Beware the Mommies
The primary schools of northwest Denver don't fare much better, Bennet points out, since studies have found that the longer kids attend area middle schools, the less proficient they become. The overhaul at North is part of Bennet's pledge to reverse declining enrollment — more than 10,000 students have fled the district over the past several years — by luring back families who are currently driving their kids across town to better-performing schools. Despite the rapid development and home appreciation in Highland and surrounding neighborhoods, middle schools like Horace Mann and Skinner are operating at less than 50 percent capacity.
But the drop can't be solely attributed to the childless yuppie hordes currently staking claims in the area. Quite to the contrary, high-testing schools like Academia Anna Marie Sandoval at 3655 Wyandot Street have waiting lists in the hundreds. It was this demand that, in 2002, birthed the grassroots group Northwest Parents for Excellent Schools, headed by Jennifer Draper Carson and backed up by the city-wide Piton Foundation. But one of the most effective mobilization tools of local angry parents has been Highland Mommies , an informal association for mothers who "get together regularly for playgroups, to play at the park, and share moms' nights out!" What began as an online babysitting co-op has morphed into an army of activist mothers who have been showing up by the hundreds to meetings and workshops dealing with the North High redesign.
If Bennet thought he had his hands full with the peeved African-American ministers after he shut down Manual, he hasn't witnessed the wrath of the mommies. — Jared Jacang Maher
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