It was a sweltering summer day in June of 2006, and it felt even in hotter for youth organizer Julieta Quiñonez in the basement of the office of Padres y Jóvenes Unidos1 (PJU)—a community-based organization in Denver working for educational equality and justice particularly for immigrant youth. PJU had invited community members to the basement meeting—including students, teachers, parents, and organizers—in order to present their vision and demands to improve North High School, their local high school, to the superintendent of Denver Public Schools, who had agreed to attend. Although the meeting was organized by PJU, with over 200 stakeholders in the room, there were dissenting opinions in the crowd. Julieta, who was a North High School student when the reform campaign began, stood back to take in her surroundings. In a blend of English and Spanish, she heard youth saying that their teachers and administrators had allowed them to take class loads that did not meet the graduation requirements, putting their graduation in jeopardy; she heard teachers defending their turf and pointing their fingers in the other direction; and she heard parents who had experienced many years of poor school performance at North demanding that something change. For Julieta, this was a turning point in the campaign; it was an opportunity for the superintendent to listen closely to students and parents as they voiced the reasons that North needed to be reformed into a college preparatory school that gave all students, including Latinos, the tools needed to graduate and go on to college.
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