The Adams 14 School District teachers union and Together Colorado started a new community campaign to stop the reorganization of the school district and to shift narratives around the district.

Part of the effort is a community rally at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18, outside Adams City High School, 7201 Quebec Parkway.

In May, the Colorado State board of education voted to remove the district’s accreditation (since restored) and to begin the process of reorganizing after several years of low standardized test scores. A press statement said the two organizations shared a belief that area students “are more than their test scores” and that “legacy-making .. means standing up against the unfair state accountability system.”

The statement said the system, as is, “penalizes 56 percent of Adams 14 students who face the double challenge of noy only being tested in English while they are also classified as English Language Learners.”

“Standardized tests do not help students get college ready,” the statement said. “Research shows us that these tests maintain racial inequity and unfairly harm students whose first language isn’t English.”

The release also quoted Ember Smith, a research analyst for the Center on Children and Families in Economic Studies. On a national scale, she said standardized testing “has been found to mirror and maintain racial inequities.”

“We need authentic, community-rooted public schools that prioritize all students, as opposed to charter schools that research shows can further marginalize students from communities of color,” according to a press statement citing consultants who work with the teachers union. “Teachers and parents have worked too hard for too long to let corporate interest supersede the children’s needs and education.”

Neighboring school districts passed resolutions opposing reorganization. An earlier race said such efforts “will fail.”

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