News

The generic-sounding email that landed this fall in KIPP Colorado charter school network Executive Director Tomi Amos’s inbox, presaging a $6 million gift from philanthropist MacKenize Scott, could easily have been passed off as some kind of unwanted solicitation.

The lengthy hearing has gone beyond Pryor’s actions to probe a deeper undercurrent whether DPS has done enough to provide adequate resources and opportunities to Black students in response to longstanding equity concerns by community leaders, parents and educators.

“There was a progression (of complaints) to get to this level,” said Superintendent Alex Marrero, who is one of the defendants in Pryor’s lawsuit against the district. “This should not have caught him by surprise.”

The court case turns on what constitutes First Amendment speech protection versus what degree of threats, harassment and bullying justify the kind of restrictions that have been imposed by Denver Public Schools on Brandon Pryor.

Denver Public Schools has informed Brandon Pryor that the ban the district imposed on him in October has been modified allowing him to speak at school board meetings and attend certain public activities at schools.

Pryor was on the witness stand all day before U.S. District Court Judge John Kane as part of his lawsuit against the district, which banned him in October from board meetings and schools where his children do not attend because of what the district described as his “repeated abusive, bulling, threatening and intimidating conduct” directed at DPS administrators, including Superintendent Alex Marrero.

It became clear at Monday night’s community meeting about proposed Denver school closures that a revolt is brewing on the school board that is likely to send Superintendent Alex Marrero and his team back to square one as they try to “right-size” the district.

Denver Families for Public Schools, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that focuses on increasing civic engagement and voter participation to help families better engage their public school system, recently launched a training program for prospective school board candidates. There’s still time to sign up for the next session, which begins Nov. 11

EDUCATE Denver, a new coalition of civic and business leaders created to push for better academic outcomes and the closing of opportunity gaps in Denver Public Schools, issued a statement Friday detailing how it believes DPS should go about deciding which schools should close as enrollment declines.

Denver Public Schools’ recently promoted special education director was hired by district officials who did not know he had been accused of making sexually inappropriate comments to high school girls when he was principal of a California school, where he had used a different first name.