When does a park become a park? Is it when people start using it for recreation and picnics? When the area starts showing up on maps labeled as a park? When the Mayor of Denver describes it as “dedicated park land,” while assuring nearby homeowners it won’t be developed? Or…
U.S. News & World Report recently set out to determine the best high schools in America, as well as the finest in each state. And while the top ten Colorado finishers didn’t set any records on the national stage (the top finisher is ranked at number 66 overall), they’re more…
Things are changing at North High School: Test scores are up. More kids are taking AP classes. And there’s a renewed focus on extracurricular activities, such as sports and music. That’s according to the folks behind a new pro-North campaign called “I Am a Viking” — a reference to North’s…
Last week, we introduced you to the teachers behind a lawsuit against Denver Public Schools. The teachers claim that DPS is using a provision of the state’s landmark 2010 teacher-effectiveness law to get rid of good teachers — which they say isn’t the law’s intention. Furthermore, the teacher-plaintiffs claim that…
For this week’s cover story, “Wrong Answer,” we spoke with five of the teachers behind a lawsuit against Denver Public Schools. Their complaint? That DPS is unfairly using a provision of the state’s landmark 2010 teacher-effectiveness law to get rid of good teachers like themselves. And those five teachers aren’t…
Secretary of State Scott Gessler overstepped his bounds when he issued an emergency rule on election night in November 2013 declaring that votes cast for ineligible candidates are invalid and shouldn’t be counted, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled this week. In a legal challenge brought by eight voters in the…
Plenty of teachers are leaving their profession these days, but few make as much noise doing so as Pauline Hawkins. On Monday, the staffer at Colorado Springs’ Liberty High School posted a resignation letter in which she says her reasons for quitting include negative impact from programs like No Child…
Outsiders may believe that CU-Boulder’s student body is monochromatic and diversity-free. But I, Too, Am CU, an amazing tumblr and Facebook campaign, proves otherwise. Organized in part by members of the African Students’ Association (and inspired by similar efforts at Harvard, Oxford and Iowa), the project is wide-ranging, with students…
This week’s feature, “Wrong Answer,” tells the stories of five Denver teachers who’ve sued the school district for essentially getting rid of them even though they’ve never gotten a bad review. How? By following a procedure laid out in a provision in the state’s landmark 2010 teacher-effectiveness law — a…
In December, CU professor Patti Adler was thrust into controversy over a prostitution skit that’s long been part of a class entitled “Deviance in U.S. Society.” Adler backers blasted the university, which eventually backed down. But after being told she could teach the class pretty much as normal, Adler announced…
The story of Kamryn Renfro, a nine-year-old Grand Junction girl who was briefly banned from the Caprock Academy charter school because her bald head violated the school’s dress-code policy — she’d shaved it in solidarity with her best friend, who is battling cancer — made us think about some of…
Giving birth to a child is arguably the most intensely painful experience a human being can have. After nine months of more-or-less blissful pregnancy, childbirth is the dark side of reproduction — and it’s understandable that many women prefer to bypass the full experience through drugs or surgery, given the…
This morning the Colorado Children’s Campaign released its annual report, “Kids Count,” at the State Capitol. According to the report, more Colorado children were living in poverty in 2012 than during the worst of the Great Depression. And despite the economic recovery, “one in six Colorado children still lives in…
Last week, Fox News shared a piece suggesting that a jump in admissions at colleges across Colorado may be related to the passage of Amendment 64, which legalized retail pot sales. Of course, eighteen-year-old college freshmen couldn’t take advantage of this law anyhow, since it only pertains to adults ages…
The Colorado Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a lower-court decision okaying Douglas County’s controversial school voucher plan, which allows parents to use taxpayer dollars to enroll their kids at religious schools. That’s great news for the ACLU of Colorado, which has been battling the Dougco vouchers…
Last month, an American Philosophical Association committee issued a report about the philosophy department at CU Boulder, and it wasn’t pretty. Among the claims: “The department has maintained an overall environment ‘with unacceptable sexual harassment, inappropriate sexualized unprofessional behavior, and divisive uncivil behavior.'” Now, six female faculty members, including Claudia…
A lot has changed at the Ricardo Flores Magon Academy, a local charter school whose stellar test scores belied the tense environment that characterized the school when we wrote about it in November 2011. In March 2012, the founder of the school — and the man who teachers and parents…
Vape pens used to smoke marijuana aren’t new: We wrote about a dispensary giving them away to chemotherapy patients back in 2012. But with the growing popularity of e-cigarettes, the concept has gone mainstream in a big way thanks to the way the devices mask much of the scent and…
We’re all familiar with how quickly small matters can become national controversies these days — and the twists, turns and craziness around a Fort Collins High School spirit week proposal for what was originally called “‘Merica Day” is a case in point. The school initially rejected the idea for a…
On January 29, the Colorado Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case to determine who will fill the District 4 seat on the Adams 12 school board. As we reported in an earlier blog post, the question before the high court is whether candidate Amy Speers won the…
Last month, CU professor Patti Adler was called on the carpet over a prostitution skit that’s long been part of a class entitled “Deviance in U.S. Society,” with Adler supporters blasting the university for what they saw as attacks on academic freedom and Adler personally. In the end, the administration…
Earlier this week, we told you about controversy over CU-Boulder professor Patti Adler, who implied to students that she was being forced out at the university over a prostitution skit she included in her class entitled “Deviance in U.S. Society.” Since that post, and in the face of social-media protests…
