After spending the morning with W., Mayor Michael Hancock (who the former president said was classy), launched his Denver Education Compact, a committee of big brains set to tackle the city’s school system, which graduated just 51.8 percent of students on time last year. Hancock, who spoke a lot about…
President George W. Bush was in Denver this morning, talking education with a group of political and business leaders at the brick headquarters of Get Smart Schools, an organization that trains principals for charter and innovation schools. Afterward, Bush made a brief (less than two minutes!) statement to the media,…
Tense exchanges between Denver Public Schools board candidate Jennifer Draper Carson and a stand-in for incumbent Arturo Jimenez marked a forum last night at the University of Denver, one of the last before the November 1 election. But while those two threw barbs, the debate between the other seven candidates…
The American Civil Liberties Union has jumped in on the debate simmering in Carbondale and Glenwood Springs over whether school resource officers should be allowed to collaborate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement…
This week’s cover story, “Feed Me,” tells the saga of the city’s new overnight parking program — which some users, such as 27-year-old Tyler Wyckoff, say is confusing. Wyckoff is one of several people who have visited the Denver County Court Parking Magistrate’s Office to dispute a ticket. But overnight…
The Denver Police Department has received a $300,000 federal grant to help combat human trafficking. The money will pay for a few officers to work full-time in conjunction with the FBI on cases in which women and, more rarely, men are forced into prostitution, says Denver vice Lieutenant Aaron Sanchez…
In this week’s cover story, “Feed Me,” I tell my totally true, slightly embarrassing story of getting a late-night parking ticket in LoDo. What started as a joyful night of karaoke glory ended with an angry little yellow envelope, thanks to new city parking rules. And I know I’m not…
The months of May, June, July and August were lucrative for the city, thanks to new (and, some say, confusing) rules allowing overnight parking at nearly 3,000 parking meters downtown. Within the area on the map below, the city generated $1,064,000 from tickets issued between the hours of 10 p.m…
School discipline, once considered too lax, has now swung too far in the opposite direction, say several state lawmakers and child advocates. As such, Colorado is one of a growing number of places rethinking harsh, “zero-tolerance” policies that lead to students being jailed for writing on bathroom stalls with marker…
As explained in the Westword story “Tough Subject,” the recent resignation of brand-new West High School principal Santiago Grado was sudden. To help parents make sense of the change, West High held a meeting on September 29 at 4 p.m. However, only one person showed up. Now, a West grandmother…
I was killing at karaoke. That is, I was killing everyone at Star Bar softly with Vanilla Ice’s 1990 mega-hit “Ice Ice Baby.” I’d memorized the lyrics when I was eight, even though I had no idea what “flow like a harpoon, daily and nightly” meant. Truth be told, my…
Santiago Grado resigned last month as principal of Denver’s West High School after only a month and a half on the job. School officials say he chose to do so after issues with his academic leadership were raised. But Grado tells Westword that it was a difference in leadership philosophies,…
Recently, West High School’s brand-new principal, Santiago Grado, abruptly resigned. The reason, according to Denver Public Schools officials? He wasn’t a strong academic leader. But the man who replaced him, assistant principal Domonic Martinez, has had some leadership problems, too, as explained in the story “Tough Subject.”…
The media isn’t always interested in good news, says Tom Boasberg, Denver Public Schools’ superintendent. “Generally speaking, stories that are more sensational or, in some cases, more negative will tend to attract more media coverage,” he says. To offer a different view, Boasberg began a weekly e-mail newsletter called “myDPS”…
This morning, school reform organization A+ Denver released the results of a survey of the nine candidates for Denver Public School Board. The survey asked them to rank 28 statements, such as “DPS needs radical reform,” on a scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree. Seven candidates complied…
West High School has seen its fair share of principal turnover. And now, another change is afoot: Santiago Grado, West’s brand-new principal, has announced he’s resigning effective October 31. Domonic Martinez, one of West’s assistant principals, will take over for the remainder of the year. Also read: North High credit…
An investigation into allegations of cheating within the credit recovery program at North High School found that while the program’s online classes were “challenging,” staff members did not sufficiently monitor the students enrolled. “It is discouraging when adult decisions jeopardize opportunities for students,” the report says…
After concerns about North High School’s credit recovery program were raised in the Westword cover story “Passing on Education,” Denver Public Schools asked the Colorado Department of Education to investigate allegations that students were allowed to cheat on online courses. The results of that investigation are now in — and…
Next month, Alicia Vargo, the proprietress of Pampered Passions Fine Lingerie in Englewood, will open a new outpost of her much-lauded house of bras and panties with an unlikely address and a noble cause. The boutique, to be called Pampered Passions Care Wear, will cater to the needs of women…
City Year, an AmeriCorps program that focuses on mentoring at-risk students at high-needs schools across the country, has come to Denver. Fifty young adults ages 17 to 24 are now serving as tutors and mentors in five Denver public schools…
An anonymous donor has given $1 million to Metropolitan State College of Denver to launch a water education program with the best name ever: the OWOW Center, which is short for the One World, One Water Center for Urban Water Education and Stewardship. Starting in fall 2012, Metro will offer…
For the second time since announcing its new membership-fee structure, Denver Parks and Recreation has delayed the implementation. Most recently scheduled to debut October 1, the mostly more expensive fees are now slated to roll out January 1, 2012. Why? The department reports that its new computer system isn’t ready…
