Paula Noonan is an outspoken critic of charter schools and test-based accountability, who broadcasts her thoughts in a regular column in Colorado Politics. Nicholas Hernández is executive director of Transform Education Now, a parent advocacy organization that supports parents in advocating for robust educational options in Denver and environs. We brought them together on the podcast to debate school choice, charter schools, school funding, teacher quality, test-based accountability, and more. It’s a lively episode, somewhat longer than usual.
Thirteen people have applied for a one-year vacancy on the Denver school board created by the resignation last month of central-Denver representative DJ Torres. On this podcast episode, longtime District 3 resident and DPS parent and advocate Heather Lamm discusses with co-hosts Alexis Menocal Harrigan and Alan Gottlieb the candidates and what the board needs in and from its new member.
Denver voters have approved mill levy overrides before. DPS collected $369.6 million last year from seven voter-approved overrides dating to 1988. That history is exactly why voters deserve specifics. A district that has been trusted this many times should be able to say what the next dollars will do.
Three eventful years into his tenure on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education, board member John Youngquist discusses where the board’s focus should be as it emerges (we hope) from a period of tumult, in-fighting and dysfunction.
We asked Denver Classroom Teachers Association President Rob Gould, and Vernon Jones, a community advocate and executive director of FaithBridge, onto the show to discuss the mill levy, reasons voters should approve it, and to answer some questions about why maybe some voters should be skeptical that it’s a good idea. We also discussed board and district leadership and whether there need to be changes.
It is time for the board to call for new leadership of the body. A new officer election would give members an opportunity to reconsider that leadership and publicly articulate the expectations they have of those serving as president, vice president, and other offices.
Recently, I’ve heard people question whether Denver should make another investment in our schools because of the disagreements and challenges happening among adults in the district. As a student, that is hard for me to understand. Whatever concerns adults have about leadership, governance, or accountability, taking investment away from students because of adult behavior feels like punishing us for decisions we did not make.
The Denver school board on Thursday, October 8, censured Director Monica Hunter for allegedly making anti-Semitic statements about a fellow board member. The censure followed a quick investigation by an outside party, and while the findings of the investigation were inconclusive, the board decided on a 4-2 vote that there was enough evidence to merit the censure. Potential conflicts of interest with Hunter’s employment also contributed to the decision to censure her. In this episode, co-hosts Alexis Menocal Harrigan and Alan Gottlieb discuss the fallout.
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.
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.
Denver Public Schools is facing declining enrollment across the district. Any serious school board candidate must have a vision to tackle this problem.
Auon’tai Anderson was in elementary school when Manual was closed, and Marrero was in his early 20s on the East Coast. They would be well advised to read some source documents about Manual’s closure before making ill-informed statements.Â
None of us are arguing for “throwing children away,” as certain board members have claimed, yet the current discipline matrix treats everyone as expendable.
I know what it is like to teach in our classrooms, to lead in our schools, and to support principals as a supervisor, coach and mentor. Doing those things brings me great joy. I also know what it is like to stand outside of the school where my two children are trapped because a shooting has occurred.
This summer, we will mark a significant milestone for education here in Denver. Rocky Mountain Prep and STRIVE Prep will unite to become the first cradle-to-college network in Denver, offering students educational support from 12 weeks old through 12th grade.
Members of the dysfunctional Denver school board despise that governing body being called dysfunctional, repeatedly and emphatically denying that it is what it so plainly is.
In the same week he won a key procedural victory over the Adams 14 School District, University Prep CEO David Singer was recognized with a 2023 “Changemaker Award” from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
Somewhere along the line, the Adams 14 board and administration lost sight of their mission, which is providing the children of their district with the best possible public education. Instead, they became fixated on turf battles and maintaining control over where Commerce City children attend school.
With so much attention now focused on the Denver school board, Boardhawk is providing this nuts-and-bolts primer on the board for people who might be new to issues of Denver Public School governance.
Once lost, credibility is hard to regain. When people no longer trust you, then every move you make will be scrutinized and criticized, and your motives will be called into question.
Podcast season 2, episode 30: Charter critic Paula Noonan, parent advocate Nicholas Hernández hold a passionate, mostly polite debate
Paula Noonan is an outspoken critic of charter schools and test-based accountability, who broadcasts her thoughts in a regular column in Colorado Politics. Nicholas Hernández is executive director of Transform Education Now, a parent advocacy organization that supports parents in advocating for robust educational options in Denver and environs. We brought them together on the podcast to debate school choice, charter schools, school funding, teacher quality, test-based accountability, and more. It’s a lively episode, somewhat longer than usual.