Boardhawk is an independent website dedicated to community-based commentary and advocacy-focused coverage of public education in Colorado, with a particular focus on Denver Public Schools and its recently reconfigured Board of Education.

The November 2019 election yielded a ‘flipped’ school board, with its three new members skeptical of the direction the district had taken under its two previous superintendents, Tom Boasberg and Michael Bennet. A year later, Superintendent Susana Cordova decided to leave DPS, where she had worked for more than 30 years, for a job in Dallas. The board flipped completely in 2021, becoming what one member termed a “union super-majority.” Since then, the board has been mired in controversy and in-fighting, which Boardhawk has chronicled more closely than any other local media outlet. Boardhawk believes that there has never been a more important time for responsible, community-centered journalism and commentary focused on how public education can best serve the students who need it most.

As we enter another election season, Boardhawk will provide both unbiased news coverage of the campaign and issues within DPS, as well as pointed commentaries from a diverse group of contributors. We will challenge decisions we believe are not in the best interests of all children, families and everyone with a stake in public education in Denver. We will simultaneously celebrate those decisions that are. Our commentary and reporting will always be fact-based, and never anchored in the fear or smear tactics that have, sadly, become commonplace. Our commentary and reporting will come from distinctive points of view that represent our diverse collective.

If you would like to submit a piece to Boardhawk for publication, please reach out using the contact form on this site. We will review all submissions, and welcome points of view that diverge from ours. We cannot, however, guarantee that any piece submitted will be published.

Staff:

Alan Gottlieb is Boardhawk’s editor. Alan has been a Denver-based journalist for more than 30 years. He covered DPS for the Denver Post in the mid-1990s, worked as an education program officer for The Piton Foundation, and co-founded Education News Colorado and Chalkbeat. For the past five years, he has worked as a contract writer and communications consultant.

 

Chris Broderick s a freelance journalist in Denver. He is a retired administrator for Portland State University and was a reporter and  Education Editor for the Rocky Mountain News, The Oregonian, the Arizona Republic and other news publications.

 

Advisory board:

Jason Gaulden, Oak Rose Group

 

Sasha Green, Program & Operations Manager at Moonshot edVentures

 

Miguel In Suk Lovato, Senior Program Officer, Colorado Health Foundation

 

Theresa Peña, Outreach and Engagement, DPS Food and Nutrition Services; former DPS board member

 

We’re grateful to our funders, RootED and the Anschutz Foundation, for their support. Funders exert no influence over the site’s content. Nor does their support constitute agreement with opinions expressed here.