International Day of Education

In honor of International Day of Education, I would like to talk about an amazing educator: Dr. Sharon Bailey.

Dr. Sharon Bailey was elected to the Denver Public Schools Board of Education from 1988 to 1995 (DPS Board of Education). Dr. Bailey developed the report: "An Examination of Student and Educator Experiences in Denver Public Schools through the voices of African-American teachers and administrators," which led to the creation of the Denver Public Schools African American Equity Task Force. Dr. Bailey attended Denver East High School here before going to Princeton for her undergraduate work and CU Boulder for her graduate work. (Melanie Asmar). At CU she earned a master’s in Interdisciplinary Social Science, and a PhD in Public Administration (Lindsey Ford). Her work in diversity, equity and inclusion spanned her career and she encouraged the work in other. In her own words:

“In some circles, they call me the OG, the old girl, the old guard. But there are lessons to be learned with the long view of the historical inequities in the school district. What I do know for sure is that genuine educational equity in our district and around the nation has been elusive. Where is it? How will we know it when we see it? What will it look like? What will it feel like? So, I contend that we can’t simply believe in equity, fairness, and justice in education. We have to create it.” (Sharon Bailey)