Perspective: DPS is losing an extraordinary leader

Susana Cordova’s resignation letter brims with love for a school district that educated a young Latina by instilling in her a love for learning, reading, and a deep desire to emulate the teachers who encouraged and stimulated what became a passion for education. If anyone who reads her letter believes that it was written by an individual who doesn’t love this community or this school district, the reader couldn’t be more wrong.

A community that holds tremendous pride in Susana and all she has accomplished is grieving today. We have suffered a great loss, and we are feeling it deeply.

Susana has achieved a remarkable legacy. Through her 31- year career with Denver Public Schools, she led a focus on equity that has improved literacy rates for all young readers and transformed services for students learning English. In senior leadership roles including Chief Academic Officer, Deputy Superintendent and Superintendent, Susana has been responsible for much of the district’s progress over a decade or more in achieving and sustaining steady improvement on a variety of critical measures including academic achievement, high school graduation, and college attendance — making DPS only one of three large school districts in the nation to achieve such sustained progress.

Susana faced historically daunting challenges from the day she began as superintendent, including an imminent teachers’ strike and had a remarkably productive tenure. She resolved that once- in- a- quartercentury strike after all- night negotiations with the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and made critical new investments in our educators. Following that, Susana navigated the district through a major reorganization, shifting substantial resources from administration to the classroom. As if that were not enough, she has faced a pandemic and budget crisis with considerable adeptness and compassion. And her leadership, which has been recognized nationally, goes well beyond the classroom to address the needs of DPS families.

Through it all, Susana has demonstrated the qualities that have earned her distinction throughout her career: extraordinary intelligence, educational expertise, personal integrity, diplomacy and listening skills, and a passion for collaboration encompassing educators, students, families and community. She is one of our nation’s finest urban school district leaders.

Susana’s letter passed on the opportunity to blame someone else for her decision. In true Susana Cordova style, it only praised the district that educated her family, that gave a young Latina the opportunity to become the first in her family to graduate from college, to realize the dreams of becoming a teacher, and eventually, being named the leader of the school district that molded and shaped her.

For the school board, she framed her departure as an opportunity for them to hire a superintendent who can implement their agenda for the 93,000 students in the DPS system. She didn’t blame a board whose overall governance has been questioned by close observers of the district.

Susana didn’t blame a pandemic that led to unprecedented disruption of at least two school years for a community of learners in which many were unprepared by circumstances for remote, online learning. The pandemic required a yeoman’s effort to put the technology and the Wi- Fi connections into households that were unconnected. It required safely feeding families that rely on school food programs for basic nutrition. And it required placing technology into the hands of learners with no lead time. I’m not sure how many in Denver’s expanding middleclass realize that thousands of DPS families rely on our schools for food supplies and that many do not have in- home access to technology.

Susana leaves Denver Public Schools better for her record of accomplishment. While there is much work ahead to ensure every student receives a high- quality education, this remains the most important job in Denver, and she has excelled at it beyond my expectations. On behalf of a grateful community, I wish her the very best. And we parents in the district, and the learners, and community have been the beneficiaries of her extraordinary commitment and leadership.

Rosemary Rodriguez, a former member of the Denver Public Schools Board of Education, and former president of the Denver City Council, is founder of Together We Count.