At 5 a.m. this morning, when Jefferson County officials decided to declare a snow day, there wasn’t all that much of the stuff. Even in the Ken-Caryl Ranch area, near the foothills, only about an inch of it had collected on driveways. But Jefferson County Public Schools spokeswoman Lynn Setzer…
In the long-foundering, ever-festering war on drugs, there’s just about zero truth to the idea of zero tolerance. As anyone who’s studied the prison population can figure out, certain groups dealing in illegal drugs can be targeted for harsh punishment, while other groups trafficking in the same drugs are all…
School board races are typically nonpartisan, but not this year in Douglas County. The Republican party there has endorsed a slate of four candidates — an unusual move the Denver Post took note of in an October 20 article that focused more on conflicts and complaints from the likes of…
Denver Public Schools spokesman Michael Vaughn has come through with the names of more DPS facilities seeing big absences due to the flu, be it H1N1/swine flu or the seasonal variety, along with specific percentages. He’d previously mentioned Columbian Elementary School, at 2925 W. 40th Avenue: Attendance there is at…
It seemed like a simple question: Which facilities in the Denver Public School system are experiencing the most H1N1-related absences? But in the day-plus since being asked that question by yours truly, DPS spokesman Michael Vaughn has mostly provided big picture info rather than specifics. He says he knows Columbian…
The 2009 Denver Plan developed by Denver Public Schools pins a lot of blame for the district’s shortcomings on teachers — the very teachers who agreed earlier this week to lower a guaranteed cost-of-living increase in acknowledgment of revenue shortfalls. Henry Roman, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, the…
Former theater professor Vance Fulkerson, who’s been charged with multiple sexual exploitation counts related to a video system reportedly located in his bathroom, has officially resigned from the University of Northern Colorado — and UNC spokesman Nate Haas doesn’t sound upset about that. “His resignation was effective September 25. He’s…
Last night, Denver Public Schools superintendent Tom Boasberg gave his first-ever “State of the Schools” speech at North High School to a not-quite-SRO “crowd” of about 75 people — a total that even DPS chief communications officer Michael Vaughn can’t make sound impressive. “It was a decent turnout,” he offers,…
The White House wants us to believe that the economy is on the mend, but teachers in the Denver Public School system aren’t buying it. Why else would they agree to a midstream contract revision that reduces a 4.15 percent cost-of-living increase to 2.5 percent, with a 1.65 percent bump…
In “Strike Door Opens in Boulder Teacher Dispute,” Melissa Tingley, head of the Boulder Valley Education Association union, tells Denver Post reporter Jeremy Meyer that the filing of a formal notice to strike was mainly procedural. “It’s to keep all our options open,” she said. “There is obviously not a…
Oh, great — another modern convenience that could be speeding us toward an early grave. Who knew that a shower without Norman Bates might be just as potentially lethal as one with him? According to a just-released study overseen by CU-Boulder prof Norman Pace, 30 percent of showerheads tested in…
The principal at Lafayette’s Angevine Middle School has reportedly asked parents to urge their kids not to wear colored jelly bracelets to class — and those who do will be asked to remove them. The reason: The colors are said to denote assorted sex acts, and if they break, the…
News that President Barack Obama would deliver a speech to the nation’s schoolchildren caused plenty of parents (and talk-show hosts) (and cable-TV pundits) to freak out — so much so that the event itself couldn’t help being an anticlimax. Obama’s text was about as controversial as an endorsement of motherhood,…
Watch out! Falling blogs! Could Jim Tracy win the National League manager-of-the-year award? It would’ve been easier if the Rockies had swept the Mets. (Inside the Rockies) The public has as much chance of understanding the true cost of education as the Cubs are to win the Super Bowl. Or…
Last week, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sent a letter to principals across the country, on view later in this post, informing them that President Barack Obama would be delivering a speech to the nation’s schoolchildren on Tuesday, September 8. Duncan wrote, “The President will challenge students to work hard,…
The Denver Business Journal reported today that the University of Northern Colorado has received a $1.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation to lead a nationwide effort to add and keep female faculty in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. The money will fund a four-year project…
On Friday, the Colorado Department of Education unveiled SchoolVIEW.org, a new website that aims to make it easier than ever for parents to check on the standardized-testing achievements of a specific school and district — and it does just that. For instance, I clicked on the “Colorado Growth Model” icon…
We don’t have an outpost of author Dave Egger’s 826 program in Denver, where kids can learn to dream like a writer and write like a writer and even get published like a writer. What we do have, however, is a group of people inspired by Egger’s project to do…
Our rundown of the local blogosphere. Send links. Why trade for Roy Halladay when you can land a sort-of light-hitting second baseman? (Purple Row) Congratulations, local blogger, you are one of Keith Olberman’s World’s Worst People. (Face the State) A Colorado professor has been threatened with firing for shooting his…
Spilled entrails. Dogs guarding picked-over bones. Men dangling raw flesh above their mouths like bunches of grapes. Children tossing an eyeball back and forth. Sound like the apocalypse? A cannibal’s birthday party? No, it’s the best diorama ever — and lucky for Denver, it’s sticking around…
Our daily blog round-up. Send links this way. How CU will cut $30 million from its budget. (Hint: It won’t be pretty). (Face the State) An abortion-clinic doctor in Boulder: “I’m next on the List.” (Colorado Independent) Now that the burning sensation behind our eyes has subsided… five questions about…
For some genuine comedy today, I wanted to share with you the e-mail I just received as a student at CU Boulder. It states that I shouldn’t go to the famous CU 4/20 event — where students gather in the center of the campus to “celebrate” International Cannibis Day –…
