The racially motivated, retaliatory pushout of Dawnyle Ashemu as Assistant Principal at Denver Discovery School is another racist attempt in a long line and documented history on behalf of Kevin King (Operational Superintendent) and DPS  towards Black Educators. 

It is another in a long line of examples of institutional racism practiced by DPS and described extensively in the Bailey Report. To wit:
“The clever, sinister thing about institutional racism in education is that it operates relentlessly on its own, like a machine, even when people of good will want it to operate differently. Today, it has morphed from the old forms we’re used to seeing in civil rights documentaries and taken on many new forms that are no less pernicious.” (Racism Review, 2011)

Those internal processes (HR investigation, Instructional Superintendent) have paid ongoing lip service to Dr. Bailey’s report and as a result failed Dawnyle and more importantly the students and community at Denver Discovery School.

Four years after the release of the Bailey Report what has substantially changed? Nothing. To quote the report:
“Many of the study participants insisted that greater intentionality, effort and resources are required to have a significant impact on the organizational culture of the district and its schools.”

The entire investigation of Dawnyle reeks of retribution and presumption of guilt.  Throughout the investigation and proceedings Dawnyle was ignored. The HR representative refused to share the District and/or board policies regarding HR investigations. There appear to be no policies. The HR rep refused to share the District P-card usage policies. In the grossest show of racial bias DPS has not followed its own policy in this regard and white administrators who have done far worse in nearby schools had no action not taken against them. There is a clear difference of processes for different people. Why is that? 

Kevin King, the instructional superintendent, in a racist dog and pony show post-termination hearing claimed that Dawnyle was not being dismissed for her violation of policy but for "the judgement shown regarding unspoken and unwritten expectations". The HR rep and Kevin King made the following clear in their email sharing their “findings”: 1) They were sharing those findings as a threat to keep Soul from going live on Facebook. 2) They combined and conflated Dawnyle’s LEAD evaluation into the email about their investigation. 3) They indicated that they had already arrived at their decision.

This was a lynching pure and simple. This was preventable had anyone downtown wished to prevent it. Therefore we are calling on the Denver Board of Education to -STOP THE TARGETING OF BLACK EDUCATORS INSIDE OF DPS!

****We ask that the board NOT uphold the firing of Mrs. Dawnyle Ashemu and that she be reinstated as AP at Denver Discovery School". ****

#EducationEquityOrElse 

#BlackEducatorsMatter 

https://celt.dpsk12.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/Dr.-Bailey-Report-FULL-2.pdf