This excellent commentary on the illegal Denver school board executive session last March was written by Quentin Young, editor of Colorado Newsline, and first appeared on that website: https://coloradonewsline.com/
Moonshot aims to solve several interconnected problems. We address the achievement gap for students of color, which we believe is driven by the lack of diversity in leadership and the type of learning environments learners can access. Although 75% of students in Denver are students of color, 71% of the teaching force and 60% of school leaders are white.
I frankly am more worried about the state of public education than I was when I made the leap 15 years ago. But I still have hope for public education. Much of that hope lives through resilient students and committed teachers.
While the district is trying to frame the firing as the removal of a principal who violated federal privacy law and meted out discipline disproportionately to kids of color, that sounds like putting a politically palatable veneer over a load of BS.
Based on my own experience and armed with research, I founded Students Cultivating Dignity (SCD) Enrichment Program in 2018 to support, recruit and retain BIPOC secondary students with gifted and advanced education.
Recent developments continue to demonstrate that the current Denver school board and leadership want to hide key matters from public scrutiny. Why?
More reversals are sure to come unless school leaders defend and perhaps even expand the policies that have given the city’s most vulnerable students an educational lifeline.
Despite our frustration, we accept the decision made and want to urge the board to use this opportunity to manage their sole employee with a more intentional focus on accountability, transparency, and community integration.
The key to comprehensive summer programs is that they offer a safe, consistent, and positive environment daily for approximately six hours and for six to eight weeks. While there are various options available for Denver youth in the summer, very few are comprehensive programs that meet the consistency needs of working families.
Denver Public Schools is facing declining enrollment across the district. Any serious school board candidate must have a vision to tackle this problem.
Maybe it is time for all of us to say NO to the board’s request for a $44 million mill levy tax increase. I am torn. Denver’s teachers need to be paid more. But I do not see how Denver will ever do better by most of its students without a clear plan, transparency, honest discussion of progress, and real accountability for student success — none of which this board has offered.
News broke midday Thursday that DJ Torres, who has served on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education, had resigned, effective immediately. So what happens now? And how will this affect the problematic board dynamics? We invited to the podcast to discuss this Parker Baxter, Scholar in Residence and Director of the Center for Education Policy Analysis at the School of Pubic Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver. Baxter is also a lawyer, and spent 20 years working on education policy, including a stint in the central office of Denver Public Schools during the Tom Boasberg era.
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.
Should Denver voters say no to DPS mill levy?
Maybe it is time for all of us to say NO to the board’s request for a $44 million mill levy tax increase. I am torn. Denver’s teachers need to be paid more. But I do not see how Denver will ever do better by most of its students without a clear plan, transparency, honest discussion of progress, and real accountability for student success — none of which this board has offered.