Ash Grove Parent Teacher Association Records

Collection

Identifier: WH923

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Collection contains administrative files; ledger; budgets; correspondence; publications; historian's yearbooks; photographs. Some material pertains to Denver Public Schools desegregation plan.

Dates

1929-1982

Language of Materials

English.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Copyright

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from material in the collection should be discussed with the appropriate librarian or archivist. Permission for publication may be given on behalf of the Denver Public Library as the owner of the physical item. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained by the customer. The Library does not assume any responsibility for infringement of copyright or publication rights of the manuscript held by the writer, heirs, donors, or executors. Reproduction restrictions are decided on a case-by-case basis.

Biographical / Historical

Ash Grove Elementary School, at 1700 S. Holly St. in southeast Denver. The school began at crossroads of Arapahoe and Denver County. First Ash Grove PTA organized 2/12/1924 by Mrs. Fred Dick, a state organizer for the PTA. The 1970s was decade of integration for the Ash Grove School. Per Rocky Mountain News of 1970, “parents were credited with success of the busing program…” Stimulus of integration was also reflected in two PTA-created programs: Teacher Assistant Program and Host Family Program. During the late 1970s the Ash Grove PTA changed its name to ESP (Educators, Students and Parents) and was not able to avert the 1980 decision of the Denver board of Education to close the school. The board had appointed an Ad Hoc committee to form “unitary and unracial school districts” by pupil reassignment. The committee recommended closure or consolidation of 9 elementary schools, including Ash Grove. “This decision was intended to result ina decrease of busing and an increase in neighborhood ‘walk-in’ schools.” Ash Grove was closed June , 1982 and the local PTA chapter was dissolved.