Posted in Board of Education on Apr. 20, 2010
Just wanted to offer some quick highlights, at least from my perspective, of our Board work session last night.
Principals’ Evaluation: The district decided to ask teachers what they thought about the effectiveness of their principals via an online, anonymous survey. The survey results are here, and the presentation to the Board is here. The initial [...]
Posted in Board of Education on Mar. 26, 2010
It’s high time that I give my own explanation of the recent financial forensics that my Board minority colleagues (Kaplan and Jimenez) and I have recently been working on.
Let me say that we don’t believe that there was anything nefarious going on, and we actually support the original intent of having gotten involved with these [...]
Posted in Board of Education on Feb. 22, 2010
Instruction in Title I schools isn’t going to magically improve because we decide not to directly-place teachers in them. If we ensure that all DPS teachers are good ones, then what’s the worry?
Posted in Board of Education, Middle Schools on Feb. 15, 2010
Not all charter schools are the same, and while I support great ones, I don’t support high-stakes testing environments. This environment does not serve all kids.
Posted in Board of Education on Jan. 06, 2010
Instead of capitalizing on the good press of a grant proposal to fund a more robust teacher evaluation system, DPS insists on closing the briefing to the public.
Posted in Board of Education on Jan. 05, 2010
I want to state my opinion about the recent Denver Post article, DPS execs got $344K in bonuses.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m having a lot of trouble justifying these bonuses in a district with a 48% graduation rate, with the impending likelihood that more than $30 million in cuts will need to be made [...]
Posted in Board of Education on Dec. 05, 2009
Today I sat in on a very informative session led by Dr. Phil Boyle, entitled “Governing from Good to Great!” It was a discussion about crafting policy solutions in a truly collaborative board atmosphere, and I think I have some great ideas to take back to the group. I’m very glad that I already entered [...]
Posted in Board of Education on Dec. 05, 2009
I’d like to post a few comments about the legalities of last Monday evening.
State law requires the school board to be sworn in no later than 10 days after election certification. My election was certified on November 19 at 3 p.m. (2:58 p.m., to be precise), and the countdown started on November 20 at 3 [...]
Posted in Board of Education on Dec. 04, 2009
Just thought I’d give a recap of my day in Colorado Springs at the Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB) conference at the Broadmoor. Board members Mary Seawell, Bruce Hoyt and I are attending this conference.
First, I want to thank the Colorado taxpayers for making this conference possible. There is a wealth of information at [...]
Posted in Board of Education on Dec. 02, 2009
Let’s set the record straight about the whole marriage-counselor-at-the-Broadmoor thing, once and for all.
First, the Denver Board of Education always attends the Colorado Association of School Boards conference, and it’s always at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs.
Second, it’s always the smart thing, whenever a new working group begins to embark on their tasks, to [...]
Andrea Merida for DPS School Board | Excellence for ALL Southwest Denver Kids | Copyright 2010, All Rights Reserved.
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