DENVER’S HIDDEN GEMS OF HUMANITY CREDIT: GILES CLASEN REACHING PEOPLE WHERE THEY ARE: A CONVERSATION WITH TAY ANDERSON BY GILES CLASEN TAY ANDERSON IS IN HIS FIRST TERM as a Denver Public School Board member, serving as its at-large director. He was elected at 21 years-old beating two older – some might say – more experienced candidates. He started participating in social activism at a young age and has experienced time in foster care and as a homeless teenager. Anderson has been vocal on social media about what he perceives as injustices, and in what direction the Denver Public Schools should go to address the needs of minority students. Just one month after being elected to his position on the DPS School Board, Anderson received the Rising Star Award at the Colorado Democrat’s 3rd Annual Obama Dinner – which no doubt is the first of many awards he will receive for his thoughtful leadership. Here are excerpts from a recent conversation with Anderson, edited for length and clarity. GETTING STARTED “My senior year of high school I was a homeless student trying to figure out what my place in society was. And it became apparent that we didn’t have representation. I was reflecting on a conversation that I had with then-schoolboard member Happy Haynes around a decision that was made to co-locate my current high school with a middle school. And I asked her, 6 DENVER VOICE July 2020 ‘Why wasn’t our decision – our voices – why weren’t our voices included in your decision, and what do we need to do to have our voices heard?’” And she responded, “Well, you need to run for School Board and win like the rest of us.” “So, I ran for School Board in 2017 as an 18 year-old high school senior, and I lost. I came third place, got 6,200 votes, and lost to Vice President Jennifer Bacon. I then went to work for DPS, where I started off as an executive assistant to my former principal. Then I went in to [work with a first-grade class] and did some para-professional work. From there, I went into campus safety and did some work in Aurora Public Schools. Finally, I moved over to Denver Public Schools and started my career in restorative justice programming. “Throughout my time at North [High School], I decided, ‘I’m going to run for School Board again.’ But this time, for the whole city. And a lot of people doubted [my] ability to run for school board at a citywide level if I just lost a district level. So, I said, ‘I believe we can get this done. I just need you to believe in me.’ And there were people that told me there was no way Denver would elect a 21 year-old Black male to a citywide seat. That’s just not possible. I said, ‘All right, cool.’” When he ran for the School Board, Anderson faced a Republican opponent and a Democratic opponent. A registered Democrat in an unaffiliated race, Anderson was outspent. “One of my opponents raised millions of dollars, and they had millions of dollars supporting them on the soft side, and I won. It was a shocker. We came out with 51 percent of the vote in a three-way race. 67,213 votes. We led with an 18,000-vote margin. And we won 82 percent of Denver precincts. And that was all through community activism, grassroots, and meeting people where they were at.” STAYING IN THE FIGHT Those who have observed Anderson over the past few years have seen him emerge as the community leader he was destined to become. They also have seen that Anderson is not one to give up easily.” “You often see politicians lose a race, and then they disappear,” said Anderson, “but I decided to stay in the fight. It’s not like I went and did something else and then tried to run again. I did exactly what I loved. I wanted to make sure people were able to see themselves reflected in the classroom. So, I stayed in education. I did the fight, did the work, and came out on top because I led with bold ideas that had real solutions.”
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