Experts are hopeful a new state law will lead more facility schools to open. Meanwhile, school districts are creating their own programs, and creative and skilled educators are finding ways to meet students’ needs in traditional classrooms.
special education
Posted inEducation
Colorado is pouring more money into schools for kids with special needs. But are those schools working?
The special schools have no central oversight and instead are the responsibility of multiple state agencies. A new law aims to increase accountability.
Posted inEducation
Students in rural Colorado are left without options as specialized facility schools close
A new state law aims to keep the doors open at schools that accept students with intensive needs. One preteen in rural Colorado shows how the current system leaves some students bouncing between institutions far from home.
Posted inEducation
The schools that take Colorado’s “most vulnerable” students are disappearing. Should they be saved?
Colorado is racing to save the schools that serve children whose home districts can’t or won’t meet their intense needs
Posted inEducation
Denver failed to provide speech therapy to more than 1,000 young students, state decision says
State hearing officer found 28 Denver elementary schools were not staffed with speech language pathologists sometime between January 2022 and now. Some schools went without for as long as a semester.
Posted inEducation
Background check of Denver schools’ special ed director did not reveal prior allegations of inappropriate behavior
Denver Public Schools officials said their vetting process doesn’t involve internet searches and they only learned about Michael Winston’s past because a parent threatened to tell the media
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: With new law in place, charter schools are poised to close their special-education gap
Charter schools may feel like a relatively recent phenomenon, but next year, Colorado will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first charter school in our state. When it authorized charter schools in 1993, the Colorado General Assembly allowed parents, teachers and community members “to take responsible risks and create new, innovative, more flexible ways of […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, COVID, News, Politics and Government, Technology, Transportation
30 years after passage of Americans with Disabilities Act, key inequities remain in Colorado
During high school and early in college, the record of Naomi Morrow’s schools or employers doing much of anything to accommodate her impaired vision was spotty at best. Morrow, now 42, worked in a hospital laundry running the washing machines, and managers let her put colored Braille bump dots on various controls. Her parents mainstreamed […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News
As Colorado kids with disabilities study remotely, some are lacking critical support services
With all four of her children home, Deronn Turner’s house is filled with writing assignments, art projects, books, flashcards and learning devices. Her children are what she calls “creative crazies.” Two are enrolled at Denver School of the Arts and the oldest is a student at the Maryland Institute College of Art. “My work is […]