News

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.

From a Colorado League of Charter Schools press release: Colorado continues to have the nation’s second-best public charter school laws, according to a ranking released by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) in its annual report, “Measuring Up to the Model: A Ranking of State Charter Public School Laws.” It is the fifth

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 story that you’ll see in my professional arc, is working to ensure that as many kids as possible, especially those who come from a background similar to mine and face similar challenges, have access to high quality education, regardless of what they look like, how much money their parents have, or what zip code they they live in.”

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.

Boardhawk is hiring a part-time community reporter to cover Denver Public Schools and its Board of Education.

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

The two dissenting board members and a vociferous champion of the contract extension explained their votes at the conclusion of last Thursday’s DPS board meeting.