What I’ve come to learn is that effective school teams are not much different than effective basketball teams. That the decisions made in film sessions, player meetings, and the front office are similar in importance to school board meetings, professional developments, and the central office. And that if winning is our goal (i.e. getting results alongside students), you have to have a feel for the game AND understand analytics.
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.
Not all co-locations feel the same. Some create a sense of direct competition; others feel more complementary. That distinction matters because successful co-location requires more than operational efficiency. It requires trust, structure, and intentional partnership.
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.
But while holding the right people accountable to the implementation of schooling is critical, a primary focus on accountability of implementation is incomplete. How excellent teachers and administrators navigate the conditions/systems of school, are a) are impacted by constraints of a system and b) have an impact on what we all want from school: results.
Marrero clearly wants to consolidate as many as schools as possible under his control, returning to the bad old days of large urban districts being run by a bloated, inefficient system. The district’s las innovation zone is a big thorn in his side for that reason.
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.
The potentially deadly ineptitude of Denver Public Schools’ approach to safety under the current regime is laid bare in a searing ruling issued this week by a federal judge in the lawsuit of an East High School dean shot inside the school by a student three years ago.
Alleged antisemitic statements by Denver school board member Monica Hunter aimed at her colleague Amy Klein Molk are problematic. Equally troubling, however, is why the superintendent and board president sat on them for nine months until it became politically expedient to release them. In this episode, co-hosts Alexis Menocal Harrigan and Alan Gottlieb discuss whether board relationships and trust in board President Xóchitl Gaytán and Superintendent Alex Marrero are irreparably damaged, and if so, what should happen as a result.
This is High Rockies Community School, a K-8 public charter school located at Sacramento Creek Ranch outside Fairplay. The four-day-a-week school is most notable for holding almost all of its instruction outdoors.
The Denver school board on Thursday, Sept. 17 voted unanimously to launch an investigation into allegations that board Director Monica Hunter made anti-semitic comments about fellow board member Amy Klein Molk, who is Jewish. In this episode, co-hosts Alexis Menocal Harrigan and Alan Gottlieb discuss the meeting’s bizarre twists and turns, and impacts on Denver Public Schools students, with Nicholas Hernández, executive director of the advocacy group Transform Education Now.
At the September 17 Denver Public Schools Board of Education public comment session, 14 people addressed the board and community about allegations leveled against two board members by the board President Xóchitl Gaytán, with an assist from Superintendent Alex Marrero. Two comments stood out, so we are publishing them here.
In its 2024–25 State of Charter Schools Report, the Colorado Department of Education concluded that charter schools had lower chronic absenteeism rates than non-charter schools in each of the previous three years.
In this episode, cohosts Alexis Menocal Harrigan and Alan Gottlieb discuss the latest Denver school board imbroglio, including potentially serious allegations, and its implications for Colorado’s largest school district.
Last week, Boardhawk published a detailed analysis of Denver Public Schools’ 2026 state test score (CMAS) data, as well as an evaluation of the state school performance framework rating of DPS. We invited the author of the piece, Cody Ostenson, on the podcast to discuss the findings.
Students across rural Colorado have been back in school for a few weeks now. In far too many of their classrooms, they were greeted by a brand-new teacher. In some, they’ll find a rotating substitute, a class merged into one down the hall, or simply no permanent teacher at all, because the position was never filled. While not a perfect proxy for teacher effectiveness, the data that is available on turnover, vacancies, and certifications are the best available proxies we have in Colorado.
The release of new annual state testing data is always accompanied by a blizzard of slide decks, and reports, an no small amount of spin. Here is an in-depth, straightforward look at how Denver Public Schools performed, disaggregated by income, race and ethnicity, and school governance model.
Last week, Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero presented to the school board a slide deck labeled Denver Thrives 2030: A Strategic Roadmap refresh. The deck was thin on just about everything, lacking strategy and a clear vision of what lays ahead and how to tackle challenges and opportunities over the next few years.
Podcast season 2, episode 24: The highly suspect timing of allegations against DPS board member Monica Hunter, and moving forward from here
Alleged antisemitic statements by Denver school board member Monica Hunter aimed at her colleague Amy Klein Molk are problematic. Equally troubling, however, is why the superintendent and board president sat on them for nine months until it became politically expedient to release them. In this episode, co-hosts Alexis Menocal Harrigan and Alan Gottlieb discuss whether board relationships and trust in board President Xóchitl Gaytán and Superintendent Alex Marrero are irreparably damaged, and if so, what should happen as a result.