Carolina Galvan nears the outer edge of her dream each time she steps into her classroom at Valdez Elementary School in Denver. She wants to be a teacher with her own classroom of students, but since she was unable to finish the schooling required to earn a teacher’s license, her role as a paraprofessional sets […]
Cherry Creek School District
Posted inCOVID, Education, Health, News, Politics and Government
Many Colorado students are back in class, but the state’s expanded school COVID testing program won’t start for weeks
Colorado’s new school COVID-19 testing program isn’t yet up and running as hundreds of thousands of students — many of them unvaccinated — return to class amid a surge in cases and hospitalizations caused by the delta variant. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is running weeks behind schedule when it comes to […]
Posted inCOVID, Education, News
Colorado districts prepare for CMAS testing amid uncertainty about federal waiver
Reluctant Colorado school districts are preparing to administer standardized tests amid uncertainty about whether the state can get any relief from federal testing requirements. Last Monday, federal education officials directed states to proceed with the administration of standardized tests, known here as the Colorado Measures of Academic Success or CMAS, because the tests will help […]
Posted inCOVID, Education, Health, News
Some school staff are eligible for coronavirus vaccine in Colorado right now, but not teachers
Teachers cannot yet get the COVID-19 vaccine in Colorado, but some school staff can. School nurses, health technicians who assist them, occupational and physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, campus security guards, and educators who work with children with serious disabilities are among those whose names have been submitted by school districts in the Denver metro area […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News
Drool for school: Colorado schools add saliva testing to slow spread of coronavirus in the classroom
Elementary school students in Cherry Creek School District are getting a bonus lesson this year: While studying reading, math and science, they’re also learning the best way to drool into a test tube. It’s not a typical part of the curriculum, but collecting students’ saliva has become another critical step in keeping schools open safely […]
Posted inCOVID, Education, News
Colorado school districts start announcing plans to return to in-person in January
Following a new push from state officials, several school districts Tuesday announced plans to bring students back to in-person learning in January. District leaders called the plans tentative, and urged their communities to help COVID transmission continue to decrease so that schools can remain open once students return. The plans in Aurora, Adams 14, and […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News
Colorado’s older teachers face a crossroads: Risk coronavirus or retire?
Tara Holst could have retired ahead of this school year, but it would have cost her about $40,000. The elementary school teacher, who works for Douglas County School District, was nearing 30 years of teaching and on the brink of qualifying for retirement under the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association. She could have expedited her […]
Posted inEducation, Politics and Government
Despite costs, complications — and meltdowns — Colorado school districts power through full-day kindergarten
Jennifer and John Jones gave a sales pitch to Jazmyn, their youngest daughter, a few weeks before her world would change. Yes, full-day kindergarten at University Schools in Greeley would be an adjustment. But Jordyn, a second-grader, would be there, too, and she would even have Ms. Nolke, the same teacher Jordyn had. They would […]
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
Colorado’s kindergarten landscape will even out, with benefits flowing to state’s wealthiest, poorest families
A decade ago, when Colorado officials surveyed school districts about then-Gov. Bill Ritter’s big idea to put full-day kindergarten in every school, support wasn’t unanimous. School administrators in Telluride, one of the state’s wealthier resort towns, were dismissive of the full-day kindergarten priority from the governor back then, according to the survey conducted by the […]
Posted inColoradans, Culture, Education, News, Politics and Government, Technology
Protecting kids from porn? Assaulting free speech? Library critics take aim at public databases.
It’s a strange time to be a librarian in Colorado. Long accustomed to having their workplaces written off as musty-smelling anachronisms, a growing number of librarians lately find themselves under scrutiny, or attack. Across the state, and beyond, librarians have been accused of purposely peddling online porn to kids. And at the Colorado Capitol this […]