Students need more support

School board member Jennifer Bacon’s column is a must read for all school board members, whatever district they’re in. “We can build” on what together we can change, she asserts.

Our board in Aurora faces many of the same issues found in Denver. Bacon’s district in northeast Denver has many characteristics found in Aurora schools. They both share large minority populations — Aurora having the highest of such populations in the area, next to Denver, going as far back as the 1960s. Aurora also has had to face its large number of households headed by women for several decades. Think: lower wage earners.

At 67 years old, I’m about to start my seventh consecutive year as a substitute teacher in a “high needs” public school district. Hopefully, this personal history gives me some right to say that more resources go toward students with bad behavior and low grades than those practicing the ABCs of good academics, behavior and citizenship. I’m inspired to recommend that the private sector make an intentional effort to financially support our ABC students more than the overused spoken “Good job” from their poor teachers.

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