This week on Colorado Politicking, legislative reporter Pat Poblete and Denver Gazette reporter Dennis Huspeni discuss the third-party report probing Denver Public School Director Tay Anderson's conduct and school walkouts calling for his resignation. Meanwhile, chief legislative reporter Marianne Goodland focuses on the state Independent Ethics Commission rejecting a request for private security for Secretary of State Jena Griswold.
A cereal box-sized satellite designed and built at the University of Colorado Boulder will be launched into space next week to explore distant planets.
The Douglas County School District received $120,000 from two health organizations to help expand its suicide prevention program.
Southern Colorado’s sole resettlement agency is preparing to assist at least 75 Afghan refugees who had worked with United States troops in their homeland before last month's military withdrawal, according to Floyd Preston, program director of the Colorado Springs office of Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains.
Six Colorado schools were recognized Tuesday as National Blue Ribbon Schools for their overall academic performance or success in closing achievement gaps among student groups.
Hours after hundreds of Denver Public Schools students walked out to call for his resignation Monday, DPS Board of Education Director Tay Anderson touted his accomplishments in office and unveiled his plans for serving the district in the future.
More than 200 students at North High school in Denver staged a walkout protest Monday, calling for embattled Denver Public Schools Board of Education Director Tay Anderson to resign after a district investigation didn't substantiate Anderson committing allegations of sexual assault but found…
If you’re like me, you only have a walking-around understanding of equity, even though it’s the political buzzword of 2021.
Reaction to the censure of Tay Anderson on the political front Friday was stone silence, but parents who have been critical of the embattled Denver Public Schools board member said they were still convinced he's undeterred.
Colorado community college enrollment dipped slightly over last year, an encouraging sign after expectations the pandemic would again deter a larger group of students from attending this fall.
The number of coronavirus cases in K-12 schools across Colorado has nearly doubled in the last week, updated statewide outbreak data showed on Wednesday.
There are now more students reading, writing and studying at the University of Colorado Boulder than there were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the university announced Wednesday.
When students returned to school in the Greeley-Evans district north of Denver, masks were recommended — but not required — for unvaccinated students and staff.
Calls to Safe2Tell, Colorado's anonymous school safety tip line for students jumped 36% in August compared to the same month in 2020, the agency said Tuesday.
Colorado’s largest teachers’ union the Colorado Education Association listed its 30-year home at 1500 Grant Street for sale.
Colorado officials on Thursday ordered the Adams 14 school district to allow its outside management company to return to district schools and offices by Sept. 27 or immediately lose its accreditation.
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.
Temperatures across Denver reached record levels on Thursday and not much is expected to change on Friday as temperatures close in on triple-digits.
As cases of COVID in young children rise steeply, Colorado public health officials say it’s important to test all students and staff weekly to help reduce disease transmission. Colorado has allocated $173 million of federal relief money to provide schools with free rapid tests and help in setting up testing programs.
The lack of school nurses is more severe than usual because of the fierce competition in the job market. “What we’re dealing with now is the shortage of human resources,” said Robin Greene, the director of nursing services for Denver Public Schools.
About half of Denver students in grades three through eight opted out of state math and literacy tests last spring, far more opt-outs than in normal years.
A three-judge panel on Thursday decided the Colorado Attorney General's Office needed to show that the marketing practices of CollegeAmerica — which has campuses in Denver, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins — were not only knowingly false and misleading, but had a substantial public impact, too. Because Denver District Court Judge Ross B.H. Buchanan believed the latter requirement did not apply, there will need to be a new trial to address the issue.
"The LEAP initiative will make Colorado the first state in the country to offer a statewide approach to helping kids recover from current COVID losses, while also creating a long-term plan to prevent opportunity gaps from developing in the future."
College athletes have traditionally not been allowed to be compensated for use of their name, image or likeness, despite what the legislative framework describes as the “rapid escalation of the commercialization of intercollegiate sports and the increased opportunities for monetization.”
The Legislative Interim Committee on School Finance’s first meeting of the year, one of five scheduled before the start of the next legislative session, featured panel presentations from a handful of state agencies, nonprofits working in the educational space and a pair of district superintendents.
A panel of high school students charged with developing legislative recommendations on Friday told lawmakers they want to see bills improving access to mental health services for youth and higher education for foster students as well as measures to revamp the youth advisory council.
Saying the risks of quarantine outweigh the risk of disease, a Colorado school district insists it won’t report COVID cases to local public health authorities, even though state officials say the law requires it.
After nearly four hours of public comment, the Douglas County Commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to opt out of a mask mandate for younger students and the staff that work with them.
Virtual public comment at Denver school board meetings may be here to stay, even as board members consider resuming in-person meetings and students head back to school buildings.
All students and staff in Jefferson County schools will be required to wear masks beginning Tuesday, the county's public health agency announced late Monday, overriding a more limited policy instituted by the public school district there.
In the midst of an ongoing pandemic, many sizable Colorado school districts are offering online learning programs this fall. But data shows very few students are choosing that option.
Colorado Education Commissioner Katy Anthes called the findings “sobering data that confirm just how hard last year was with school closures, class quarantines and remote learning,” in publicly releasing statewide results for Colorado Measures of Academic Success and PSAT and SAT exams during Thursday’s State Board of Education meeting.
“I strongly believe that our education system can, and must, do better to meet the varied needs of all kids,” Dickhoner said in a statement. “I’m honored to lead Ready Colorado in its advocacy of better educational opportunities.”
As more employers across Colorado require workers to be vaccinated against COVID, school districts seem to be in no hurry to mandate vaccines for teachers and other staff.
Colorado’s open enrollment system allows parents to enroll their children in any district that has room for them. Mapleton has taken advantage of that system, sometimes referring to itself as a “destination district” with small, specialized schools tailored to students’ needs.
The district, Colorado’s fourth largest with 54,000 students, is the latest to release guidance on masks for the coming year, as coronavirus infections surge due to the Delta variant.
When Jeffco leaders saved four out of five schools from closure in 2017, they knew they were just kicking the problem down the road. They said so at the time.
The LEAP initiative — it stands for Learning Enrichment and Academic Progress — asks voters to OK a tax increase of 5 percentage points on recreational pot sales, as well as pull additional funding for its programs from leases, royalties, rents and timber sales on state property.
Since taking the top job in Colorado’s largest school district on July 6, Alex Marrero has met with district staff, parents, leaders of foundations that support the schools, and grassroots community groups, including those who questioned his candidacy for the job and the process that led to his hiring.
Members of the State Board acknowledge they’re taking a risk with students’ education and that it will take time to know what is and isn’t working, but they believe it’s worth it.
Colorado’s landmark 2012 reading law led schools around the state to spend more time helping struggling readers, an external evaluation found.
Denver Public Schools officials will announce in the coming days what measures they will take to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 within the district this school year, officials said Thursday.
Denver charter schools that received federal COVID-related small business loans last spring won’t need to forgo any future funding to make up for the $16 million in forgivable loans they received, district and charter officials said.
Earlier this month, the CDC said that vaccinated students and school staff could go maskless, but that school leaders could issue universal masking policies if they saw fit. Children under 12 aren’t yet eligible for vaccines, but the previous guidance left room for high schools with vaccinated staff and students to operate without face coverings.
Colorado is believed to be one the first to put into place a statewide law like this.
Last year, some students decided to defer college, disrupting the usual routine for many students after high school. This year, students didn’t defer college, but the impacts of the pandemic has shaped their college choices.
More than half of prospective elementary teachers in Colorado fail their licensure exams on the first try, and of those who fail, 40% don’t try again, according to new data from the National Council on Teacher Quality.
There are 67 scholarships available through the “Shot at a Scholarship” program, 65 of them for $1,000 and two for $5,000. Students at the 13 colleges in the state’s community college system can enter the scholarship drawing through Sept. 15.
Something else came out of the 2012 reading law that produced more promising results: a competitive grant program with three-year awards for schools that agreed to overhaul reading instruction. Unlike the reading money spread across all districts, the smaller Early Literacy Grant program came with strict rules about how schools should improve reading instruction, plus considerable state oversight.
A board vote Tuesday requires Superintendent Rico Munn to communicate with the board and consider its input 60 days before asking for a vote on certain issues. The new rule will apply to decisions about the budget, school closures or boundary changes, labor negotiation agreements, contracts that will cost 5% or more of the district budget, and any request to reduce staffing. The board’s selection and evaluation of its superintendent and any changes to the district’s goals are also covered under the new process.
