When students spend every passing period, lunch period, and free moment looking at a screen, we lose opportunities for human connection. We lose opportunities for friendship, community, and belonging. We lose opportunities for trusted adults to notice when a student may be struggling.
DPS, please don’t dilute committee’s cell-phone ban recommendations Read More »
Denver Public Schools has begun a months-long process of collecting feedback and studying options for redrawing its school boundaries. It’s sure to be a contentious process, akin to school closure debates. Perhaps that is one of the reasons the district hasn’t undertaken this task since 1955-96, when federally mandated busing for integration ended after 25 years. In this episode co-hosts Alexis Menocal Harrigan and Alan Gottlieb discuss the promises and pitfalls the district will face in the coming months. Gottlieb was a Denver Post reporter during the lasy boundary debate, and offers some historical perspective.
Podcast season 2, episode 15: The coming battle over redrawing DPS school boundaries Read More »
Marlene De La Rosa was elected to the Denver school board in November 2023, representing North Denver. She recently led the effort to develop a policy for the use of smartphones in Denver schools. We asked de la Rosa on to discuss that policy as well as how her perspective about the district has shifted since she first joined the board. De La Rosa worked in the federal immigration court system for more than 30 years. We invited De La Rosa on to discuss the cellphone policy as well her views on current board dynamics. We also asked her about some votes she has taken that have upset some of her original supporters, most notably a contract extension for Superintendent Alex Marrero and the censure of fellow board member John Youngquist.
You can now listen and/or watch us on YouTube, also embedded in this article!
Our guest for this episode is Pat Donovan, who has been a leading Denver public-education advocate for many years. He led the advocacy and funding organization RootED, held a top leadership position at its successor, Denver Families for Public Schools. He heads the board of Rocky Mountain Prep, one of Denver’s largest, homegrown charter school networks. He’s also a board member at the Colorado League of Charter Schools.
Donovan has a long perspective on a variety of trends in Denver Public Schools, including how well the district is preparing students for life after high school and the narrowing of school choice. We invited Pat on for a wide-ranging discussion on these and other DPS-related topics.
Boardhawk wanted former Denver school board member Scott Esserman on the podcast because we vigorously disagreed with him on a range of Denver Public Schools issues during his tenure, and wrote about him in a harshly critical tone on several occasions. At times the tone of those criticisms might have obscured the substantive differences in policy and philosophy that underlay them. Some of those disagreements include the performance of Superintendent Alex Marrero, whether DPS is headed n the right direction, Marrero’s contract extension, and school safety.
A proposed expansion of the Luminary Learning Network, Denver’s lone remaining Innovation zone, is being strongly opposed by Superintendent Alex Marrero. LLN Executive Director joins us to discuss the zone, and repeated attempts to curb its autonomies. The consolidation of school control under Marrero has implications for everyone with a stake in DPS.
In this second installment of our occasional series on the implications for public education of artificial intelligence in classrooms and homes, we welcome Dr. Richard Charles, the chief information officer for Denver Public Schools. A mathematician by training and inclination, Dr. Charles has deep knowledge of AI, its promises and pitfalls. This thought-provoking conversation is well worth a listen.
Artificial intelligence is one of the hot topics in education right now, and we wanted to hear from someone who is both thinking deeply about it and leading in this space. That’s why Antonio Vigil is the ideal guest for this episode of the podcast.
50CAN, a national education advocacy organization, and Transform Education Now (TEN), its Colorado affiliate, recently released a report called The State of Educational Opportunity in Colorado, a survey of some 515 parents from across the state. ur guests for this podcast episode are Marc Porter Magee, the founder and CEO of 50CAN, and Nicholas Hernández, the co-founder and executive director of TEN. The Colorado report and national survey data are filled with fascinating insights that say a great deal about current attitudes toward public education, school choice, and parental engagement.
Last week Boardhawk editor Alan Gottlieb published an article about the dysfunctional leadership of the Denver School Board under President Xóchitl Gaytán. In this new podcast episode Gottlieb and co-host Alexis Menocal Harrigan delver mnore deeply into this issue, along with Cody Ostenson, Director of External Affairs for Denver Families for Public Schools. Ostenson is one of if not the closest observer of the board and Denver Public Schools. His insights into board dynamics and DPS generally are invaluable.
