For months, members of CU Boulder’s student government have talked about their desire to move the annual 4/20 celebration off campus. But the logistics of doing so proved challenging, prompting leaders to opt for a low-key campaign to shrink attendance. Now we know the centerpiece of their plan: a Wyclef…
Theron and Teague Harrison, the whiz brother-sister debate team from Manual High School who we profiled last year in our cover story “Say What?”, are once again headed to the Urban Debate National Championship. The pair snagged first place at the Denver Urban Debate League City Championship earlier this month,…
Update below: University of Denver chancellor Dr. Robert Coombe didn’t attend a public event prompted by Greek Life groups’ Cowboys and Indians party — an event that offended members of the DU Native Student Alliance. However, Coombe is scheduled to meet with the Alliance next month — and today, he…
The Women’s Final Four hits town this weekend, but the fun started early at Annunciation Catholic School thanks to a visit from the Notre Dame cheerleaders and pep band, in town to boost the Fighting Irish in Sunday’s semi-final game. It was tough getting event pics, but I finally managed…
Yesterday, Greek Life representatives at the University of Denver publicly apologized for a Cowboys and Indians-themed party dubbed “piercingly offensive” by DU’s Native Student Alliance. And while the university’s chancellor didn’t attend, he has arranged to meet with alliance members next week — a development that contrasts sharply with dismissive…
An unusual event will take place today on the University of Denver campus — one prompted by another unusual event. At 4 p.m., students and administrators will gather near a tepee on Driscoll Green as representatives of two Greek Life organizations publicly apologize for a Cowboys and Indians theme party…
Today through Sunday, experts on U.S. Drug Policy and the medical marijuana movement are meeting with politically minded students from across the nation at the Hyatt Regency Denver Tech Center. And while 4/20 is still a month a way, the students debating the pros and cons of drug policy at…
Immigration advocates are hopeful that a new agreement between the Roaring Fork School District and three local police departments will put an end to the controversial collaboration between school resource officers and federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. But they also fear that the agreement doesn’t go far enough…
The Ricardo Flores Magon Academy charter school can continue operating. Today, the Charter School Institute voted to extend the embattled school’s contract for five more years — with several stipulations. Among them: Find a new leader. The school’s founder and most recent principal, Marcos Martinez, resigned along with two others…
Teachers at Colorado’s largest online school are likely overworked and underpaid, according to an investigation by KUNC reporter Grace Hood. She found that most of the teachers at Colorado Virtual Academy make less than $35,000 per year — even middle school English instructors who, during the first semester last year,…
Marcos Martinez, the controversial founder of the Ricardo Flores Magon Academy and subject of our cover story “A Hard Line,” has resigned. So, too, have two other employees whom the school’s board of trustees asked to take a paid leave while they investigated complaints against them. The school is now…
Life Skills Center lost its appeal yesterday before the State Board of Education, which sided with Denver Public Schools’ decision to close the school. The last-chance high, which Westword profiled in 2007, will shut its doors after eight years of educating all who showed up on its doorstep, no matter…
Regis University in Denver is taking the lead on a program to teach online college courses in refugee camps in Malawi and Kenya, and in urban Syria. The four-year pilot project is called “Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins” and it aims to solve a stark problem: the dearth…
Last September, we told you about a movement to end school zero-tolerance policies enacted after the 1999 Columbine massacre. These efforts led to Senate Bill 46, which passed its first committee test last week. But its narrow margin of victory leaves sponsoring Senator Evie Hudak worried that some legislators see…
The Colorado Supreme Court ruling to allow people with concealed-carry permits to possess guns on University of Colorado campuses will necessitate a major philosophical shift among CU officials. Case in point: Just over two years ago, CU Boulder expanded its weapons ban to include Nerf guns…
Denver Public Schools is exploring whether to ask taxpayers to approve more moolah. The district has convened a giant committee of community members (72 of them!), including some familiar DPS faces, tasked with recommending whether DPS should — in the face of deep state funding cuts — ask voters in…
An outlet for radical and revolutionary expression for over thirty years, P&L Press will open its first public infoshop this week. Located in the Jefferson Park neighborhood near the space occupied by the Denver Anarchist Black Cross and P&L itself, the store will provide resources on anarchism, prisoners’ rights, indigenous…
The University of Denver has unveiled the logo for the first presidential debate, to be held at DU’s Magness Arena on October 3. The university also launched a website today dedicated to the debate, which includes a countdown ticker: 226 days to go. One thing it doesn’t include? Ticket information…
The turmoil continues at the Ricardo Flores Magon Academy charter school in Westminster, the subject of our recent cover story, “A Hard Line.” Facing two lawsuits and many more complaints, the school has now (at least temporarily) lost its leader, about whom many of the complaints were made. While principal…
Regan Benson isn’t afraid to speak her mind, and neither are her kids, including son Blake, who made news for sporting a “Nobama” banner during Michelle Obama’s visit to Dakota Ridge High School, and Bryce, who ex-guv candidate Tom Tancredo backed in a controversy over wearing a “Border Patrol” T-shirt…
Ethan Hemming, charter school whiz and former interim executive director of the Charter School Institute, is no longer interim. The institute’s board of directors has made him the official executive director and head of an organization in the process of righting itself after several things went wrong, as explained in…
More Colorado college students are taking remedial courses once they arrive on campus, according to a report released today. In the 2010-11 school year, 31.8 percent of recent high school graduates were placed into a remedial course, as opposed to 28.6 percent in 2009-10. The remediation rate for students over…
