Michael Roberts profiled John Scherer, the self-proclaimed Video Professor whose computer-education company was one of Colorado’s most unlikely success stories, four years ago — but in the time since, the prof has been racking up some failing grades, and plenty of complaints from critics. The most recent black mark came…
Colorado sure is serious about “educator effectiveness,” which is school-reform-speak for firing teachers whose students aren’t learning — a strategy endorsed by President Obama and central to his federal Race to the Top grant competition. To that end, the Colorado Department of Education has announced that two nonprofits plan to…
After not succeeding the first time, Colorado is try-trying again to win Race to the Top. The state submitted its application today for round two of the federal education-reform grant contest, in which it stands to win up to $175 million. Colorado came in fourteenth out of sixteen finalists in…
Last night, the school board for the cash-strapped Douglas County School District approved a plan that will charge kids for riding the school bus. The price is fifty cents each way, to take effect at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year — and while the fees are unusual at…
University of Colorado sociologist Tim Wadsworth says it was “complete and utter happenstance” that his study about immigration was released just as debate over the issue is at its most contentious. “It was accepted for publication [by Social Science Quarterly] last October and was put in the lineup. I don’t…
On the final day of the Colorado legislative session, the teacher’s union behind much of the uproar about a controversial bill to expand regulation of the state’s K-12 teachers is praying the Senate okays a package of House amendments aimed at lessening the blow to poorly rated teachers. Deborah Fallin,…
I’ve found some of my most cherished possessions by dumpster diving, including a headless, armless half-mannequin nicknamed Venus de Milo that proudly models robes in the corner of my bedroom. But if I saw Venus’s shapely figure peaking from the top of a dumpster in Boulder this week, taking her…
It certainly seemed like a timely story: Students at Golden’s Fairmont Elementary told Channel 31’s Leland Vittert that they were suspended for displaying Mexican flags on Cinco de Mayo yesterday. But Denver Public Schools spokesman Michael Vaughn says these assertions are simply inaccurate. He’s told by school administrators that the…
Most student film projects never get a screening outside the classroom. But the University of Colorado at Denver’s Digital Animation Center takes a different approach. Instead of sending budding Scorseses out to make two dozen individual and utterly forgettable films, the program puts all the students to work on one…
Back in January, Los Angeles-based Greenway University announced its intention to build the “premier worldwide medical marijuana training facility” in Denver, with CEO and founder Gus Escamilla predicting that the whole she-bang would be up and running in sixty to ninety days. More than three months later, Greenway’s in great…
The Colorado branch of the American Federation of Teachers today endorsed Senator Michael Johnston’s controversial teacher tenure bill (learn more about it by clicking here), which heads to the House Education Committee at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow after getting the green light from the Senate last week. Many teachers, as well…
Boulder High School seniors hold an annual camping trip near the end of the school year — but judging by its take on this week’s edition, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office wishes the tradition would end. This year’s location: Gordon Gulch. The time: Wednesday night, when the weather wasn’t exactly…
Mayor John Hickenlooper may not be into talking about the Arizona immigration law that potential gubernatorial-election opponent Scott McInnis thinks is so nifty — but Tom Boasberg, superintendent of Denver Public Schools, is not nearly so reticent. At 1:45 p.m. today, Boasberg and DPS board members will be front and…
We’ve kept you abreast of developments regarding the University of Wyoming’s attempt to ban controversial professor William Ayers from speaking on campus — an effort that led to a lawsuit filed by Denver attorney David Lane. Yesterday, United States District Court Judge William Downes held a hearing in Casper at…
We’ve selected three blogs about Denver for your reading pressure. Click them. Ian Henson at Bronco Talk opines about Kyle Orton signing his tender offer — which, unlike with Brandon Marshall, probably won’t precipitate a trade. However, Henson expects the Broncos to sign at least one more QB before camp…
The University of Colorado at Boulder’s on-campus gun ban has been junked by the Colorado Court of Appeals. So how to promote gun safety if attendees can begin arming themselves before chem class? Perhaps by adapting DIRC (Dangerous Irresponsible Rider on Campus), a program intended to promote safe biking and…
Update, 1:30 p.m., April 15: This blog, originally published yesterday afternoon, has been updated to reflect the comments of Education Commissioner Dwight Jones. A union that represents 40,000 teachers in Colorado is abandoning efforts to compete for millions of federal dollars available through the Race to the Top program in…
On Tuesday, we told you about attorney David Lane’s threat to sue if the University of Wyoming didn’t reverse its ban of Weather Underground co-founder William Ayers by noon the following day. When asked if he would file paperwork the next day if the university refused to change course by…
When the Denver City Council passed regulations for the medical marijuana industry earlier this year, it established that no dispensary could be within 1,000 feet of a school or daycare center, with the exception of those that had a sales-tax license prior to December 15, 2009. The same distance appears…
Attorney David Lane loves big issues and controversial clients, including former CU professor Ward Churchill, wrongfully convicted Timothy Masters or Balloon Boy dad Richard Heene. And now, he’s taken on another cause that’s right up his alley: an attempt by the University of Wyoming to prevent an on-campus speech by…
The infamous anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church — which is currently making headlines for its claim that God was responsible for a mine explosion this week in West Virginia that killed 25 miners — has plans to protest more than a dozen Denver area schools, churches and businesses this month. The…
Today’s Boulder Daily Camera features a story about a policy at the University of Colorado at Boulder allowing freshman students who are also medical marijuana patients to live off-campus rather than in school dorms. On the surface, this appears to be a liberalizing of policy that reflects an understanding that…
