Visited Denver last week.....my thoughts. (Boulder: crime, law school, college)

[Karianne215]

I wanted to ADD I love diversity! I grew up in AURORA...not new aurora. But I dearly miss the cultural harmony of the 90's in Aurora like I said my childhood home is no more...I am planning on moving away.

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by Karianne215

I wanted to ADD I love diversity! I grew up in AURORA...not new aurora. But I dearly miss the cultural harmony of the 90's in Aurora like I said my childhood home is no more...I am planning on moving away.

I think the only thing that has changed is you. Aurora is still a very culturally diverse place-- more so than ever before actually-- and pretty "harmonious" for the most part. Probably safer today than it was back in the "glory days" of the 1990s (remember Nathan Dunlop, Chuck E Cheese's massacre, etc). Move away, but don't project your miserable attitudes on the city.

[Spot]

When my wife and I visited Denver last summer, we liked it so much we decided to move there! We have both lived all over the world and every city has its shortcomings, but overall Denver is a really nice place. Downtown reminds me a little of a mini New York, that is, if New York were clean.

[Karianne215]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

I think the only thing that has changed is you. Aurora is still a very culturally diverse place-- more so than ever before actually-- and pretty "harmonious" for the most part. Probably safer today than it was back in the "glory days" of the 1990s (remember Nathan Dunlop, Chuck E Cheese's massacre, etc). Move away, but don't project your miserable attitudes on the city.

I grew up right by that chuckie cheese. I went to East Ridge Elem. Prairie Middle and Overland High School! And yes it is diverse but it is isolated. I get stared down all the time by groups who are new to aurora. And it saddens me. It is MORE DIVERSE and MORE DIVIDED then it was when I was a child. YES i was born in the 80's! so I was growing up in the 90's! And yes I do plan on moving. People are so unfriendly, customer service is horrible and well its so socio-economically divided...I don't want to raise my daughter here for sure. It's not young family friendly in the slightest.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

I agree, but it isn't only the illegal immigrant children contributing to the decline of DPS. Absentee parents of any background IMO are the major reason for that. I find it odd that you don't hear much in the news about "all the terrible things" going on at schools in DPS. There are kids that can overcome "adversity" and become successful at one of these "unsuccessful" and "unsafe" schools. Denver is very tame compared to other major cities around the country. Denver has it pretty good IMO.

Yes, compared to other major urban school districts, DPS is pretty good. From what I've heard, there are some poor performing schools, but some do well. We have excellent DPS schools at Stapleton.

[CMartel2]

Originally Posted by denverian

Yes, compared to other major urban school districts, DPS is pretty good. From what I've heard, there are some poor performing schools, but some do well. We have excellent DPS schools at Stapleton.

Not really. Denver Public Schools are some of the worst in the country. Even if you use something simplistic like graduation rate, it's pretty apparent they're crummy. Fifty percent of your students don't even do something so basic as to graduate high school? Twenty percent are English learners? Not only is the end result not turning out, but the rest aren't transitioning and are no doubt slowing down the other students. It's just as bad when you begin using testing data. All of this is unfortunate.

And while you talk about the great public schools in Stapleton, why don't you talk about the high school nearby? Very average by any measure.

Here are a few graduation rates:

Detroit 21.7%
Baltimore 38.5%
NYC 38.9%
Milwaukee 43.1%
Los Angeles 44.2%
Miami 45.3%
Denver 46.8%
Memphis 48.5%
Fort Worth 48.9%
Houston 48.9%
Nashville 50.4%
Albequerque 52.0%
Chicago 52.2%
Austin 55.1%
Philadelphia 55.5%
Charlotte 56.0%
Jefferson County, KY (Louisville) 62.2%
San Diego 63.0%
Virginia Beach 66.5%
Gwinnett County (ATL) 68.4%
Jordan County, UT 80.2%

National average: 72.1%

[TXperson]

Originally Posted by CMartel2

I'll never give up.

That's cute. I still think you are using weak arguments.

[steveindenver]

Graduation rates in districts that are saturated with low income families and students who are not native English language speakers are lower. Move to whitebread-ville where mommy stays at home, or mommy and daddy can afford a nanny, or that mommy and daddy both simply exist and yes, graduation rates go up.

The mistake you are making here is in assuming that graduation rates somehow singularly demonstrate quality in education. They do not.

And while you talk about the great public schools in Stapleton, why don't you talk about the high school nearby? Very average by any measure.

George Washington (where Stapleton students will go until a new school is built) is avery highly ranked, nationally acclaimed school with the states first IB program and a lot of caring teachers.

Nearby East is also very highly rated and again nationally recognized. The same can be said of the nearby schools for the performing arts and the science and technology school.

By writing about things that you no nothing about you contribute zero to this forum.

[tfox]

"Graduation rates" are low in DPS partially because Colorado has a very parent-friendly system of "school choice," allowing parents to open-enroll freely both in and out of district. So, many parents start their kids in DPS, and then later decide to open-enroll in a school outside of DPS. While this may say something about DPS, it's simply a statistically inaccuracy to count such students against the graduation rate.

DPS themselves measures "graduation rates" differently. They consider it 76.9%, which basically follows a group of DPS students from a given time until graduation, whether they happen to graduate in DPS or in another school. That's still an absolutely unacceptable rate, but at least it takes into account the effects of open-enrollment.

[tolife]

Originally Posted by tfox

I love Pho. I go out for Pho at least several times a month!

As for your comments about Federal, it's easily avoided if it's not your cup of tea, but you'll be missing out on some of the best Mexican, Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants in the area if you do!

So true, I live near Federal and frequent the Chinese & Vietnamese restaurants. That area hasn't been unsafe to me yet. If you don't spend time on Federal, you're missing out. I've eaten there 4 times in the past two weeks.. When people visit me from out of town, I take them to Federal!