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McKenna: Of our race-obsessed schools and special populations
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Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

McKenna: Of our race-obsessed schools and special populations

By Stephen McKenna | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The Cherry Creek School Board meeting in April featured a strategic plan update on special populations by Dr. Tony Poole. Those not steeped in the priorities of the school board and Superintendent Chris Smith might think it wise to fixate on “disproportionality” as Dr. Poole does; but that fixation does not seem to be improving proficiency in reading or math, where half the district’s students do not test at grade level. Or much else. Dr. Poole and his team of seven special populations directors (each paid between $100,000 to $155,000 a year, while teachers make between $58,710 and $119,532) track disproportionality across the district’s special education (SPED) and gifted and talented (GT) programs. Disproportionalities are...
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Following backlash, Douglas Co. school board delays discussion, action on trans student policy
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Douglas County News-Press, Local

Following backlash, Douglas Co. school board delays discussion, action on trans student policy

By McKenna Harford | Douglas County News Following backlash from a group of parents, elected officials and others opposed to updating discrimination policies to include transgender students, the board for the Douglas County School District has indefinitely delayed a vote on the matter.  Proposed changes to the policies would have explicitly prohibited discrimination and harassment against transgender and nonbinary students, mirroring new language in the federal Title IX law as well as a 2023 Colorado law.  Board president Christy Williams said the board received over 100 emails about the proposed changes prior to a meeting on Tuesday night and that she wanted to delay action on the matter to give the board more time to get information about the impacts of ...
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El Paso County schools receive BEST grant funding for renovations
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Colorado Springs Gazette, Local

El Paso County schools receive BEST grant funding for renovations

By Eric Young | The Gazette Three school districts across El Paso County are among this year’s recipients of the Colorado Department of Education’s annual Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) Grant funding. Widefield School District 3, Hanover School District 28 and Peyton School District 23-JT are among this year’s 19 recipients of approximately $183 million to replace aging infrastructure and, in some cases, entire schools. Since 2008, BEST has awarded about $3.7 billion in grants for the construction of schools as well as general construction and renovation of existing school facility systems and structures. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE
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Report finds more Colorado 4th-graders struggle with reading, 8th-graders with math than those who don’t
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State, The Center Square

Report finds more Colorado 4th-graders struggle with reading, 8th-graders with math than those who don’t

By Joe Mueller | The Center Square Colorado’s fourth-grade students are struggling to read and its eighth graders are having trouble with math, according to this year’s KIDS COUNT Data Book published by The Annie E. Casey Foundation. The report stated 62% of fourth graders weren't proficient in reading in 2022. In 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic, 60% of fourth graders weren’t proficient. Nationally, 68% of all fourth graders aren’t proficient in reading, compared to 66% in 2019. Eighth graders not proficient in math increased to 72% in 2022, an increase in nine percentage points since 2019. The national percentage for the category is 74%, an increase of seven percentage points since 2019. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE CENTER SQUARE
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School district turns to AI to solve bus driver shortage, add convenience
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CBS Colorado, El Paso County

School district turns to AI to solve bus driver shortage, add convenience

By Meg Oliver, Analisa Novak | CBS News Colorado The nationwide shortage of school bus drivers has left many students without reliable transportation. In 2023, the number of bus drivers nationwide in K-12 schools dropped to about 192,400, down 15.1% since 2019, according to research by the Economic Policy Institute. Despite offering training and higher salaries, districts like Colorado Springs School District 11 couldn't find enough candidates.  At the beginning of the school year, District 11 had a budget for about 110 bus drivers, but only managed to hire around 60. To address the shortage, the school district partnered with RouteWise AI. The rideshare company HopSkipDrive developed the AI technology being tested. READ THE FULL STORY AT CBS COLORADO
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Why don’t U.S. medical schools produce more medical doctors?
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Heritage Foundation, National

Why don’t U.S. medical schools produce more medical doctors?

By Jay Greene, PhD | Heritage Foundation What would happen if the U.S. military needed 1 million people in the Armed Forces but decided to cap domestic enlistment at 750,000 U.S. citizens and to recruit the rest abroad? Or what would happen if U.S. policy was designed to import 25 percent of its lawyers or teachers from elsewhere in the world, not because this country lacks people who are interested in and capable of pursuing those professions, but simply because the U.S. would rather hire foreigners for those jobs? That would be absurd—and it happens to be exactly how the system for training and hiring doctors in America operates today. To become a board-certified and licensed doctor in the United States, one must complete medical school and then be placed in a residency program for...
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Denver teachers bear the brunt of layoffs amid declining enrollment
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denvergazette.com, Local

Denver teachers bear the brunt of layoffs amid declining enrollment

By Nicole C. Brambila | Denver Gazette Faced with declining enrollment and tight campus budgets, school leaders across Denver Public Schools have laid off more than 900 teachers since 2022, The Denver Gazette has learned. Over the same period, school leaders cut just 16 assistant principals, district data obtained under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) shows. Although teachers account for roughly 40% of district employees, they comprise — on average — 65% of the annual staff reductions. This suggests teachers are bearing the brunt of district layoffs. And parents have cried foul. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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Voters might get chance to tell schools to notify parents of signs their kid is transgender
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State, Westword

Voters might get chance to tell schools to notify parents of signs their kid is transgender

By Hannah Metzger | Westword Days after a new state law began allowing Colorado students to choose their names at school, an effort to require parental notification for such behavior started petitioning for the November ballot. Initiative 142 would require that public school staff inform parents if they obtain any information that a student is experiencing "gender incongruence," defined as a difference between the student's biological sex and gender identity. If a child uses a different name or pronouns at school — or even if an employee overhears students talking about their gender identity — their parents would have to be notified. Advocates of the proposed initiative say they started printing petitions last week. They must collect 124,238 signatures by August 5 t...
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Brauchler: How best to protect our children in school
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Commentary, gazette.com

Brauchler: How best to protect our children in school

By George Brauchler | Gazette In a more perfect world, we would not know the name Kendrick Castillo. In a more perfect world, the only son of John and Maria Castillo would be starting a career in robotics after graduating college, driving his jeep all over, attending church with his parents, maybe spending time with someone he met and was sweet on, and generally living the promising life of a man in his early 20s. But our world is less perfect. May 7, 2019 — five years ago almost to the day — in Ms. Harper’s British Lit class just after lunch, two disgruntled students armed with four, fully loaded firearms, entered Classroom 107 of STEM Academy with a plan to murder 28 people. That evil plan failed solely because there were heroes in 107. With the yelled words “nobody f%$#&in...
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450-student Catholic high school to be constructed on 44.1-acre parcel in Johnstown
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BizWest, Local

450-student Catholic high school to be constructed on 44.1-acre parcel in Johnstown

By BizWest Staff  The Archdiocese of Denver has purchased a 44.1-acre parcel of land in Johnstown and plans to construct a 450-student Catholic high school along with a chapel, athletic field and gymnasium. Scottsdale, Arizona-based real-estate investor, developer and manager Caliber Cos. (Nasdaq: CWD) announced the $7.7 million sale Tuesday. The property at U.S. Highway 34 and Colorado Boulevard was part of an approximately 190-acre parcel purchased in June 2021 by a Caliber-sponsored single-asset syndication, Encore FundCo LLC, for $7.67 million. Since that time, pre-development work has been conducted on the land. Construction on the remaining portion of the larger parcel is expected to begin by the middle of this year and include multifamily, retail and industrial develop...
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