National Mayors for Educational Excellence Tour kicks off in Denver

Mayor Hancock and his staff showed mayors from Sacramento, CA and Providence, RI around northeast Denver’s Evie G. Dennis campus today.

The event kicked off a national tour of city school systems, which will include a fourth city, San Antonio, TX, whose mayor was not present today. The national tour is an effort to connect education-minded mayors and share ideas about reform.

The tour included visits to two schools on the campus, DSST: Green Valley Ranch and STRIVE Prep: Green Valley Ranch, as well as the early childhood education center, Z Place. The tour did not visit SOAR: Green Valley Ranch, one of two elementary schools on the campus. It is currently ranked as red or on probation according to the district’s ranking system. The campus, which includes a total of six schools and a school-based health center serving the entire region, was part of the district’s turnaround efforts in far northeast Denver.

Both Sacramento, CA and Providence, RI are undertaking turnaround efforts of their own.

See pictures below for a snapshot of what the mayors saw.