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A longtime Denver Public Schools teacher who is a DPS graduate and whose children attended several different Denver schools is running for a seat on the school board.
Deborah Sims Fard is vying for an at-large seat representing the entire city. The seat is currently held by Scott Esserman, who is running for reelection but for a different seat representing central-east Denver’s District 3.
Sims Fard, who lives in the Skyland neighborhood in north Denver, will face two opponents for the at-large seat. If elected, Sims Fard would have to resign from DPS; district employees cannot serve on the school board due to conflict of interest rules.
Sims Fard, 62, said she’s running because she’s still having the same conversations today that she was having decades ago, when she first began working in DPS.
“No student is where they need to be, but in particular, Black children are on the lower rung of the achievement hierarchy,” Sims Fard said. “That is a problem, and it should be concerning to everyone across the board. … We all rise together, but we all fall together.”
Recently released test scores show 27% of Black DPS students in grades 3 through 8 met or exceeded state expectations in literacy, compared to 74% of white students.
“All children should be able to learn together and receive the same quality and level of education,” Sims Fard said. “They are all deserving of that.”
Four seats on the seven-member Denver school board are up for grabs in the Nov. 4 election, which comes at a key time. Declining enrollment has led to more than a dozen school closures in the past two years, and a new policy for low-performing schools could lead to more closures.
In recent months, DPS has found itself targeted by the Trump administration over an all-gender restroom and its support for immigrant students. And the board is investigating one of its members over allegations of racial discrimination.
Sims Fard grew up in Denver and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School. She began volunteering in classrooms before becoming a paraprofessional and then a teacher. She has worked in elementary schools for most of her career, including at Stedman Elementary, which she attended as a child. As a student, Sims Fard said she didn’t feel seen.
“My experience there was not great,” she said. “So when I became a teacher, I said, ‘There will not be a child that comes into my classroom that ever has that experience.’ For me, it was really wanting to have a safe classroom for my little Debbie.”
Sims Fard took a new position this school year providing support and coaching for teachers at schools with low test scores. She is part of DPS’s Elevate Schools Network, which was pitched by the superintendent as a way to help Denver schools avoid state intervention.
If schools don’t improve their scores, they could face a closure vote before the board. But Sims Fard said she doesn’t think the district should ever close schools.
“I don’t believe in closing schools,” she said. “If you are looking at schools as an extension of community, which schools should be, then you don’t close them because you know that it undermines the community that surrounds it.”
Sims Fard’s five grown children went to a variety of schools in DPS, including district-run and charter schools. Several of her children also attended the private Colorado Academy.
“I don’t think one perspective fits everyone,” Sims Fard said. “There is a place for charter schools at the table. There is a place for private education at the table. There is a place and a necessity for public education at the table, without question.”
Her youngest child is a graduate of the Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design, a former DPS school the board closed due to low enrollment. Instead of closing underenrolled schools, Sims Fard said the district should offer any empty space to community organizations that provide job training for parents or early childhood education for babies and toddlers.
If elected, Sims Fard said she would focus on improving student mental health, recruiting and retaining teachers of color, and ensuring teachers are paid fairly for their work. She is a member of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association but did not receive the union’s endorsement for the at-large seat. Sims Fard entered the race after DCTA endorsed a different candidate.
Sims Fard has been in DPS under seven different superintendents, by her count. She said there are always criticisms of the district’s leader, but that’s not most important.
“There is no perfect superintendent,” she said. “That should not be the focal point. The focal point should be: What is necessary for our children to compete on a global level?”
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
