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Pastor Brad Fights for a More Inclusive Denomination

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February 21, 2019 by Brad Laurvick in Election News

Fox 31 Denver – The future of the Methodist church is up in the air after a controversial vote Tuesday, and Denver pastor is speaking out.

The church voted to move forward to strengthen a plan that prohibits gay and lesbian clergy, and same-sex marriages.

A ban had already been in place for decades. We are told the latest vote tightens up the rules.

Most Methodist churches in the United States were OK with inclusion. However, that was not the case with other churches from around the world.

It’s the reason a sign went up at Highlands United Methodist Church in Denver. The sign, which included rainbow-colored hearts, said it was sorry for the church’s action.

The church’s pastor, Brad Laurvick, argued for inclusion at the church’s conference in St. Louis.

“Today was devastating for those of us who believe in a church that loves all people,” Laurvick said.

“Today was devastating for those of us who believe in a church that loves all people,”

Brad Laurvick
Pastor

Pastor Megan Armstrong, an openly lesbian pastor from Arvada, said despite the ban, she’s not going anywhere.

“I think the work that is to be done with people on the margins in all forms is desperately needed in this world that seems really, really broken. So, I’m just going to pursue an opportunity to do that work,” Armstrong said.

Many of the voting delegates were from foreign countries with values that are said to be more conservative and traditional.

“There is still a dominant belief that the marriage should be between a man a woman,” said Nestor Herrente, a pastor from the Philippines.

Another member told us she too is in favor the ban, saying she’s doesn’t believe homosexual behaviors are acceptable.

Erin Mc Dermott and her wife attend Highlands United Methodist church in Denver.

“I was very disappointed, but not surprised. We’re kind of in a protective bubble we’ve really been very inclusive and loving towards all people,” McDermott said.

McDermott says she’ll continue attending the Methodist church.

We reached out to the church’s openly gay bishop out of Denver. She is attending the conference and we have not yet heard back from her.

Some of the big questions: What happens to gay clergy and those who continue performing same-sex marriages?

The Methodist church’s here in the West say they remain committed to full inclusion.

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Brad Laurvick, School Board District 5 Director
Thank you to everyone for your continued support and feedback as we navigate yet another difficult transition for Denver Public Schools. We are sending this statement to speak to Denverites who are made up of our students, our staff, our neighbors, and our community members. We speak to you as duly elected members, selected by you, to represent your voice on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education. We are former teachers in DPS, we are organizers, we are parents of DPS students, we are bilingual. We are a recent alum, a reverend, a lawyer, a child of immigrants, and a former lieutenant governor. We are honored to lead the students of DPS into a future where all students can receive the best public education to thrive and learn. Students are always at the forefront of all we do. We are grateful for the many comments, suggestions, and voices that have provided us with a lot of feedback and much to consider. We welcome the chance to talk with everyone including fellow elected leaders, once we have a process in place. We also want and encourage the many voices in our community, who care so deeply about our schools, to help us during this process. We always receive feedback from the communities we represent with openness and reflection. Our goal has remained steadfast; ensuring we have the best schools for the students in our community.We have been working through the timeline for transition, naming an interim, and a process for a superintendent search. We ask for your patience keeping in mind we are in the midst of a pandemic. We will share the process with the community before any decisions are made. We will also announce an interim leader during the first week of December. The Board has been clear that the Superintendent and her staff focus on the crisis priorities over the last 6 months in order to best serve our students and staff during this pandemic. In addition, the superintendent and the Board agreed to delay work on the next Denver Plan to best meet the urgent needs of our families in DPS. And, we know that this board believes in community voice as evidenced by the work we’ve taken on and how we’ve elevated students, teachers and principals voices. In addition we’ve highlighted the voices of the communities who elected us. We are committed to listening to all voices in our search, so that our students can have the public schools that they deserve.All Board members were surprised and saddened by Susana Cordova’s departure. We wish her the best of luck in her new job in Dallas. Any superintendent taking over when she did would have stepped into a difficult position. When she started, DPS was in transition as we came off of 10 years of one administration. That meant there were challenging situations to manage, with new POVs When we hired her, we recognized that she had the skills and passion to work with DPS. As we face leadership changes, one thing that stays the same is our commitment to prioritizing our students.How we spend our time over the next days and months will be critical. Any time we spend discussing external claims takes us away from our priorities focused on placing an interim superintendent to guide us through this transition; and reopening our schools for our students and teachers. Like we always say to our students, be kind to each other. We are community and we will need each other. We call on everyone to model for our students how we can work together to build a strong public education system that we can all be proud of. We too always welcome constructive help and feedback. We particularly welcome help from any city leader, former school board member, and any concerned community leader to reopen our schools for a safe return in January. Again, we look forward to finding the next great leader of DPS. We will continue to work towards our vision of grassroots decision making, and elevating the voices of our most precious stakeholders. We commit to seeing this moment as an opportunity to reflect on the past but not repeat it, and embrace the possibilities for all of our students. We will be providing updates to the community as we work to find a new leader for DPS.-a statement from the Board of Education, Denver Public SchoolsNovember 23, 2020 ...
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Brad Laurvick, School Board District 5 Director
Dear DPS Community,By now you may have heard the bittersweet announcement about Superintendent Susana Cordova’s departure. After over 30 years in DPS, she has accepted a position in Dallas Independent School District as the Deputy Superintendent of Leading and Learning. We are excited for her to pursue this new opportunity in Dallas. We will miss her, and our community will miss her.We are so grateful to Susana for the work that she has done for DPS in her 31-year career as an educator and a leader. We have been so lucky that she’s been a part of DPS throughout her life--as a student, a mom, a teacher, a leader, and as a trailblazer. She is the first Latina Superintendent in DPS, and only one of two women of color to lead our district. In addition, she is bilingual and has been able to speak with many families in our district in their native language. We have watched her lead with her heart and soul, and with grace, humility, and passion for her mission to ensure all of DPS’ students succeed, not by accident but by design. We want to remind people that the way our students experience DPS is through all the incredible people they interact with every day. This will not change. For all the individuals that educate and care of our students every day--that incredible work will continue daily. We are grateful for all of you in our community who do the daily work of nurturing our students, especially now during a pandemic. We are working with Susana to determine her last day, and we will be selecting an interim superintendent to help us keep all the important work moving forward at DPS. We will then build out a timeline for the new superintendent search. As with everything we do, engagement with our staff, our families, our students, and our community will be the top priority throughout this process. We learned a lot from our last search process in 2018 and we are excited to build on that work. We have a caring and involved community. In the last couple of years, we have received so much input from our communities and we will use those voices to inform our next steps. And then we will do even more to hear from families and communities to determine how we move forward together. We also have strong, collaborative leadership across the district, which will ensure continuity and stability across all of DPS. We have done work to streamline our systems and ensure greater transparency, which will serve us well as we navigate these changes. We have a strong foundation that carries us through our daily work every day -- amazing teachers, school leaders, operational staff and central support teams that are here for our students. Lastly, we have our crisis priorities guiding our work and our planning for the remainder of the school year. We remain committed to being an Equity-focused, Students First district, and we will carry on uninterrupted and undaunted by the challenges ahead. Every organization goes through leadership changes, and we are committed as Team DPS to seeing this through with a continued focus on equity and service to our students and families. Sincerely, The Denver Public Schools’ Board of EducationCarrie A. Olson, PhD, Board President, District 3Jennifer Bacon, Vice President, District 4Angela Cobián, Treasurer, District 2Tay Anderson, Secretary, At LargeScott Baldermann, District 1Reverend Bradley Laurvick, District 5Barbara O’Brien, PhD, At Large ...
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