West High School is not closing. At least not yet. That point was hammered home repeatedly today at a gathering of West High leaders, media and community members to talk about the future of the low-performing school, which will welcome two new academies to its building next year. “This is…
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 whether to delay the first day…
Last night, MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell devoted a hefty five-minute segment (on view below) to the Denver school board race and candidate Emily Sirota. Why? O’Donnell followed an article from The Nation that called the contest the wackiest in the country. But it’s hard to imagine either…
After spending the morning with W., Mayor Michael Hancock (who the former president said was classy), launched his Denver Education Compact, a committee of big brains set to tackle the city’s school system, which graduated just 51.8 percent of students on time last year. Hancock, who spoke a lot about…
President George W. Bush was in Denver this morning, talking education with a group of political and business leaders at the brick headquarters of Get Smart Schools, an organization that trains principals for charter and innovation schools. Afterward, Bush made a brief (less than two minutes!) statement to the media,…
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 other seven candidates…
The American Civil Liberties Union has jumped in on the debate simmering in Carbondale and Glenwood Springs over whether school resource officers should be allowed to collaborate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement…
School discipline, once considered too lax, has now swung too far in the opposite direction, say several state lawmakers and child advocates. As such, Colorado is one of a growing number of places rethinking harsh, “zero-tolerance” policies that lead to students being jailed for writing on bathroom stalls with marker…
As explained in the Westword story “Tough Subject,” the recent resignation of brand-new West High School principal Santiago Grado was sudden. To help parents make sense of the change, West High held a meeting on September 29 at 4 p.m. However, only one person showed up. Now, a West grandmother…
Santiago Grado resigned last month as principal of Denver’s West High School after only a month and a half on the job. School officials say he chose to do so after issues with his academic leadership were raised. But Grado tells Westword that it was a difference in leadership philosophies,…
Tomorrow at 11 a.m., supporters of Proposition 103, which would hike taxes to better fund schools, will rally at the State Capitol on behalf of the measure. And while most political observers doubt 103’s will win the day, one advocate thinks such so-called experts are selling voters short…
Was Dakota Ridge High School student Bryce Benson punished for wearing a T-shirt that read “Border Patrol” while others who staged a mock-demonstration featuring signs that read “Fuck America” weren’t — or at least not initially? Ex-Congressman and recent gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo’s not sure of all the particulars, but…
Recently, West High School’s brand-new principal, Santiago Grado, abruptly resigned. The reason, according to Denver Public Schools officials? He wasn’t a strong academic leader. But the man who replaced him, assistant principal Domonic Martinez, has had some leadership problems, too, as explained in the story “Tough Subject.”…
The media isn’t always interested in good news, says Tom Boasberg, Denver Public Schools’ superintendent. “Generally speaking, stories that are more sensational or, in some cases, more negative will tend to attract more media coverage,” he says. To offer a different view, Boasberg began a weekly e-mail newsletter called “myDPS”…
Thirty students at Colorado State University have been thinking a lot about the future recently. For the next three years, CSU has tied itself to the future of the automotive industry as a participant in its quest for sustainable transportation. And with a new donation from Siemens, the university is…
If you’ve ever wondered how Colorado knows, say, that its youth are more likely to smoke on school campuses than the average U.S. student, the answer is that it asks them. Every other year since 1991, the Center for Disease Control has administered the Youth Risk Behavior Survey at a…
This morning, school reform organization A+ Denver released the results of a survey of the nine candidates for Denver Public School Board. The survey asked them to rank 28 statements, such as “DPS needs radical reform,” on a scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree. Seven candidates complied…
An investigation into allegations of cheating within the credit recovery program at North High School found that while the program’s online classes were “challenging,” staff members did not sufficiently monitor the students enrolled. “It is discouraging when adult decisions jeopardize opportunities for students,” the report says…
After concerns about North High School’s credit recovery program were raised in the Westword cover story “Passing on Education,” Denver Public Schools asked the Colorado Department of Education to investigate allegations that students were allowed to cheat on online courses. The results of that investigation are now in — and…
Update: Earlier this month, CU-Boulder spokesman Bronson Hilliard speculated that Michael Hoffman, a 21-year-old student from New Jersey who passed away after being found unconscious near an apartment house in the neighborhood known as the Hill, died of an alcohol overdose. Turns out he was mostly correct, although there was…
City Year, an AmeriCorps program that focuses on mentoring at-risk students at high-needs schools across the country, has come to Denver. Fifty young adults ages 17 to 24 are now serving as tutors and mentors in five Denver public schools…
An anonymous donor has given $1 million to Metropolitan State College of Denver to launch a water education program with the best name ever: the OWOW Center, which is short for the One World, One Water Center for Urban Water Education and Stewardship. Starting in fall 2012, Metro will offer…
