Dennis Baker retires after 28 years with PSD

By Cherry Sokoloski
Fossil Creek Current

After 37 years in public education, including 28 in Poudre School District, Dennis Baker is retiring this month. "I've loved my years at PSD," he said. "It's a very fine community, and their support of the schools has been very positive."

Baker's career took him full circle. He graduated from Fort Collins High School in 1964 and ended his career as principal of FCHS for the past seven years. The location of the school changed in the interim, and many aspects of public education changed as well.

The teaching of character traits in school came full circle right along with Baker. "We're hearing from employers that they really want more responsible employees," Baker said. In the 1970s, when Baker was new to teaching, schools shied away from teaching core values.

One reason schools went back to teaching character, Baker noted, is that studies have found a strong correlation between positive values and success in school. "It's been an interesting change," he said.

A major change in education is the increased emphasis on standards and testing, Baker said. Another is the advent of open campuses at high schools. "When I started teaching, we still had closed campuses and study halls," Baker remembers. When campuses were opened, he said, "a pressure cooker valve was released."

Today, Baker noted, FCHS has about 95 percent attendance, roughly the same as it was with closed campuses.

In the 1970s, Baker estimated, about 40 percent of Fort Collins high school students went on to college. Now, that number has risen to 70 percent. He sees the trend changing again, as more young men opt for technical training instead of college. A greater percentage of young women are heading to college campuses, however.

Schools are more inclusive now, Baker said. He sees a genuine acceptance and welcoming of disabled students and students of color. "That's a great thing to see," he said. It's also easier now to find bilingual teachers, making the environment friendlier to students whose first language is not English.

One of the challenges Baker sees in education is a credibility gap between the quality of public schools and public perception. The national media and the political arena, he said, seem to view elementary and secondary schools as "just a warm-up" for the activities in life that are really important, and this type of attitude has an effect on financial resources the public is willing to invest.

Baker would also like to see high schools branch out into more foreign languages in addition to the traditional European offerings. He would like to see options in Asian languages and Russian.

Baker's career with PSD includes 13 years at Poudre High School as a psychology teacher, history teacher and counselor; five years at FCHS as assistant principal; and three years as principal at Cache La Poudre Junior High. The part of teaching he has always enjoyed the most is seeing young people excel in academics, athletics or other school activities. At CLPJH he especially enjoyed horsing around with the students, even to the tune of shaving cream fights.

Retirement is still largely an uncharted territory for Baker, 59, but he plans to stay active. He has already started on a path of volunteering, serving on the Fort Collins Citizen Review Board for the police department. He also plans to volunteer with the PSD Foundation. His wife, Judi, a teacher at Traut Elementary, is not ready to retire yet, so the traveling part of retirement won't begin for a few years.

Whatever he decides to do, after 37 years Baker deserves a change, but his former students and colleagues will be watching to see what he gets involved in next.