As the founder and executive director of the African Leadership Group, I want to thank Aurora Public Schools Superintendent Rico Munn and four members of the Board of Education for participating in our virtual Town Hall meeting on May 2. We hope this leads to a more collaborative and positive relationship than we have had with the district up to now. You can watch a video of the entire town hall here.

For many years we, as representatives of the African immigrant community, have extended invitations to Superintendent Munn to attend our events. This was the first time he accepted. His attendance represents a good first step in establishing a positive working relationship. Our community still has many questions about APS, especially in this time of remote learning. So we hope that there will be many future interactions with Mr. Munn and his leadership team.

It is unfortunate that it took a crisis as large as a pandemic to get Superintendent Munn finally to accept our invitation. It had become obvious over time that, while he was developing relationships with other communities, he was reluctant to interact with the African immigrant community. Perhaps now he will begin to understand who we are, and that while we have many questions and may at times be critical, what we want is a positive, collaborative working relationship.

To be clear, over time we have developed good relationships with some Aurora school board members. President Kyla Armstrong-Romero in particular has come to know our community. She has attended our events, eaten with us, and celebrated with us. People know her name, and feel that she fits well into our community. After this recent town hall event, we hope the same kind of relationships will develop with Superintendent Munn and other school board members.

It is hard to know for certain why Superintendent Munn at last agreed to accept our invitation. It may have something to do with an April 14 Chalkbeat article, in which I was quoted criticizing the district for poor communication about e-learning in the early days of the pandemic. APS sent out some communications that were not translated into some of the languages spoken by our families. I also pointed out that some families did not know APS was distributing computers. ALG ended up raising money to buy 15 Chromebooks and distributing them to families.

After our town hall, I hope APS leadership will now understand that if they wish to reach the African immigrant community, they can work with us to get the word out. We have the capability to translate communications as well as reach people the district apparently cannot reach effectively.

We did hear from the superintendent and board members during the town hall that they are now committed to working collaboratively and in partnership with ALG. They will respond to our invitations, attend our events, and feel free to reach out and ask for our support and involvement. We are eager to see if these commitments, having been made, are followed through on.

We, in turn, are committed to attending APS school board meetings, to know about the decisions that are made so we can communicate them to our community. We also commit to engaging in communications from the district, ensuring that messages APS needs to deliver reach our community. We also will help APS understand which languages are prevalent in our community, so that the district can provide translation into those languages.

On one issue in particular, we heard a positive message from one school board member. ALG is an organization that believes in school choice. One of our members asked school board treasurer Marques Ivey about his position on charter schools, since APS has a reputation of being at times less than charter-friendly. He said he supports charter schools as long as they are held accountable.

As an organization that favors school choice, we want to see more options available for our families. That way, parents can decide which schools best fit the needs of their children. High school choices are especially problematic in APS. No high schools in APS are performing at an acceptable level. High schools are so important to us because they are the platform on which our children are being prepared for the professional world. Without a solid high school education, forget about college.

We asked at the town hall whether APS consider this a crisis, and what do they intend to do about it. Unfortunately, we did not get an answer.

Even though ALG and APS may not agree on certain issues, we want a strong, collaborative relationship with the district and its leadership. Disagreement does not mean we are anti-APS in any way. We want to feel free to express our opinions without creating defensiveness. If Superintendent Munn and others believe we are wrong on certain issues, we would hope they would provide proof that educates and informs us. That is how positive relationships between organizations are built.

On Saturday, May 2, the African Leadership Group held a virtual town hall meeting over Zoom with Aurora Public Schools Superintendent Rico Munn and four members of the Aurora Board of Education. During the town hall, Superintendent Munn and the board members answered questions from the more than 50 participants in the meeting, and discussed how APS is coping with fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are how two community members perceived the event:

Evans Kwesi Mensah
Rarely do you see five key officials from a major school district come together outside usual district business to discuss issues with the community. But in these unprecedented times, with COVID-19 impacting us all, immigrant and non-immigrant alike, that’s precisely what happened on Saturday, May 2.

Superintendent Rico Munn highlighted the free meals distribution program which started March 17, saying APS was among the first districts in the state to start such a program. As of May 2 APS had given out half a million meals. He credited donors and volunteers alike. Technology distribution has been notable as well, with about 18,000 devices distributed to date to the community and especially needy families.

Marques Ivey, the school board treasurer, spoke of watching his wife, a first-grade teacher in the district, is using a mixture of patience and emotion to work with her students remotely. At the same, the couple has their own three children at home and in need of help with schoolwork and attention. As someone with his own first-grader in the house, this resonated with me.

Board vice president Kevin Cox issued an interesting challenge to ALG. He said he would like to see ALG lead the development of an African history curriculum in APS. That way, students of African descent in the district who were born here and do not have a clear definition of their roots could learn more about their countries and regions of origin.

ALGs own Papa Dia closed the discussion with one vivid point; ALG and its community are not here to just take, but to contribute as well. It is important to make this a mutual relationship.

Dr. Anne Keke
After almost five years of waiting and multiple extended invitations that remained unanswered, the African immigrant community of Aurora at last had the opportunity to host some board members of Aurora Public Schools and Superintendent Rico Munn.

The meeting lasted two hours, but it felt like 30 minutes. For almost an hour, superintendent Munn gave a thorough presentation on what APS is currently doing in these moments of uncertainty and what the district intends to do during the next school year if the virus persists.

Parents and community members were able to ask questions directly of the superintendent. One parent, Mr. Ba asked how APS is responding to the needs of parents with special needs kids in APS. Superintendent. Munn responded that the district is trying to do better for families with disabled students in APS. He acknowledged this is especially challenging during a time when all learning is remote.

Miss Mariem, an incoming freshman student wanted to know how this situation will affect those preparing for high school in the fall. Superintendent who also has a child who is going to be a freshman said plans are being formulated and will be proposed to the Colorado Department of Education in the next coming month.

My observation as a parent and a teacher: parents had high expectations for what they would learn from this town hall. Unfortunately, the superintendent and board members could not answer many of their questions definitively.
Nonetheless, participants were very appreciative of the presentations from the board members and the superintendent. I am sure many would appreciate a continuous collaboration between the board, the superintendent, and the community.

Please, Superintendent Munn, do not remain a stranger. We would like to be involved, we would like to help you because we know what is good for our kids. The same goes for the APS board members.

The truth of the matter is that nothing is certain. The district is not sure about what is going to happen next school year. Parents and communities, unfortunately, will have to stay in limbo.

Opening remarks at the town hall from Lilyan Hakim

Before I begin, I would like to thank the Aurora Public Schools Superintendent and members of the APS Board of Education for taking time out of your Saturday to join the African Leadership Group and our community for such an important topic. I would also like to thank the parents, students, friends and families for joining this call.

My name is Lilyan Hakim, a junior at Eaglecrest High School. I am the President of the African Leadership Group Youth Empowerment Program. As a daughter of immigrant parents from Sudan, I know how hard it is to navigate through the school system with critical barriers such as language, academic preparation and culture. With help from the African Leadership Group Family Engagement team, immigrant families are provided with the tools and resources needed to assist with the school system hurdle.

The ALG Youth Empowerment program was created to provide a comfortable space for first- and second-generation immigrant kids ages 5 to 16 to share their thoughts, feelings, struggles and challenges in school, home and in their communities.

One of my highlights last year (2019) was having the opportunity to lobby for two representatives and one senator regarding the full-day kindergarten bill that was introduced.

Education is very important to me, my family, and the entire community. The majority of students in our Youth Empowerment Program are in the APS District. I hope this session will provide more resources and assistance to our families during these uncertain times. My ask today of the superintendent and the board members is that we build a partnership between the district and our communities. As the President of the African Leadership Group Youth Empowerment Program we are really looking forward to working together.

Going into our first virtual Youth Empowerment Class, we did not know how our kids would be feeling with everything going on around them. The kids were dealing with an extended school spring break, virtual learning, not being able to play with their friends anymore and classrooms being in their living rooms. With all that’s going on, we knew as facilitators of the Youth Program that we had to lead with the power of “Ubuntu.”

What does “Ubuntu” mean? “Ubuntu” is a concept in which your sense of self is shaped by your relationships with other people. It’s a way of living that begins with the premise that “I am” only because “we are.” Our students received the message of “Ubuntu” well and the first thing they all wanted to do was to figure out a way to send their appreciation and admiration for all of the essential workers fighting to keep us safe, healthy and fed during this pandemic.

The idea we came up with was to do thank you videos to all the essential workers, in our native tongue. We wanted to thank all the:

• Health care professionals for providing care for those who need it most.
• Grocery store employees, working around the clock to keep shelves stocked and people fed.
• Truck drivers keeping our supply chains running so we can get the food and other resources we need.
• School support staff and bus drivers delivering meals and ensuring children and families have the support they need.
• Teachers and other staff, providing online learning for students.
• All of the other people working hard on our behalf (bus drivers, mail carriers, police officers, firefighters, bank cashiers, farmers, sanitation workers and others.)

On the behalf of the African Leadership Group and Youth Empowerment Group we want to say thank you all! You are the real heroes during these times! Now watch this amazing video from our students.