Commentary
“Pandemic pods” have the potential to widen already gaping opportunity gaps. But there are ways to minimize the negative collective impacts.
Mike Miles, CEO of First Future Schools, has deftly threaded the needle in a letter to his staff about reopening school next month. Read the full letter here.
Yes, education needs to change fundamentally. For now, though, we need to set aside our differences to get through the next year.
A member of the DPS Budget Advisory Committee reflects on how its processes and outcomes could have been improved.
A deal cut last week between Denver Public Schools and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association blew a big hole through the plan to give the biggest raises to the lowest-paid workers.
A powerful column excerpted here places the debate about neighborhood schools within the context of the Black Lives Matter movement. A provocative read, especially for progressives.
Gather your allies and your strength now while our minds and hearts truly feel the injustices borne by our students every day. Plan bold steps that go beyond addressing symptoms and that finally cut to the heart of what we know is unjust with our system.
Let’s, for argument’s sake, give these individuals and groups that want to eliminate accountability and measurement their way. Let’s stop measuring anything and just trust that teachers will get it right. Then let’s come back together in five years and see what our graduation, dropout, and remediation rates look like, not to mention our achievement gaps.
DPS employee associations are pushing for budget cuts that don’t touch negotiated teacher pay raises. That’s a tough case to make, given the $61 million in cuts that are looming.
Two school leaders who served on the Reimagine SPF committee for Denver Public Schools offer a counterpoint to a recent column that was critical of some of the committee’s recommendations

DPS, please don’t dilute committee’s cell-phone ban recommendations
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.