at Central High School.
Other improvements include changing the curriculum to fit the state’s standards, improving technology and infrastructure, along with getting the community more involved.
Parent Marie Shafer agrees that there needs to be a curriculum change by getting rid of Common Core.
“I think we need to go back to the original reading, writing and arithmetic. I think those were very good aspects when I was growing up,” she said.
“It all starts with letting our students know what they are capable of achieving,” Sprouse said.
This is encouragement that Manzanarez and other parents hope can spread to make sure their kids succeed.
The next meeting for this plan is Thursday at 6 p.m. at South High School.
