Alan Gottlieb

Apparently, school performance has become another fact-free zone, where ideology, rumor, and innuendo are more important than evidence. The political right in recent years has mastered this sad and dangerous strategy, but when it comes to testing, the left is showing that two can play that game.

Dear Dr. Marrero, Welcome to Denver and your first day on the job as superintendent of Denver Public Schools. here are several pieces of unsolicited advice.

There are already rumblings of dissatisfaction with the the three finalists to become Denver’s next schools superintendent. But it isn’t exactly a plum job at this moment in time.

Coming from a school board member who consistently trumpets her commitment to community voice, House Bill 21-1295 reeks not only of pique at the state board but hypocrisy as well.

The hundreds of community members who rallied last week to support school innovation zones are right to worry that the school board will ignore their pleas.

If we can at least agree that the 2020-21 school year has exacerbated opportunity gaps and increased the likelihood that students suffering the consequences of those gaps have fallen farther behind their more affluent peers, then optional, full-time summer school provides an obvious, if partial, remedy.

After last week’s Denver school board work session, charter school students, parents, staff, and boards have legitimate reasons to worry about their future in Denver Public Schools.

It seems obvious that conducting scaled-back state testing this year is a good idea — until you consider the logistical hurdles.

Images of hate-fueled extremists marauding through the U.S. Capitol help highlight how narrow and in some ways trivial the divisions on education policy are in Denver. Surely we can find ways to come together, or at least keep our disagreements civil.