As part of “Conflict Resolution Month” in October, state Sen. Linda Newell is teaming up with an organization to promote better ways to discipline children in public schools.
But the group she’s joining hands with, Padres y Jovenes Unidos, is one that was on the other side of the trenches on a pivotal issue in 2009. That was the year lawmakers shot down legislation that would have allowed illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition if they graduated from a Colorado high school.
Padres y Jovenes Unidos led the fight at the Capitol for the “tuition equity” bill, and Newell, D-Centennial, was one of only five Senate Democrats who voted with Republicans, helping shoot down the bill.
Newell has taught conflict resolution in multiple settings ranging from classrooms to the legislature. She got plenty of heat from her Democratic colleagues after the vote.
So was it ironic being asked to work on conflict resolution with Padres Unidos?
“That issue (the tuition bill) never came up” in a meeting with the group two weeks ago, Newell said.
Marco Nunez, director of organizing for Padres y Jovenes Unidos, said that while his group and Newell disagreed over the in-state tuition bill, they found common ground on the issue of school discipline and conflict resolution. Nunez said far too many kids are entering the criminal justice system after committing minor infractions in school.
“We see this as an opportunity to continue the conversation about all issues that are getting in the way of students succeding,” he said, “and this is one of them.”
