A lawsuit has been filed against the University of Colorado Boulder by a male student who was expelled after being accused of sexually assaulting two fellow students — claims he says are false. According to the complaint, the student, referred to as John Doe, “was subjected to a biased and…
All of us work and learn better when we’re in a comfortable environment. Which makes the situation at far too many Denver schools that much more problematic. As reported by Chalkbeat Colorado’s Melanie Asmar (a former Westword staff writer), Denver Public Schools has a “comfort goal” of 79 degrees for schools…
The story of Grace Davis, a Ponderosa High School student who’s been locked in battle with the Douglas County Board of Education for months, is an educational variant of a David-and-Goliath tale. And while the board technically won the latest round, Davis has landed some mighty blows — and she’s…
The weird stuff you find on the Internet…. We recently stumbled upon a post shared this past February on the Colorado State Memes Facebook page entitled “The Completely Biased Map of Colorado Springs.” But taking a look at it proved trickier than anticipated, since the link was dead, as was everything…
No question that Twitter is an often impolite platform — and that’s fine when the targets are the likes of, say, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. But the prevalence of discriminatory tweets aimed at particular groups is troubling…which is why students at the University of Denver and Metro State…
Back in March, we posted about the ten best U.S. colleges for value according to SmartAsset — and one Colorado college made the cut. Now, SmartAsset is getting even more Colorado-centric. The site has revealed its picks for the ten best Colorado colleges for value, and while the top choice…
As students and parents know, things change quickly in education. Witness the differences between U.S. News &World Report’s 2014 list of the ten best high schools in Colorado and the 2016 version. It’s been a mere two years since we posted about the 2014 roster — but only a handful of…
This month, colleges across Colorado have wrapped up classes for the 2015-2016 school year, including Colorado Mesa University, one of my many almae matres (don’t ask). And judging by the posts recently shared on the Colorado Mesa University Confessions Facebook page, the experience has been an up-and-down affair. Especially for…
We’re guessing that Pueblo County officials weren’t terribly amused by a segment last night in The Nightly Show, the Larry Wilmore-hosted Daily Show spin-off on Comedy Central. That’s because they were portrayed as both incredibly stoned and hopelessly incompetent. The bit, on view below, is part of a new feature on the…
Last week, as we reported, CSU encouraged students not to take part in BARE, formerly known as the Undie Run, which was scheduled for Friday night, May 6. So, too, did the organizer of the previous two runs. In the end, however, plenty of folks ignored this call. About 3,000…
Today, BARE, formerly known as the Undie Run, is scheduled to take place on the Colorado State University campus. However, the university is students not to take part in the festivities, which is described as both a pre-finals stress reducer and fun way to donate clothing to charities — and…
In 2014, the U.S. Department of Education ordered institutions not to discriminate against transgendered students and staff members. However, schools were allowed to request an exemption from that ban, typically for religious reasons. Now, the Education Department has released the names of schools that asked to continue policies the feds…
Tim Gianulis has been inviting kids with special needs into his art classes since he started teaching 25 years ago at Godsman Elementary School in Denver, bringing students from the special-education classroom across the hall into his own room to give their teacher a planning break. Over the years, as…
We wouldn’t advise messing with Grace Davis. Sixteen-year-old Davis recently helped organize a protest at Ponderosa High School, which she attends, and afterward, her claim of being bullied by two members of the Douglas County School Board — board president Meghann Silverthorn and director Judy Reynolds — has led to an…
Editor’s note: Last week, we reported about the resignation of newly appointed Denver school board member MiDian Holmes after revelations surfaced about a past child-abuse conviction. The following report about a meeting last night to deal with the vacancy was written by former Westword reporter Melanie Asmar and appears courtesy of Chalkbeat…
Denver Public Schools is in damage control mode in the wake of revelations that newly appointed board member MiDian Holmes has a past conviction for child abuse. Making the case even more interesting are reports that board members knew about this aspect of Holmes’s past before appointing her. DPS certainly seems…
Last year, as we’ve reported, a sexting scandal at Canon City High School was deemed so serious that a football game was cancelled out of fear that there wouldn’t have been enough uninvolved players to field a full squad — and the school’s administration floated threats of felony allegations against…
April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month — and that’s no joke. According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, there were more than 15,300 distracted driving crashes in the state last year — a number that has grown by 16 percent in the last four years. And 69 people were killed…
Students in Delta County high schools and middle schools will get some new reading material on April 1., including the Satanic Coloring Book. And that’s no joke: The Western Colorado Atheists and Freethinkers are working with the Freedom From Religion Foundation to provide the kids with everything from guides to…
The controversy that led a Denver tenth-grader to request her drawing of a police officer in a KKK hood pointing a gun at a child of color be removed last week from public display has raised several thorny but perennial questions: Should students be given full artistic freedom? Or are…
We seem to remember a saying that goes like this: Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. But apparently the folks at Denver Public Schools can’t. In February 2015, we reported about criticism of DPS for the lateness of a snow-day call — a delay that prompted…
Yesterday, we told you about controversy stirred by a painting of a KKK-hood-wearing cop pointing a gun at an African American child that had been displayed as part of a student art show at the Wellington Webb Municipal Office Building. After the National Latino Peace Officers Association branded the image “hate…
