barbara o’brien

BARBARA O’BRIEN | Five goals for Colorado’s next governor

Jul 31, 2018

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Barbara O’Brien

COMMENTARY: This is part of our series of contributed essays, “Imagine a Great Colorado.” See below for more. It was the honor of a lifetime to serve as Colorado’s 47th lieutenant governor. Talking with people everywhere from small towns to cities gives you a deep respect for the character of the state. Driving from Grand…
THE PODIUM: Mudslinging, a mixed message — yet a hopeful outcome — in Denver school board race

Dec 7, 2017

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Barbara O’Brien

The 2017 Denver School Board election was ideological, hard-fought and nasty at times. Activists both for and against the direction of Denver Pubic Schools were convinced that the election would be a referendum. Now that the dust has settled, I’m not sure the results add up to a clear message. The three at-large candidates, including…
A less-than-unanimous board sworn in at Colorado’s largest school district

Nov 28, 2017

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DAN NJEGOMIR Colorado Politics

It had been smooth sailing for the nationally recognized education-reform agenda at Denver Public Schools, thanks to a more or less unified school board. The district, under the leadership of Superintendent (and reformer-in-chief) Tom Boasberg, has been charging ahead with its years-long efforts at expanding educational options like innovation schools and charter schools. It all…
19-year-old Denver Public Schools board candidate Tay Anderson: ‘I’ll continue to fight’

Nov 8, 2017

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Ernest Luning

Soon after the first round of results had posted at about 7 p.m. Tuesday, Auontai “Tay” Anderson, a candidate for a northeast Denver school board seat, spoke to the crowd gathered to watch election night returns at a popular food incubator in Denver’s trending RINO neighborhood. Anderson, a May graduate of Manual High School –…
Fundraising for school board candidates show lopsided differences in Jeffco, DPS

Oct 18, 2017

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Marianne Goodl

JEFFERSON COUNTY In Jeffco, school board candidate fundraising appears to be a tale of the haves and have nots. Two of the three incumbents on the school district’s board of education have out-raised their opponents by margins of at least 15 to 1. The third incumbent, board chair Ron Mitchell, raised almost $33,000 through last Friday,…
Big outside money pours into Denver, Dougco school board races

Oct 17, 2017

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Marianne Goodl

The first volley of big money that will be spent on school board races in Colorado this year comes from opposing sides, but most of the money is being spent in two separate counties, Denver and Douglas. The first big sum reported comes from a group of Wall Street financiers who promote charter schools. So…
Which slate to vote for in Denver’s school board race? Depends whom you ask

Aug 8, 2017

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DAN NJEGOMIR Colorado Politics

As we’ve noted here before, a lot is at stake in the upcoming Denver Public Schools board election this fall. Years of education reforms ushered in by a succession of pro-refom board majorities haven’t sat well with the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, among others, in the state’s largest school district. Charter schools, innovation schools, assorted…
Anti-Devos rally makes no secret of rift within Dem ranks over education reform

Jul 20, 2017

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DAN NJEGOMIR Colorado Politics

A mass-email from the Colorado Education Association Wednesday included a play-by-play account of that morning’s protest and rally at the Capitol denouncing Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s visit to Denver. So, even those who weren’t able to attend still got a feel for the event. And one of the feelings that was easy to pick up was…
Guess who’s NOT invited to the protest against Betsy DeVos: Colorado’s former No. 2

Jul 18, 2017

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DAN NJEGOMIR Colorado Politics

Her name is almost synonymous with “liberal” in Colorado political circles. The indelibly Democratic Barbara O’Brien has served in many capacities over the years, including as Colorado’s 47 lieutenant governor with Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter, 2007-2011. The onetime calling with which she is still most identified, of course, is as longtime director of the Colorado…
The tug-of-war continues over the destiny of the state’s largest school district

Jul 13, 2017

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DAN NJEGOMIR Colorado Politics

It seems like a political paradox: Some of the nation’s largest inner-urban school districts – longtime strongholds of teachers unions and their anti-reform orthodoxy – arguably have been among the boldest in experimenting with a wide range of reforms. Maybe those districts’ hard-pressed school boards – their backs to the wall for so many years…