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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.

A divided Denver school board voted Thursday to pay incoming and future board members for their service.

Some 217 DPS employees are out of compliance with vaccine mandates, and if they’re let go, they’ll be tacked onto the already existing 42 bus driver openings, 96 food service openings and 525 teacher and paraprofessional openings.

Karolina Villagrana and Gene Fashaw, who lost tight races, reflect on the future of Denver Public Schools under a 7-0, teachers union-backed board.

A Denver-based youth activist group invited the 12 candidates running for four seats on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education to Montbello High School last week to hear how they plan to provide a more equitable education for Black, Brown and Indigenous students. The basis for the group’s questions was a research report put together by several local advocacy groups.

A consulting business set up by Denver school board member Tay Anderson in mid-August has received $5,000 over the past two months from the campaign of at-large school board candidate Scott Esserman, records show.

The basic issue, some board members said, is one of fairness and equity. Board service is out of reach to people who lack leisure time and means to put in what amounts to almost full-time hours for what is now a volunteer position.

More than 200 people tuned in on Tuesday night to hear a conversation between the Colorado League of Charter Schools, the Aurora-based African Leadership Group, community members and 11 candidates for the Denver Public Schools board of education.

Twelve of the 13 candidates running for four spots on the seven-member Denver Public Schools board sat with representatives of the Colorado Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and local journalists Wednesday night to talk about their visions for public education in Denver communities, in a live-streamed event.