Author: Melanie Asmar Chalkbeat Colorado
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Colorado task force tackles aggressive and violent student behavior toward teachers
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It was Halloween, and school social worker Tricia Van Horssen was dressed as Anger, the cartoon character from “Inside Out,” when she was assaulted by one of her students. The costume, she said, was ironic because she loves her job at a high school in Fort Collins in northern Colorado. She said her students joke…
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School closures: Denver board considering amending policy to add a pause
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The Denver Public Schools board is considering pausing any future school closures until closures that are underway are executed and plans for vacant buildings are finalized. The proposal comes three months after the board voted in November to close or partially close 10 schools with low enrollment at the end of this school year. More…
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Enrollment in Denver Public Schools is up for the second year, but school closures still planned
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Enrollment in Denver Public Schools is up for the second year in a row, reversing a years-long trend of declining student counts in Colorado’s largest school district. But Superintendent Alex Marrero said the boost isn’t enough to stop plans to close some schools with low enrollment. A preliminary count showed 85,313 students were enrolled in…
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Rent-free housing: Denver real estate firm donates apartments to 10 early-career teachers
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Ten early-career Denver classroom teachers will get free rent for a year in a new upscale apartment building in the northwest part of the city — a novel, if incremental, approach to the problem of rising housing costs making it difficult for teachers to live close to where they work. Real estate investment firm Grand…
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Denver mayor, schools superintendent announce youth summer programs meant to help curb gun violence
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Denver mayor, schools superintendent announce youth summer programs meant to help curb gun violence The city of Denver is aiming to connect 1,000 more teenagers with jobs this summer, help families find summer camps, and fund pop-up events like BBQs and basketball tournaments in some neighborhoods, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced last week. The efforts…
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Denver slows planning to close, consolidate small schools
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Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero is pressing pause on addressing one of the district’s most significant challenges: whether to close or consolidate schools with so few students that they struggle to pay for a full teaching staff and robust programming. Denver Public Schools was about to launch a monthslong community brainstorming process involving 19 schools. But…
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Denver charter school, innovation zone employees can’t also be on school board
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The Denver school board expanded its conflict-of-interest policy Thursday to ban employees of independent charter schools and semi-autonomous innovation zones from serving on the board. The policy already barred district employees from being board members. But it didn’t account for employees at independently run charter schools, or employees of the nonprofit organizations that oversee innovation…
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Denver schools increase safety officers, seek authority to ticket students
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After removing police officers from its schools over the past year, Denver Public Schools has increased its own armed patrol unit and is in talks with the city about allowing those officers to issue tickets to students for violations like marijuana possession and fighting. While the district believes the arrangement furthers its goal of reducing…
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Denver charter school will move to make way for new comprehensive Montbello high school
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The Denver school board took another step Thursday toward reopening a comprehensive high school in Denver’s Montbello neighborhood and dismantling a decade of controversial reforms. Thursday’s vote had to do with the location of two middle schools: a new comprehensive middle school that will feed into the high school, and a charter school called STRIVE…
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More than 30 people applied to be Denver’s new superintendent
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From 10 to 12 candidates for the Denver superintendent job are expected to participate in a second round of interviews starting next week, the head of the firm conducting the search said. A total of 32 applicants applied to lead Denver Public Schools, Colorado’s largest school district. Of those, 21 candidates did a first-round interview…
