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Hey kids, let's have an election!
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Who will rule the school?
The phone rings and rings. On the other end is a recorded message from a Denver School Board candidate trying to get a vote. The mailbox is always full of glossy cards expressing candidates' love of children with a strong desire that each young Denverite succeed. It is reassuring that no pedophobe is running for the board.
But what do the cards and calls tell us about each candidate?
Christopher Scott is running for the At-Large position. He is Katie's husband, has two daughters in Denver Public Schools and doesn't like charter schools. He is opposed by Mary Seawell who is endorsed by the Denver Post and Mayor Hickenlooper and claims to be a good listener. If she truly is a good listener, she should be running for congress. The Congress can use some good listeners.
In Southwest Denver's District 2, Andrea Merida hopes to bring her experience as captain of House District 2B Democrats to the school board. From her mailings, one can be certain that Ms. Merida believes in excellence as the word appears several times in every sentence of every mailing. She believes in student excellence, teacher excellence, resource excellence and lunch lady excellence. Excellent, excellent. To compete against excellence, her opponent, Ismael Garcia, pulled out the big gun. His most recent mailing features a photo of President Barack Obama in a classroom as Mr. Garcia supports the president's educational reforms without explaining what those reforms are. Did President Obama really endorse Mr. Garcia? Unlikely. The election will be November 3 and not enough time for the president to decide between the two office seekers.
The candidates are in favor of improving Denver schools and providing more resources. Won't this cost money? Aren't revenues down? Is this being discussed? Any talk about Denver's failing schools and high drop-out rate? Other than platitudes about wanting all kids to succeed, none of this is being addressed.
Anyway, may the best candidate win.
If there is a best candidate.
Denver residents: This is a mail-in ballot. Ballots were mailed last week. Fill it in and mail it back in time to be counted on November 3. To mail it you will need a 61-cent stamp. If you don't have a 61-cent stamp readily available you may drop off your ballot beginning October 26 at the Wellington Webb Building, 201 W. Colfax Avenue or at Denver Elections Division Main Office, 3888 E. Mexico Avenue.
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