All the News About Denver’s Best Residential Community Since 1961 • Volume 58, Issue No. 1 • January 2019
INSIDE THIS ISSUE PAGE 4
PARK HILL CHARACTER | Jack Farrar
lege for the holidays, and he urged others to visit the library in Five Points, at 2401 Welton St. “My great-great grandkids are going to continued on page 10
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Chauncey Billups, AKA “King of Park Hill,” credited his family and his community for his successes on and off the basketball
court when his photograph was unveiled in early December at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library. The former NBA all-star said he planned to bring his daughters to see the portrait of their dad when they were home from col-
Jan. 19 Womxn’s March Dedicated To Inclusion
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By Lynn Bartels Special to the GPHN
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Chauncey Billups Now Hanging At Blair-Caldwell Library
Bundles Of Thanks To Our Blockworkers
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Credit: Evan Semón Photography
Mr. Big Shot Unveiled
Keeping The Legacy Alive: March For MLK, Jr. On Jan. 21
Escape Into Winter Adventures At The Library
Coach Rudy Carey: 801 Wins And Counting
UPCOMING GPHC MEETINGS Thursday, Jan. 3 and Thursday, Feb. 7 at 2823 Fairfax St. at 6:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend.
EDUCATION UPDATE | Lynn Kalinauskas
J.D. MacFarlane, J.D. Choices Based On A Flawed System Former Colorado AG Known As Smart, Hardworking, Incorruptible You win some, you lose some. This truism is surely something that has helped J.D. MacFarlane maintain his perspective through a long and distinguished legal career. But two recent setbacks were particularly painful. A lawsuit in which MacFarlane was the lead plaintiff to postpone or cancel a massive water drainage project at City Park Golf Course, went down in flames. Another lawsuit in which he consulted, which would have forced the city to rethink the widening of Interstate 70, was also unsuccessful. MacFarlane did celebrate a smaller victory when a largescale playground proposed for the west end of City Park was abandoned by the city after significant neighborhood pushback four years ago. “I don’t think we should be messing around with the parks,” says MacFarlane. “Let them be what they’re supposed to be. “As far as I-70 goes, I don’t understand why they couldn’t move it farther north. I’m not convinced the city or CDOT really explored that possibility. The city was just bound and determined to go ahead, pretending to get local feedback.”
Long arm of justice The defenders of the park and the neighborhoods that will be affected by I-70 could not have found a more qualified advocate/ attorney than MacFarlane to plead their case. He is deeply respected in legal circles
and was one of the state’s most influential politicians in the seventies and eighties. He graduated from Harvard, has a law degree from Stanford, and was an advisor to the Chief of Staff at the Pentagon. He served two terms in the Colorado House of Representatives, a term as state senator, and eight years as the state’s Attorney General, where he left an indelible mark of reform. After his career in the AG’s office, he served in a variety of legal positions, including Denver Manager of Public Safety. He once explored the possibility of running for governor. He has served with, and occasionally opposed, a variety of political big shots, including Dick Lamm and Dale Tooley.
Dancing and the law I spent a couple of hours recently with MacFarlane and his wife Janet. They live in a handsome two-story Georgian brick house on a huge lot in the heart of the Park Hill Historic District. Janet MacFarlane had careers in dance and law. Born in Pasadena, she moved to New York to work with several ballet companies in New York City, toured Europe, then attended Barnard College. She went back to California, enrolled at Stanford, and danced in the Los Angeles Ballet Company, met J.D. and earned her law degree. continued on page 11
The School Performance Framework Needs An Overhaul
In 2008, Denver Public Schools institalized on using both the SPF and school tuted the School Performance Framework choice, a marriage made in heaven, to push that rates its schools on a number of metits agenda forward. DPS explains its portforics including growth, achievement, lio management style – part of the student and parent satisfaction. reform process – as follows: More recently, “academic gaps” was “Through our family of high added. quality, diverse, autonomous pubResults from the SPF are released lic schools, including district-run every year and categorize schools traditional, district-run innovaaccording to a color-coded system: tion, innovative management Blue means “distinguished”; Green organizations (IMOs), innovameans “meets expectations”; Yellow tion zones (iZones) and charter means “accredited on watch”; Orschools, we work to make these beLYNN ange means “accredited on prior- KALINAUSKAS liefs a reality – ensuring equity in ity watch”; and finally Red, which school choice and accountability.” means “accredited on probation.” Accountability links directly to Schools labeled Red are in danger the SPF. Working hand in hand, SPF of being closed or restarted. and Choice have been used to guide Supplying a multitude of data on parents and students toward some each of the district’s schools, the SPF schools, and away from others since serves many purposes. It responds to the implementations of reforms over federal and state legislation for both a decade ago. school and district accreditation. “It boils the entire school experiWith teacher pay directly linked to ence down to five colors, and, if we’re student performance via a Colorado being honest, really down to pass/ law passed in 2010, it also informs fail - either you are Green or Blue teacher pay. or you aren’t, and that is all anyone really cares about,” said Andrew Marriage made in heaven Lefkowits, who heads the group Park Hill Neighbors for Equity in EducaThe SPF has been promoted in parallel tion and whose children attend Stedman with the choice process to assist families in Elementary in north Park Hill. choosing the best schools for their children. “To think that all of the things that go “In order for choice to work, it needs a into making a school experience meaningmarket-based system,” said Jennifer Bacon, ful, from the academic content, to the soDistrict 4 board director, at a recent meeting. “And it needs a marketing tool.” continued on page 8 Denver’s reform movement has capi-