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Charter Schools are Not a Good Fit For Adams 14

Angel Garcia

The Adams 14 School District Board of Education voted last week not to approve the application for a new Charter High School in the district. I applaud their vote, and allow me to tell you why: 

 

The main problem I see with charter schools is how much power most of them exercise. More specifically, a charter school would have the ability to deny admission. Although this might not seem as an inherently bad thing right away, when you really dive into it you notice it can lead to disaster. It is obvious what type of people a charter school would admit, but what about the rest of the community? Adams city supports many linguistically gifted students that come from very different backgrounds. It's not that these students know less, rather they know different things. The language barrier and many other factors make it hard for these students to compete with other primarily English speaking students when it comes to standardized tests. A charter school would see these linguistically gifted students as a liability and an anchor to how they are viewed on a graph rather than see them for who they are. Additionally, it is no secret that our community is full of linguistic diversity. The result would be the charter school choosing to admit only those who can already score well on exams, leaving a large portion of the district with few options. 

The displacement and disruption that a charter school can create to our environment is huge. Linguistically gifted students in our community would be forced to go to other schools if not admitted. Not only would this create a school with less diversity, but would also create a divide in our community. Mr. Key, from Adams city high school, states “they take education out of the hands of the communities, teachers, and administrators and give that power to people who are not obligated to the community and the students, but to stakeholders in for-profit corporations, and that is never in the best interest of all students.” Mr. Key is right. Charter schools function similar to the way a business would. They want to be able to take away as much government funding from other public schools as possible. They linguistically segregate communities. As you can assume, a school that has some focus on money doesn’t have all their focus on teaching. Do you want to be part of a school that doesn’t give its full attention to all students?

It is our responsibility as a community to unify against charter schools. One of the beautiful things about Adams 14 and Adams City High School is that we open our doors to serve everyone in the community. Can charter schools say the same thing?

 

Advocating for More Equitable Measures of Student Success
by Angel Garcia

Have you ever tried talking to someone that doesn’t speak the same language as you? It goes without saying that the language barrier created in this situation is a large hurdle to jump over. Now imagine if you were in a room full of people who didn’t speak your language, and then had to complete a test in a foreign language. How accurate would that test really be in measuring your academic skill? Even if you understood the math, you wouldn't know what the question asks for. A good portion of the Spanish-speaking population doesn’t have to imagine, that is their reality. 
 

Adams City High School has been subject to much talk questioning its accreditation and whether or not the Adams14 District is good enough to stay in charge of the district. Many different factors are called into question, but the most flawed measure used as an argument would be the SAT scores. Adams City High School has the highest number of bilingual students of any high school in the state; many of whom have been in the country for only a short time. They come here to try and better themselves and learn. Although they might be the same age as their English-speaking classmates, they have not been studying the language or culture the same amount.

     
Imagine Albert Einstein's face if he was told his academic prowess was to be measured through a test on reading and math in Chinese. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, if you don’t understand the language you can’t demonstrate proficiency. Adams City is doing what other schools don’t want to do in the area, they are helping better the community by giving out opportunities to all. How can you blame the school that accepts students that others won't? 
 

While the SAT was designed to predict a student's success in college, study after study has shown the two things it is actually good at predicting: The income level of the student's parents, and their linguistic and cultural background. Many say it is a test that shows a student's resources and privilege rather than the academic accomplishment of the student.   
 

As a student from Adams City High School, it is mentally depleting to have to listen to others criticize an institution they know nothing about. They aren’t in these classes next to a teacher explaining algebra, they aren't staying after school to receive help in areas they don’t understand, and they aren’t in the football games that regardless of the outcome, the energy is exhilarating. Adams City is more than just a school, it is a community of friends and family. 
   

It is time for us as a society to rethink how we assess academic success in linguistically gifted students. However, until the science of multi-language acquisition is better understood and researched, and people who write the laws see us as more than numbers and find a better way to gauge our academic success in a more equitable way, this is the system we have and here is what I know about the students and teachers at Adams City High School: We can meet any goal we need precisely because of all of the things that make this school great; the community, the family, and the ability to pull together when the chips are down. 

Uncertainty Brings Anxiety For Students In Adams 14

By Alfredo Figueroa-Flores

As the 2022-2023 school year kicks off, Adams City High School students still share concern over the Colorado State Board of Education’s decision to strip away the schools’ accreditation. The State continues to put serious importance on standardized test scores, and disregards the significant amount of Spanish speaking students attending the school.

 

More than half of the students attending Adams City High School are learning English, and have been put through English language development programs to help them learn the language. Jaquelyn Ortega, a student at Adams 14, has been attending school here since the 7th grade. She mentions, “My first year here was at Kearney Middle School in the 7th grade, I had to learn a new language, and meet completely new people.” Jaquelyn gave positive admiration to the school. She mentions how supportive Adams 14 schools were in her journey to learn a new language, and adjust to her new life in the U.S. She states that the school assigned her to a translator, “ I had a translator who helped me throughout my journey, I learned basic words, and once I learned the basics I was released on my own to english classes. I had to learn on my own so I wouldn’t have to rely on a translator.” When asked about her thoughts on the States decision to strip away accreditation, she says, “It’s not fair that the State decides to judge us on a test only offered in English, especially to so many of my peers who have just arrived in the United States, and are just beginning to learn English.” Jaquelyn says, “It brought uncertainty to everyone. We didn’t know if the school was going to close, or how it was going to affect us. It scared everyone in the school.” Ortega concludes that she has received a substantial amount of help and support from her teachers, friends, and community. When the Colorado State Board of Education decided to strip away Adams City High Schools’ accreditation and ultimately reorganize the district as a whole, it panicked the community. The State has failed to recognize the strong striving community in Commerce City. Many students at Adams City share a similar story to that of Ortegas. Students at Adams City are determined to learn and continue to strive for success.

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