By Moira Cullen, DFER Colorado State Director
While Colorado basketball fans could only dream of the final four, it’s been March Madness for DFER-Colorado, with five March events that directly touched over a thousand people, hit thousands more through media coverage, and raised critical funds for education reformers.
This month’s events began on March 15th with a Denver mayoral candidate forum co-sponsored by DFER and a number of local sponsors, including Education Reform Now, Colorado Children’s Campaign, Get Smart Schools, Stand for Children, A+ Denver and The Denver Public Schools Foundation. It was the biggest crowd thus far for any of the mayoral candidate forums, and led to some great discussion on the role and responsibility of Denver’s next mayor. Read more about the forum here and the candidate survey coverage here.
Next, we helped organize a packed house (600+ people!) for the film Waiting for Superman sponsored by the Vail Valley Foundation, with a panel discussion led by Colorado State Senator and DFER-CO board member Michael Johnston along with NPR’s Larry Abramson, Charter Growth Fund’s Kevin Hall, GreenDot America’s Steve Barr, Eagle County’s Superintendent Sandra Symser, and Education Reform Now’s Van Schoales. As many discussed here, reform is not just an issue for Denver when low-income Latino kids in Colorado’s mountain communities are not getting the support they need to succeed in college and life.
DFER-CO Madness continued with a fundraiser for Nate Easley, the President of the Denver School Board, who is facing a recall election. Van Schoales’ house was packed on March 21st with over 60 folks willing to throw down $6,000 to support Nate and ensure that Denver Public Schools stays on track with education reform.
DPS School Board President Nate Easley Speaks to Supporters