Andrea Merida

Heist: Who Stole the American Dream? screens Sunday

You can bank on Heist: Who Stole the American Dream? being different from other movies about the recent economic bust. The 75-minute film traces the crash of 2008 as far back as the '70s. "A lot of times you see documentaries and they're like, 'Here's this big problem, here's who's to blame,' and yo ... More >>

Life Skills Center: Last-chance high school holding final graduation ceremony

Tonight, Life Skills Center will graduate its last-ever class. Back in November, the Denver Public Schools Board of Education voted to shutter the last-chance high school, a decision that the State Board of Education upheld on appeal in March. That left about 180 kids without a school for next year. ... More >>

Reader: Newlon Elementary is green, and growing

Jef Otte wrote "O, Barnum! An ode to Denver's least desirable neighborhood" as a celebration of his own neighborhood -- one that counts several other Westword writers as residents. Some of their neighbors appreciated Otte's ode; others did not. Denver School Board member Andrea Merida is just the l ... More >>

DPS: Task force to survey community about whether to delay first day of school to avoid heat

Flickr​ With the temperature dropping outside, it's getting harder to remember when Denver's children were sweltering in their classrooms two months back. But Denver Public Schools hasn't forgotten. In fact, the district has launched a task force whose goal is to survey the community about whe ... More >>

Jennifer Draper Carson, Arturo Jimenez's stand-in clash at DPS board candidates forum

​ Tense exchanges between Denver Public Schools board candidate Jennifer Draper Carson and a stand-in for incumbent Arturo Jimenez marked a forum last night at the University of Denver, one of the last before the November 1 election. But while those two threw barbs, the debate between the othe ... More >>

DPS board to discuss new policy tonight to prevent board members' overspending

Flickr​Denver Public Schools board members -- and their credit cards -- have been making headlines ever since Education News Colorado uncovered that more than one overspent their $5,000 annual budget, with Westword cover subject Andrea Merida leading the pack. This week, the board is poised to ... More >>

Andrea Merida vows to repay DPS after overspending her $5,000 budget by thousands

Andrea Merida.​ Andrea Merida, Denver Public Schools board member and Westword cover subject, has been making headlines once again. Education News Colorado was the first to report this week that Merida had overspent her $5,000 DPS-boardmember budget by more than $7,000. More than $4,000 of the ... More >>

DPS school board election: Seven candidates, including one incumbent, vying for three seats

Jimenez​ Three seats are up for grabs on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education this November -- and the list of candidates vying for them is growing. As of today, seven candidates have announced that they're running, including incumbent Arturo Jimenez, who represents northwest Denver. T ... More >>

Reader: Blogger outed by Guerin Green attacks power grabs, defends recall target Nate Easley

Easley.​Reporter Melanie Asmar has been covering the recall effort aimed at Denver Public Schools board president Nate Easley, including a post about publisher Guerin Green identifying a pseudonymous blogger critical of an anti-Easley group. In our comments section, that blogger fired back un ... More >>

Nate Easley: Petition filed to recall Denver Public Schools board president

Easley.​Update five: Recall proponents are hard at work gathering signatures. But it hasn't always been easy. See more below our fourth update. Update four: The petition to initiate the recall process has been approved. See more below our third update.

Brett Reese and Laura Boggs, school board members, just can't control their crazy lately

Brett Reese​Last year, Westword profiled Andrea Merida, a Denver Public Schools board member who caused a stir in 2009 when she had herself secretly sworn in. Last year, a few voters tried to recall her after she wrote a negative op-ed about a senate candidate without revealing that she was wo ... More >>

Paul Weissmann, ex-bartender turned majority leader, on becoming House Dems' chief of staff

Paul Weissmann.​In a state where a onetime brewpub owner, Democrat John Hickenlooper, was just elected governor, it makes sense that a onetime bartender, Paul Weissmann, would be named the House Dems' chief of staff. Weissmann, the former House majority leader, is term-limited, so he couldn't ... More >>

Andrea Merida recall organizer: "Threat of a recall can be more effective than actual recall"

Andrea Merida.​ Andrea Merida, the controversial Denver Public Schools board member, survived a recall attempt this week when the voters asking for her removal didn't collect enough signatures -- although that's not the way recall organizer Jose Silva explained the situation in two e-mails to ... More >>

Andrea Merida: Attempt to recall DPS board member fails for lack of petition signatures

Andrea Merida.​ An attempt to recall controversial Denver Public Schools board member Andrea Merida appears to have failed. The three southwest Denver voters who asked for the recall had until Monday to submit a petition complete with the signatures of 4,342 voters in Merida's district. Accord ... More >>

Chris "Birdman" Andersen finally ready to fly again in time for Nuggets-Golden State game?

Birdman.​Welcome, my friends, to today's Denver blog post roundup. In his preview of tonight's Denver Nuggets-Golden State Warrior matchup, Denver Stiffs' Nate Timmons holds out hope that Chris "Birdman" Andersen may at last be ready for his return. And just in time. Colorado Education News' ... More >>

DPS school turnaround: Those opposed to plan have their say, but board approves it anyway

An opponent's sign.​ Last night, the Denver Public Schools board narrowly approved a turnaround plan for six struggling schools in far northeast Denver, including Montbello High, largely by hiring entirely new staffs or replacing them with charter schools. But first, the seven board members li ... More >>

DPS board censure vote: Did Andrea Merida, other members violate open meeting law or not?

​ On Thursday, the seven-member Denver Public Schools board will vote on whether to censure three of its members: Jeannie Kaplan, Arturo Jimenez and Andrea Merida, subject of our recent story "Rule Breaker." But a legal opinion from the district's teachers union says the trio, accused of viola ... More >>

Readers praise Westword's coverage of school-board member Andrea Merida

Andrea Merida: Third attempt to recall controversial Denver school board member gets go-ahead

Andrea Merida on a recent Westword cover.​A third attempt to initiate a recall of controversial Denver Public Schools board member Andrea Merida has been given the go-ahead. The three southwest Denver voters who asked for the recall now have sixty days to collect 4,342 signatures from voters i ... More >>

Denver Public Schools' get-along retreat for board members: "People think we're nuts"

Anthony CameraAndrea Merida.​ Last month, the DPS school board held a day-long retreat at the district's Balarat Outdoor Education Center. The seven-member board is divided on many issues, with four members in the majority and three -- including Andrea Merida, the subject of this week's featur ... More >>

Andrea Merida's classroom behavior has earned her a seat apart on the Denver school board

Andrea Merida: Behind the scenes with Denver Public Schools' controversial board member

Anthony CameraAndrea Merida.​Our latest feature story, "Andrea Merida's Classroom Behavior Has Earned Her a Seat Apart on the Denver School Board," profiles Merida, the controversial DPS board member who, in ten months on the board, has butted heads with administrators, stood up for teachers w ... More >>

Andrea Merida, rule breaker: Profile of Denver Public Schools' controversial board member

Anthony CameraAndrea Merida.​ Denver Public Schools board member Andrea Merida has shaken things up at DPS. In ten months, she's butted heads with administrators, stood up for teachers when no one else would, and survived two recall attempts. Some think she's too abrasive and divisive, and aft ... More >>

Andrea Merida: Second attempt to recall Denver Public Schools board member fails

Andrea Merida.​A second attempt to recall Denver Public Schools board member Andrea Merida has failed. The Denver Elections Division again rejected a recall petition submitted by three voters in Merida's district because it contained numerous typos and legal flaws and was not in the proper fo ... More >>

Andrea Merida: Attempt to recall DPS board member fails, petitioners vow to try again

Andrea Merida.​An attempt to recall Denver Public Schools board member Andrea Merida failed yesterday when a petition to initiate the process was rejected by the Denver Elections Division. According to division spokesman Alton Dillard, the petition was not in the proper format. But one of the ... More >>

Andrea Merida happy her DPS board colleague Jeannie Kaplan "vindicated" by e-mails

Andrea Merida.​SquareState.net has published a chain of e-mails between former DPS superintendent-turned-Senator Michael Bennet, current Denver Public Schools superintendent Tom Boasberg and board members Jeannie Kaplan and Teresa Pena about the DPS pension financing deal that made headlines i ... More >>

DPS board member Andrea Merida hijacks district's media mailing list

Lots more of these want to attend sixth grade in the Lake Middle School building, which will also house a West Denver Prep charter school next year.​Update, 2:10 p.m.: Westword just spoke to Andrea Merida. To read what she had to say, click on "More" and scroll to the bottom. Denver Public Sc ... More >>

School board races (and school reform, in general) sure are expensive

$240,605 $41,470 $30,116 = an expensive school board race​The final tally of money raised in last November's contentious Denver Public Schools school board election is in. And according to Education News Colorado reporter Nancy Mitchell, that tally is "jaw-dropping." The three non-incumbe ... More >>

Three new DPS boardmembers talk charters

P.S. 1 didn't make the grade, but can anything replace Denver's longest-running charter school?

Is the DPS school board's Andrea Merida an embarrassment or a hero?

Plenty of folks, including members of the Denver Post editorial board, have been pretty disapproving of new Denver Public Schools board member Andrea Merida in the days since she had herself secretly sworn in hours before a Monday-night board meeting so she could vote on controversial school reform ... More >>

Last night's DPS board meeting was full of fireworks, spectators and big decisions

Maybe the Denver Public Schools board should have taken a cue from the smiling children in this DPS promo photo.​Last night's Denver Public Schools board meeting had its fair share of hateration. And plenty of people turned out to witness it. By 4:25 p.m., signs on the boardroom door at the ... More >>