Families' Power to Choose a High School or Middle School in Denver

As reported in yesterday’s Denver Post, more and more Denver families are becoming smart education shoppers and taking advantage of the choices available to them — even sometimes opting for different schools within the same household:

The chaos begins in the Black household on weekday mornings around 6 a.m., when the family’s three children prepare to head off to three different Denver high schools.

Keenan, a senior, attends George Washington High School. Griffin the sophomore, goes to nearby Thomas Jefferson. And Addie, a freshman, is enrolled at South.

The oldest likes George Washington’s International Baccalaureate program, the sophomore likes the computer center at TJ and Addie is excited about the diversity at South.

Interested? Excited? Confused? … Tomorrow evening (Wednesday, November 4) at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science is the city’s School Choice Expo. Find out what middle school and high school options are available. Get a firsthand glimpse at the exhibitions. Ask questions of school representatives.

Entries for schools of choice for the 2010-11 school year begin first thing after the New Year. If you need to get up to speed first on what schools are out there, or whenever you have questions about the schooling options available to you in Colorado, check out our terrific School Choice for Kids website.

By no means have we arrived yet, as many families still aren’t aware of their choices, and many students are unable to enroll in a suitable school — in Denver and throughout the state. Change will happen, and more excellent schools will emerge, as more students and parents educate themselves about their options and grow empowered to demand something better.