One Chance Colorado: Coalition of education reform organizations to launch campaign

A super-coalition of reform-minded education organizations, including Stand for Children Colorado, Democrats for Education Reform and A+ Denver, is about to launch. Called "One Chance Colorado," its message will be this: "Every child has only one chance at a great K-12 education. That's why we need to improve Colorado's schools...

By Melanie Asmar

July 21, 2011

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A super-coalition of reform-minded education organizations, including Stand for Children Colorado, Democrats for Education Reform and A+ Denver, is about to launch. Called "One Chance Colorado," its message will be this: "Every child has only one chance at a great K-12 education. That's why we need to improve Colorado's schools now."

This, however, is not its web page. It's an imposter.

Westword has confirmed that "One Chance Colorado" does indeed exist and that most of the language on the simple web page -- which describes the organization as a coalition of non-profits fighting for accountability and great teachers through TV, Twitter and "at least one rally" -- is from a memo sent out by the real deal. The web page notes that One Chance Colorado will launch early next week, which we've confirmed is also true.

But a few parts of the phony web page are fiction, including the heading "conning Colorado voters" -- which did not appear on the memo. Is that a reference to the upcoming Denver Public Schools board election, in which the coalition may play a part? Or a reference to SB 191, the so-called "teacher-tenure bill," which lawmakers passed last year? The blog Alexander Russo's This Week in Education reported yesterday that one of the coalition's goals is to "help with implementation of 191."

Whatever the meaning, it's a sure sign that things are about to get (even more) heated.

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Melanie Asmar is a staff writer for Westword. She joined the paper in 2009 and has won awards for her stories about education, immigration and epic legal battles. Got a tip? She'd love to hear it.

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