Prime Time; Denver Citywide 8th and 9th Grade Band

[Intro music] [Host] Hello I'm Ed Sardella host for Prime Time. Each week Prime Time brings you highlights of activities in the Denver Public Schools, and reports on educational issues that affect the home, the school, and community in achieving the goal of excellence in

education. This week we'll report on the role of the Student Board of Education, and the Diamond Jubilee of the Parents Teachers Students Association. Kay Schomp, a member of the Denver Board of Education, will explain the proposed extended day instructional program at Gilpin school, and Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Joseph Brzeinski, discusses educational legislation with Colorado Commissioner of Education, Dr. Cal Frazier and Dr. Frank Miles, Executive Director of the Colorado Association of School Boards. Our musical feature is the citywide 8th and 9th grade concert band in a performance at the Winter Band Festival. The Denver Board of Education makes extensive use of advisory groups in order to be responsive to the concerns of teachers, students, parents, and the community. The Student Board of Education, established four years ago, serves as a communication link between the students in the 10 high schools and the Denver School Board. [Staten Fuller] The main purpose of the student board is to act as

a liaison between the students in the public schools and the board of education, so that if there is an issue that arises in the DPS the students can come to us - the student board reps - and we could have a meeting or we can have a meeting and we will set it up in a report, so that it's official and we could present it to the board of education so that they will be aware of what concerns are on the minds of the students. [Excerpt of Fuller/Student Board meeting] How are you doing? Fine, thank you. How are you? Pretty good. Hello everyone. I call this meeting to order. Can we have role call? Sure. Heidi Barnard from Manuel High School - present. Bridget Heinz from George Washington High School - present. Susan Larrison from Abraham Lincoln High School - present. Randy McCorkil from

South High School - present. Shawn Monogam from Montbello High School - present - and I'm Kathy Webber from Thomas Jefferson High School and I'm here. And Staten Fuller from East High School. Present. And we have three members absent - Valerie Carvosky from John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Matten from West High School and Sherry Zamora from North High School. [SF resumes ] Thank you. Okay the first item on our agenda today is a slide show. [Fuller resumes] One of the projects that we have been assigned to to help or assist the Board of Education is that each member was assigned to a committee that was dealing with the four year conversion plan that will be into the schools next year. And basically what we do is help the Board of Education with decisions that will

concern the students. We will try our best as the Student Board of Education to help the students, so that they will know that there are places to go instead of sitting there frustrated not knowing what to do. [Host] Schools reflect the society they serve. Throughout the years the schools have had to assume many of the social and physical responsibilities formerly provided by parents. Children are transported to school. They eat lunch in the cafeterias. They get career guidance and counseling and they receive limited medical service. Now with more working parents, and their traditional 8 to 5 workday in conflict with the school day, there is a growing need for the schools to provide an additional service - extended day programs. [Interviewer - Lin Mrachek] The need for childcare before and after school is one of the major problems facing the women who are employed or are entering the job market. The total access plan that has been

approved by the Denver Board of Education includes a provision for an instructional extended day center at Gilpin School for children in kindergarten through 6th grade. School Board member, Kay Schomp, has been vitally concerned about the welfare of children and was instrumental in formulating the plans for the Gilpin Center. Welcome, Ms. Schomp, to our program. First of all, I'd like to know why the extended day center has been developed. [Schomp] Well for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that in this society there is a true need for care of children before and after school, and that's what this is designed to do. It has been growing by leaps and bounds. And the second reason is that we have, in the school system, an excellent facility, which is Gilpin School, which is close to downtown and which lends itself ideally to this kind of a use. [Mrachek] Would you describe just add a little bit

further about how it's organized? [Schomp] Number one - the school will be a school, which will have in its population, neighborhood children from the surrounding neighborhood of Gilpin School which is located at about 30th and California Street. I think that's about it. It is a large enough school that it will also have in it room for children from outside the area of the school. And it will appeal, we are quite sure, to parents who live in the outer areas of the city who come into the city to work - and who can drop their children off at the school, and have care for their children before their school begins, have an excellent academic program at the school during the day, and have care after the school, which will not really be care because

it is an extended day school. And there will be numerous really good programs for the children for after school - the same kinds of things that people want to give to their children who stay home. There will be available academic things, there will be dance lessons, clubs, numerous adventures, you might say, for children to take in those a few hours after school. [Mrachek] What kind of funding exists to support these center activities? [Schomp] There will be no funding by the Denver Public Schools for these before and after school programs. The public schools will fund the school day programs - the academic programs - but the before and after school programs will have to be funded by fees, just as any care program for

children is funded or any private school, for that matter. For the children in the neighborhood who would like to take advantage of this, if they are unable to pay these fees, we are quite hopeful that we will be able to get some funding through some government programs and also through the downtown Denver business people, because we think that this is something that is so much to their advantage that they will be able to perhaps find some some resources to help. [Mrachek] I know that a questionnaire was recently sent home to parents. What are the results of that questionnaire and what was its purpose? [Schomp] The questionnaire was sent home to every parent who has a child in the Denver Public Schools. It was to ask those parents if they now have the need for this kind of care for their children. And if they do, how they are filling these needs, and if they do not have the

need right now, do they think they might have, and would they be interested in this kind of program? We sent this to try to have some knowledge of just how much, how many, built in customers we already have. [Mrachek] Do you any idea when you're going to have the results on that survey? [Schomp] I think we will be having them within the next week or two. [Mrachek] When will that operation be underway? [Schomp] This will go into effect next September, if all goes the way we want it to. The principal of the school was already working on programs for it. We have somebody who is working with the community to try to get some start up funds that will make it possible for us to have the kind of resources we think there should be. I want to stress, however, again, that the school itself - the before and after school portion - will be self-supporting. [Mrachek] I want to thank you very much for appearing with us on Prime Time. [Host] The home and school have developed a strong partnership through the activities of the

Parents Teachers Students Association. These local groups organized in most of the public schools form the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, the largest volunteer organization concerned with parenting and the education and welfare of children and youth. This month on Founder's Day the PTSA celebrated its Diamond Jubilee - 75 years of service to our nation's schools. [Vera Faulkner] I have worn an Edwardian jacket that is 80 years old, and poor thing looks it, and the hat and the skirt and everything is appropriate to what women wore in 1908 in Colorado. And in 1907 was when Colorado PTA, it was called the Congress of Mothers, first began and National Congress of Mothers at that time was 10 years old. [Interviewer - Lin Mrachek] What has PTSA accomplished during the last 75 years? [Faulkner] Beginning in 1897 at the national level, we first started

working for compulsory public education for American students including kindergarden. And we continue today to serve as a bridge between parents and teachers in schools and families, and in 1897 we were asking for health and nutrition programs for children - National Public Health Service, juvenile justice system, child labor laws - that was in 1900. And from 1903 we requested proper education for handicapped, gifted, and all children with special needs. School hot lunch program -1912. Creation of a cabinet level Department of Education. PTA had worked for that since 1921. We did trial tests in 1954 for the polio vaccine, and the TV Violence Project in 1977 has led us to our probably our newest project which is teaching parents and children

critical TV viewing skills. [Mrachek] With more women working, the mobility of the population, and voluntary organizations having a difficult time surviving, what do you see as the role of PTSA in the future? [Faulkner] PTA's role becomes more important with every year, from my perspective, because we are the only organization that is concerned with the whole child. Colorado, and many other states, are really turning around now because we are going back to helping parents learn how to be better parents, and that's teaching, that's skill. Our children are our future. They are the only future we have, and we need the best preparation we can get, the best information to help children grow into responsible adults. [Host] One of the educational advantages of the Denver Public Schools is the opportunity for students

with outstanding musical abilities and talents to participate in large group activities. The citywide 8th and 9th grade concert band is composed of 109 members, selected from the 19 junior high school bands. At the Winter Band Festival, they performed "Balladair" by Erickson and selections from "Eldorado" by Nestico. John Sodia - conductor. [band playing] [band continues]

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[band continues] [musical interlude] [Interviewer - Dr. Joseph Brzeinski] The state constitution and the laws passed by the General Assembly provided the

organizational framework and the direction for public education in Colorado. Through the enactment of state statutes the legislature has become a most important and very influential agency in determining educational policy. State laws define the responsibility of the local school boards, set forth attendance requirements, mandate specific programs, provide for teacher tenure, establish the method by which schools will be financed, and allocate state funds to local school districts. During this session of the legislature only those bills that relate to the governor's call may be considered. With me in the studio to discuss educational legislation is an expert in these matters, Dr. Frank Miles, Executive Director of the Colorado Association of School Boards. Welcome Dr. Miles. [Dr. Frank Miles] Nice to be here. [Brzeinski] In 1979 Denver District Judge Joseph Quinn ruled that the existing method of financing public schools was unconstitutional because it discriminated against certain school

districts. I understand that this matter is going to be coming up before the Court of Appeals State Supreme Court, and it is likely to affect public school finance in Colorado. [Brzeinski] Would you comment on how you see this happening? [Miles] I think we have to look at the basis of these various court suits across the nation. They are founded on the... seeking of an ideal situation. I think in Colorado we probably have one of the five or six best school finance plans in the nation, but that doesn't mean that we don't have some problems that remain with it. We can go to a case like the one in California, where the courts have ruled that a child's educational program and the opportunity that he has there, shouldn't be a function of where he lives or the wealth of his parents or the wealth of his neighbors or the wealth of the neighborhood in which he lives. And essentially it's a matter of determining how to allocate funds

so that every child can have an equal opportunity. In Colorado we have two different kinds of situations. One is a very high concentration of pupils in the urban area. And second we have a tremendous number of school districts and children who are in very rural areas. Many states are far more cohesive than we are in Colorado. But the idea is to try and provide equity for the children. And that's what the court case is all about. In Colorado, in some school districts, a one mill levy may raise as little as maybe $16 per pupil within the district. While in another school district, a one mill levy on a piece of property may provide more than $500 per pupil. And so through the school finance program you try and provide some kind of equity. We have no... we have a general equalization program that covers all operating

costs, but we have nothing to assist with the purchase of equipment and materials. And we have no equalization whatsoever when it comes to making provision for, bonds to build buildings and so forth. There are a couple of bills that have been introduced this year that that would deal, in part, with that situation, but I think that the legislature is most concerned about waiting until they hear from the court before they decide what direction they may wish to turn. [Brzeinski] Well immediately then I understand that the legislature is concerned with doing something about the potential increase in property taxes that will happen unless certain legislation is forthcoming. And you've been a member of the committee that has been appointed to study this problem to make recommendations. What were the findings of the committee and what are your feelings on this important matter? [Miles] Well the real reason for the committee's existence is that we

have been using for several years values as of January 1, 1973 for determining what the assessed valuation of property would be. Of course the assessed valuation ultimately determines what your tax is going to be. By statute we must move to the 1977 base year, beginning January 1, 1983. This means we've had districts where we've had people in homes who've been pretty stable with their property tax for some time. And now they're going to get a real significant jump in the level of assessed valuation. [Brzeinski] Unless the legislature does... [Miles] Unless something is done to reduce the impact of what would take place. [Brzeinski] What do you think should happen? What do you think should occur? [Miles] Well the committee has recommended that that in the process we get serious about having equity of assessments - across the state of Colorado. Because we realize we have 63 county assessors, 63 independent operations there - the state has no

legal authority, and has taken no legal authority, to assume supervision over this process and we're recommending that we get serious about the assessment practice - that we reduce the level of assessment on residential property from 30% to 20% of value. Leaving it a 30% on commercial and industrial and utilities and so forth. This would have the effect of giving a kind of a homestead exemption for people in a different way. And many states have done that, and and it seems to work well. This would, looking from 1973 to 1977, properties normally increased in value maybe 35 to 40%. And by making this adjustment it would have an offset. [Brzeinski] Would you venture a yes or no guess as to whether this is likely to happen in this session? [Miles] It won't happen in this session. It will have to be done by constitution because there are several parts of it.

You would have to look at the establishing the agricultural lands would be assessed on productivity, change the constitution to provide for separate assessment of residential properties, and so forth. I think that will happen. [Brzeinski] You do think the property owners will get some relief. [Miles] Yes, because if it doesn't, it's really going to be chaotic for people in Colorado. [Brzeinski] We're hopeful that the work of your committee will be recognized by the legislature and property tax relief will be forthcoming. Thank you very much for being with us. We really appreciate that. [Host] Next week on Prime Time, we'll report on Push Excel, a program that motivates students toward excellence, and we'll review the Newbery and Caldecott award winning children's literature books. And Dr. Joseph Brzeinski will interview LaRue Belcher, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, on the school dropout problem. I'm Ed Sardella. [closing music]

Run for the health of Channel 6 - Six mile race for adults, 1.6 mile for kids.