T. Michael Boddie

Denver Public Schools board members received an earful Tuesday evening from parents and teachers who said they fear a proposed new policy would gut the autonomy of the district’s innovation schools.

Teachers at the Center for Talent Development who rely on flexibility in terms of hours and teaching duties, have said they do not understand why the school is moving to curtail innovation schools like theirs.

Board members got an earful on Wednesday and Thursday nights during a town hall meeting and a work session from innovation school leaders, who’ve relied in part on waivers from the teachers’ union requirements to provide a unique educational experience for their students.

The teachers union-friendly Denver school board will consider stripping some flexibility from the district’s innovation schools and zones, a high priority for the local union.

The Denver school board approved contract renewals for 16 charter schools Thursday, even as the board president continued to spread false information about charter schools’ impact on district enrollment.

Sixteen of the 17 Denver charter schools with contracts up for renewal got a recommendation from Denver Public Schools staff to continue operating. 

The percentage of K-3 DPS students reading “significantly below grade level” had remained steady between 21% and 23% in the past five years. This year, that number jumped up to 31%. 

The new Denver school will vote Thursday to extend Superintendent Alex Marrero’s contract from two to four years, just five months into his tenure and before any kind of performance evaluation has been started, let alone completed.

Some board members made it clear that, in a perfect world, they would like to shorten the length of charter renewals and have an option not to renew a charter if its enrollment slips below a certain, as-yet undefined threshold.

“We tend to drift into adult issues, and I’m worried that there won’t be a laser focus on how students are doing,” eight-year incumbent Barbara O’Brien said moments after her board service ended Tuesday evening.