The Notebook

Photo courtesy of Denver Public Schools

Marko Babiak is only in sixth grade but he’s already making a difference in his community.

Marko, a former student at Steck Elementary who now attends Hamilton Middle School, is a student ambassador for Clothes to Kids. His goal is to place collection bins at 50 Denver schools where people can leave gently used or new clothing for needy Denver students.

Marko was the star of the show Wednesday as the first bin was placed at Steck during a public ceremony.

Since its launch in 2008, Clothes to Kids has provided more than 12,257 wardrobes to Denver students. Currently, the organization serves an average of 300 students per month.

Aurora Public Schools showed off its academic and career pathways program to the city’s mayor and other elected officials and community members Thursday morning.

Student demonstrators in elementary, middle and high schools showed off projects ranging from rocket launching to dentistry. The pathways program is a signature initiative in Aurora aimed at helping align what students learn in the district’s schools with the skills that are needed for success in higher education and the workforce. The model has attracted national attention; U.S. Secretary of State Arne Duncan said he was “inspired” by the program during a visit to the district last year.

Kerrie Dallman, president of the Colorado Education Association, shares the CEA’s new Vision Statement and priorities of focus.

This is an exciting and challenging time to be an educator in Colorado.  The education community is focused on the learning outcomes for students with the implementation of new statewide academic standards and the development of new assessments. We’re concentrating on effective teaching and leading with the statewide rollout of a new educator effectiveness evaluation system in 2013-14. And we’re attentive to the health and fortitude of the education system itself, discussing new ways of properly funding our schools to deliver a quality education to every child. Every educator in Colorado can tell you that all of these initiatives are coming together very quickly.

Jeffco Superintendent Cindy Stevenson, left, and Kerrie Dallman, in her former role as head of Jeffco’s teachers union. EdNews file photo.

In a time of swift and momentous change such as this, the Colorado Education Association is proud to say we have supported education excellence in this state since 1875. Our members have a long, proud history of meeting student needs while adapting to the ever-changing education landscape. It’s a challenge to engage in the moment, to get caught up in the frenzy of that new introduced bill or that trendy reform idea, and still hold true to who we are and why we educate. Our members and the communities we serve need to know we will not lose sight of the basic core beliefs and principles that brought the Association forward through the longer journey and helped us stand the test of time.

This is why the CEA came to the conclusion that a healthy dose of soul searching was in order for this moment. Why do we do what we do, and why does it matter? What do students need as we consider system changes? How can we deliver the best possible education across very diverse student populations?

The product of our reflection is a pragmatic, positive Vision Statement to improve public education so that every student thrives.

Our Vision is a result of nearly a year-long process of thoughtful, inward examination to determine the guiding principles that would drive our public schools forward. We made extraordinary efforts to reach out to hundreds of our teachers and education support professionals from all corners of the state for their input. CEA dug deep into the issues surrounding how children grow and achieve, and how educators should be supported to create great learning opportunities.

We define our priorities in three key areas: student-centered learning, professional excellence and economic investment.

The passions of our educators shine through in the CEA Vision, showing how we can shape the state education system to best improve our practice and make a difference in the lives of our students. Our Vision speaks to what we believe in our hearts will make Colorado the best state in which to live, to work, and to learn.

The committed and caring professionals of the CEA look forward to engaging in conversations in every community. We invite policy makers, education groups, business leaders, parents and communities to see how the daily practitioners of education view the road ahead for Colorado classrooms. We are pleased to share our Vision with you, and will work collectively to provide the best public education for every student.

About the author

Kerrie Dallman is president of the Colorado Education Association, the state’s largest education organization advocating for public schools, students and professional educators. She previously served as president of the Jefferson County Education Association, representing all licensed, non-administrative employees in Jeffco Public Schools, Colorado’s largest school district.

A report released today using data from nearly 1,000 public charter schools across 10 states says that public charter schools are often stuck in spaces that are inferior to those used by traditional public schools.

Published by the Colorado League of Charter Schools and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, the report “Charter School Facilities Initiative: Initial Findings from Ten States” finds that public charter schools in these states face the common challenge of having to spend a considerable portion of their operating budget on school facilities that are of generally lower quality than their district counterparts.

“This report shows that inequitable school facilities are a challenge faced by public charter schools nationwide,” said Jim Griffin, president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools. “States around the nation must act to ensure that public charter school students across the U.S. have access to equitable school buildings without affecting classroom spending.”

According to the report, charter schools in Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee and Texas spend on average 10.2 percent of their operating budgets on school facilities when renting buildings and 9.4 percent of operating budgets when they own their facility.

Additionally, charter schools in these states are often in facilities that are :

• Smaller than traditional public school buildings.
• Not originally constructed to be public schools.
• Lacking specialized instructional spaces, such as science labs, libraries, and art and music rooms.

Charter School Facilities Initiative: Initial Findings from Ten States

COLORADO

• A House panel advanced next year’s school funding bill, but cut a pre-k improvement program sought by the governor. EdNews Colorado
• The House also approved a merit scholarship plan and killed a plan that would have addressed closed school board meetings in Douglas County. EdNews Colorado
• Policies to protect students with food allergies vary widely across school districts. EdNews Colorado
• Adams 12 Five Star Schools could end up paying $93 million in retirement benefits to teachers because of a commitment made in the 1990s. Denver Post
• Boulder’s Vista High School is piloting a program designed to incent students to use re-usable bags and cups. Daily Camera
• Aurora Public Schools found about $5 million in savings this year in its bond project. Denver Post
• Boulder Valley is changing its start times and bell schedules in an effort to save money. Daily Camera
• Two students were suspended after a gun was found at a middle school. 9News

NATION

• A Boston-area teacher is using a technique developed for students with autism called “social stories” to help her second graders process the Marathon bombings. Wall Street Journal
• While Cooper Union is ending its practice of not charging tuition, other schools continue to provide education for free. New York Times 
• Two separate groups protested in Chicago, one to oppose standardized tests and the other to support charter schools. Chicago Sun-Times

OPINION

• Commentary: Literacy Week, in early May, is a reminder of the state’s commitment to improving early reading skills. Coloradoan

 

 

Rise & Shine

Each weekday morning, we search websites of various media, comb through RSS feeds and peruse Google alerts to bring you a roundup of the day’s top education headlines, in Colorado and across the country, by 8 a.m. If you’d like to suggest a story we’ve missed or a source we should add to the list, please email us at ednews@ednewscolorado.org.

The K-12 lobby beat the Hickenlooper administration Wednesday in a committee tussle over funding for preschool quality improvement, one portion of the proposed school funding bill for 2013-14.

The House Education Committee voted 11-2 to send Senate Bill 13-260 to the appropriations committee, but not until after members had rejected an amendment the Hickenlooper administration wanted. The panel also defeated a second amendment that a committee member needed to pay for another bill.

The original version of the bill included an initiative, called the Expanding Quality Incentive Program, which would have created a $5 million grant program in the Department of Education. School districts could have applied for money to seek quality ratings for their preschool programs and also to improve program quality. That program, plus a 3,200-student increase in state-funded preschool slots, are key parts of the bill and were included partly in response to the wishes of the Hickenlooper administration, which has made early childhood education a policy priority.

But the program was stripped on the Senate floor by a coalition of Republican and Democratic senators and the money was diverted into general school support.

Do your homework

• Details of the bill
• CDE district-by-district summary of bill’s impacts
• Legislative staff summary of SB 13-260
• EdNews story about Senate changes to bill

A group of school district and association lobbyists (known around the Capitol as the “K-12 Mafia”) and school district executives pushed for that change. State school funding has been cut by an estimated $1 billion over the last four years through use of a budget-balancing device called the negative factor. The K-12 lobby has been united this year in resisting new programs, arguing that lawmakers should prioritize reducing that shortfall as much as possible.

Bill sponsor Rep. Millie Hamner, D-Dillon, on Wednesday proposed what she called a “compromise” amendment that would give $3 million to the preschool quality program.

Hamner’s amendment caught many committee members by surprise, and some felt it didn’t meet legislature rules for prior notice of multi-page amendments. Chair Rep. Cherilyn Peniston, D-Westminster, said she let the amendment to go ahead so as to not stifle discussion with a technicality.

The discussion did stretch out for some time, with a couple of Republicans subtly indicating they didn’t appreciate being pressured by the executive branch.

The committee should say, “Sorry, governor, not this year,” commented Rep. Carole Murray, R-Castle Rock.

The committee did just that, with Hamner’s $3 million amendment failing on a 5-8 vote. Two Democrats, Brittany Pettersen of Lakewood and Dave Young of Greeley, joined the six Republicans in voting no.

Lobbyists on both sides now are laying plans and counting votes for an expected floor fight over the issue.

That same coalition combined to defeat an amendment proposed by Rep. John Buckner, D-Aurora. As it came from the Senate, the bill included a $20 million boost for special education. He wanted to take $7 million from that amount and use it to fund a measure he’s sponsoring, House Bill 13-1211, which seeks to improve programs for English language learners. That measure has passed the Senate and is pending in the House, but it doesn’t have a firm funding source. Defeat of the amendment could well doom the bill.

Key elements of SB 13-260

Colorado schools are funded every year through a two-part process. Basic funding is included in the annual state budget bill, while additional fund ing and special programs are included in the school finance act.

Here are the major features of this year’s bill:

• Total program funding, the combination of state and local funding that pays for basic school operations, would rise to $5.5 billion, increase of about $210 million.

• Average per pupil funding would rise from the current $6,479 to $6,652, a 2.7 percent increase.

• Total program funding still would be 15.5 percent less that what it would have been without application of the negative factor.

• Funding would be provided to increase enrollment in the Colorado Preschool Program by 3,200 slots. Districts could use the money for full-day kindergarten.

• The facilities cost reimbursement fund for charter schools would rise to $7 million from $6 million.

• $16 million is included for implementation of the READ Act, the 2012 law intended to improve literacy skills among K-3 students.

• $200,000 is provided for the Great Teachers and Leaders Fund, which supports the State Council on Educator Effectiveness.

• Funding for special education is increased by $20 million.

• Additional funding of $2.5 million is provided for facilities schools, which serve students in juvenile detention and treatment.

• Some $1.3 million is provided for stipends to teachers who hold national board certification.

• A $3 million program to recruit high-quality rural teachers would be created, to be run by an outside consultant.

The bill also requires that half of any state surplus at the end of 2013-14 budget year be transferred to the State Education Fund, a special account used to supplement state K-12 funding. That amount is estimated to be about $137 million. Before that infusion of cash, the SEF is estimated to have between $615 million and $775 million left in it at the end of 2013-14.

The House Education Committee Wednesday gave 12-0 approval to a bill that’s intended to create a way for state colleges to raise cash from out-of-staters to pay for merit scholarships for top Colorado students.

Across the hall in the Capitol basement, the House Local Government Committee killed a bill that was sparked by conflict between the Douglas County school board and citizen groups.

The scholarship bill, introduced only on Tuesday, is a “do-over” measure drafted after a proposed $3 million for merit aid was stripped from the main 2013-14 budget bill because of a dispute over whether undocumented students would be eligible for the scholarships.

House Bill 13-1320 doesn’t carry any funding. Rather it would allow state colleges and universities, with certain restrictions, to raise limits on the number of out-of-state students they enroll.

Daily roundup

• Executive sessions bill dies
• Accreditation bill passes

The theory behind the bill is that increasing the number of non-resident students – who on average pay $13,300 more a year than Colorado students at four-year schools – will allow tapping some of those funds to pay for the merit scholarships.

The bill “creates more money because they pay a higher rate,” said sponsor Mark Waller, a Colorado Springs Republican who’s House minority leader. His partner on the bill is House Majority Leader Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, D-Boulder.

“Does anything more need to be said? Two leaders, vote yes,” Waller joked.

State-funded merit scholarships were scrapped a few years ago because of state budget cuts. (The state still provides funding for need-based aid.) Administrators, particularly at the University of Colorado, complain that universities in other states are luring top Colorado students with hefty aid packages. “The recruiting landscape has become extremely competitive,” Kevin McLennen, CU-Boulder admissions director, testified.

The bill is still under construction, primarily because it contains no descriptions or standards for what the merit scholarships would look like. Backers of the bill are in negotiations with the Department of Higher Education about adding some detail to the bill. Next stop for the measure is House Appropriations.

By the way, the merit scholarships would be available to undocumented students.

Learn more about the bill in this legislative staff summary.

Inauspicious day for executive sessions bill

Wednesday was an unlucky day in the local government panel for House Bill 13-1313, a bill that would have changed state open meetings law. The measure was prompted by the concerns of some Dougco citizens that the school board is using executive sessions improperly.

Cindy Barnard, president of Taxpayers for Public Education, said the board last year spent half its time in executive session, much more time than in past years. “I have witnessed on too many occasions the important decisions being made behind closed doors.” Under state law only personnel matters, real estate deals and consultations with lawyers can be held in closed-door meetings.

Susan Meek of the group Strong Schools Coalition also testified for the bill. Brenda Smith, head of the AFT-affiliated Dougco teachers union, attended the hearing but didn’t testify. (The union has its own set of conflicts with the conservative school board.)

As originally drafted, the measure would have required that all executive sessions be recorded; current law requires recording but allows it to turned off when elected officials are in private meetings with lawyers. If citizens had concerns about an executive session, they could ask a judge to review the tape. The bill also would have required that elected bodies keep a log of how much time was spent on different issues discussed in private.

Because the bill would have applied to all elected local government bodies – county commissions, city councils and other groups as well as school boards – it drew opposition from a couple of powerful interest groups, Colorado Counties Inc. and the Colorado Municipal League. The Colorado Association of School Boards also had issues with the bill. There were concerns that the measure would have diluted the principle of attorney-client confidentiality.

Facing those headwinds, sponsor Rep. Cherilyn Peniston, D-Westminster, offered an amendment that stripped the recording provision and retained only the time-keeping requirement.

Some committee members also were concerned about the attorney-client privilege issue, and others wondered why the dispute required a statewide solution.

“It sounds like this is a local issue. We can’t legislate trust for Douglas County,” said Rep. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora and committee chair.

Rep. Chris Holbert, R-Parker, said the two citizen groups “frankly represent a stark minority of voters in our county” and suggested they seek a solution in court, not in the legislature.

A motion to advance the bill failed on a 5-8 vote, with a coalition of Republicans and Democrats voting no. The measure then was postponed indefinitely on a 7-6 vote.

Alternative schools accreditation bill moves on

House Education voted 13-0 to pass Senate Bill 13-217, a seemingly technical measure that could have important implications for school districts working to raise low state accreditation ratings.

The bill would allow the State Board of Education to adjust how the performance of students at alternative education campuses affects district accreditation levels. Such campuses, which have special status under state law, typically serve very high percentages of at-risk students, such as dropouts, teen parents and students under court supervision.

The state sets different rating standards for alternative schools than for other schools. But currently the performance of alternative school students isn’t weighted any differently when rolled into a district’s rating.

Some districts have been concerned that current system inappropriately drags down their accreditation ratings.

For parents of children with food allergies, school can sometimes seem like a minefield, with danger lurking everywhere.

Students at Aurora’s Park Lane Elementary eat lunch.

It’s not just the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that pop out of lunchboxes in the cafeteria. It’s the constant stream of food in the classroom, for snacks, parties, rewards, and even crafts like paper maché planets or peanut butter bird feeders.

Colorado Springs parent Katie Prichard knows the feeling. Her kindergarten daughter is allergic to peanuts, eggs, soy, sesame, green peas and apples, and while Pritchard is very pleased with the precautions in place at her charter school, Rocky Mountain Classical Academy, she said there are always worries. Sometimes about safety and sometimes about her daughter’s inevitable sense of being different.

“At school you should get to be like your friends…to have equal access to your classroom,” she said. “It’s kind of a barrage for a young kid in kindergarten.”

Pritchard, who leads Colorado Springs Mosaic, a group for parents of children with severe food allergies, said despite the challenges, she believes schools are moving in the right direction when it comes to accommodating food allergies.

“I’ve heard so many struggles other parents had before I came along,” she said “I definitely feel like things have improved.”

Kathleen Patrick, assistant director of student health services at the Colorado Department of Education, agreed, saying state laws and policies have enabled several key measures, such as allowing students to self-carry epinephrine auto-injectors, ensuring school districts have allergy policies and educating school staff about allergies.

Today, about 8 percent of children have food allergies, an average of two per classroom.

Patrick said when she was a school nurse years ago, she sometimes heard stories about school staff not taking a student’s food allergy seriously.

Today, she said, “We’re on the right road in terms of the education and getting the information out there…I think food allergy awareness is very high.”

Precautions vary

Nicole Smith, co- founder of the AllergicChild website and mother of a teenage son with food allergies, said the landscape for Colorado students with food allergies can vary depending on their school and district.

“Even within a school district you can have different levels of awareness,” she noted.

Food allergy resources

• Food Allergy Research and Education
• AllergicChild
• Allergy information from National Jewish Health
• Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America

Colorado allergy legislation

• The Colorado School Children’s Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Policy Act
• House Bill 13-1171

Patrick said sometimes the successful dissemination of food allergy information can hinge on how school nurses are deployed in a district. Compared to schools with a full-time nurse, there may be less overall awareness about allergy precautions, not to mention fewer trained staff members to administer epinephrine injections in an emergency, in schools where nurses work part time because they cover multiple buildings.

Another factor in how schools and districts measure up, she said, can be the presence of a parent, nurse or other staff member who serves as a champion for food allergy awareness and preparation.

Despite the differences between schools and districts, state policies and resources have created some uniformities in the last several years. Under a state law Smith helped pass in 2009, school districts are required to have policies to accommodate students with food allergies.

In Academy School District 20, which has a Food Allergy Task Force and is widely considered a leader on food allergy issues, the district’s five-page policy weighs in on food allergy issues large and small, from training staff to choosing field trip chaperones. (It’s recommended that parents of students with food allergies get preference.)

“Academy School District 20 is amazing, just plain and simple,” said Smith, whose son attends high school there. “They have long looked at the safety of every child.”

Often, food allergy measures depend on the number of students with food allergies at a school, the severity of their reactions, what precautions are requested by parents and what is deemed feasible by administrators.

For example, at some schools cafeteria tables are set aside for students with food allergies and there are strict rules about sanitation procedures as well as hand-washing guidelines for students.  This is the case at Ralston Elementary in Golden, where peanut and tree nut products are banned in all classrooms, but are permitted at designated cafeteria tables.

Even when schools have comprehensive plans in place and staff are attentive, allergens sometimes slip through the cracks. Patrick started tracking the number of students who experienced anaphylaxis and needed epinephrine at Colorado schools in the 2011-12 school year.

There were about 30 cases reported that year, and so far this school year, there have been 24. The causes include students sharing food, which is prohibited at most schools, but can be hard to enforce. In one case, a parent brought in cupcakes containing peanut products after signing up to bring something else. In another, a student with a latex allergy touched a balloon while she was helping decorate a friend’s locker.

“You can be as careful as possible and something may still happen,” Patrick said.

House Bill 13-1171

In case something does happen, many in the food allergy community are hoping that a bill currently under consideration in the legislature will lead to additional potential safeguards for children with allergies. Bill 1171, also called the stock epinephrine bill, would allow schools to keep epinephrine auto-injectors on hand for trained staff to use on students experiencing anaphylaxis even if they don’t have their own prescription.

The idea is to allow teachers or other school staff to immediately curb a life-threatening reaction during the crucial minutes before paramedics arrive. In part, the measure would protect students who have undiagnosed allergies that are triggered at school.

“Twenty-five percent of first-time [allergic] reactions occur in the school setting,” said Jennifer Jobrack, director of major gifts and regional advocacy for Food Allergy Research and Education, a national advocacy group.

Christianna Fogler, principal at Rocky Mountain Classical Academy, knows firsthand how that scenario plays out. Last fall, a first-grader at the school’s elementary campus came in from the playground and began experiencing anaphylaxis. The girl had no known allergies but her throat was closing and her breathing was labored, said Fogler, who will testify before the state Senate in favor of Bill 1171 this week.

After school staff called 911, paramedics arrived in just a couple minutes because they happened to be at a building down the street. They treated the girl, who may have reacted to a bug bite, and she recovered.

Fogler, who worries about what would have happened if the paramedics had taken 10 or 15 minutes to arrive, said the bill would empower school staff to do the right thing without worrying about liability or other legal issues. The school already trains all teachers, substitute teachers and lunchroom monitors how to recognize anaphylaxis and administer and EpiPen.

Currently, 17 states have laws covering stock epinephrine in schools, though the language and requirements range widely. Only Nebraska, Virginia and Maryland require schools to stock epinephrine auto-injectors. In most states, as would be the case in Colorado, the practice is voluntary.

Among the objections to the law are the expense of the auto-injectors, which typically cost $180 for a two-pack, and the extensive training needed to ensure school staff besides the nurse know what anaphylaxis looks like and how to use the auto-injectors.

Jobrack noted that Mylan Speciality, the distributor of EpiPens, has a program providing free and discounted EpiPens to schools, and that her organization has training resources available.

Trends toward protection and prevention

As a result of the Americans With Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008, students with severe food allergies are also increasingly getting 504 plans, which provide children with disabilities accommodations to fully participate in school.

Holly Camp, administrator for food service operations for JeffCo Public Schools and a registered dietician, said she helped execute the first food allergy-related 504 plan in 2009. Today, about 50 students in the 85,000-student district have such plans, usually because of allergies or intolerances to gluten, dyes or casein, a protein found in milk.

As part of the plans, the students’ parents, physician and often the school nurse make a list of accommodations, which may range from using extra sanitizer at the student’s lunch spot to allowing them to be first through the cafeteria line to ensure their food is prepared and wrapped first.

Patrick believes the increasing use of 504 plans for food allergies is a good development. In addition to helping individual students who have the plans, it can raise awareness overall, she said.

“What they are doing for one, they will very often understand that it’s important for another student with a recognized food allergy,” she said.

Smith, of AllergicChild, said another encouraging trend she’s noticed is that school wellness initiatives aimed at reducing obesity are being coupled with efforts to reduce allergy risks. Thus, many schools are getting away from using food as rewards or as the focal point of class parties.

For example, a few elementary schools in the Thompson School District in Loveland  adopted regulations this year eliminating edible treats for student birthdays and sometimes communal snacks where every child gets a portion from a large box of crackers or cookies. Wellness coordinator Kathy Schlepp said the changes came because school staff were trying to respond to food allergy concerns and also “the extra calorie piece.”

The district’s wellness plan, which is currently being revised, will also include some version of these restrictions next year.

“It will definitely be trying to cut down on unhealthy classroom snacks or treats,” she said.

COLORADO

•  A final House vote on school finance reform was delayed until later in the week. Denver Post
• Teachers and administrators in Adams 12 began negotiating a contract early, but the process has been contentious. EdNews Colorado
• A panel of educators said the challenge of education is trying to prepare students for jobs that don’t yet exist. Our Colorado News
• A Lafayette charter school was named the state’s top high school by U.S. News and World Report. Daily Camera
• The Roaring Fork school district is considering converting an elementary school to the Expeditionary Learning model. Post Independent

NATION

• Residents of Newtown, Ct., rejected a budget that included extra funding for school security in the wake of last year’s shootings. AP via HuffPo
• An 11-year-old YouTube sensation found fame by tinkering with science and engineering projects. New York Times 

OPINION

• Commentary: Community college programs are a good way to accelerate career potential. Coloradoan

Rise & Shine

Each weekday morning, we search websites of various media, comb through RSS feeds and peruse Google alerts to bring you a roundup of the day’s top education headlines, in Colorado and across the country, by 8 a.m. If you’d like to suggest a story we’ve missed or a source we should add to the list, please email us at ednews@ednewscolorado.org.

The Colorado Legacy Foundation has named five recipients of its 2013 Ignite Innovation Challenge, which provides grants to teachers for innovative approaches to personalized learning.

Winner of a $1,000 award is Evan Wettengal, a second-grade teacher at Godsman Elementary School in Denver. Wettengal won the prize for his work with expanded learning time initiatives.

The two runners-up, Caleb Hicks at Fruita Monument High School and Kristie Letter of Peak to Peak Charter School, each won $750 awards. Five teachers won honorable mentions and $500 awards. Get more details and the full list of winners in this news release.

The Japan America Society of Colorado will host its Sixth Annual Japan Cup trivia bowl-like competition Saturday at the Sturm Hall at the University of Denver. Japan Cup is held in partnership with Colorado Japanese Language Education Association and Center for World Languages and Cultures.

The goal of the JASC Japan Cup is to offer all interested middle schools, high schools and colleges in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Wyoming an opportunity to experience a competition testing Japanese language and cultural knowledge. (Anime, anyone?)

Teams of students from the following high schools and colleges will answer questions on Japanese language and culture:

• Bear Creek High School, Lakewood
• Boulder High School, Boulder
• Casper College, Casper, Wyoming
• Castle View High School, Castle Rock
• Colorado State University, Fort Collins
• Eaglecrest High School, Centennial
• Kelly Walsh High School, Casper
• Laredo Middle School, Aurora
• Smoky Hill High School, Aurora
• University of Northern Colorado, Greeley

After morning preliminary rounds, the final rounds are open to the public.

A hundred Colorado eighth, ninth and tenth graders will meet with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor when she visits Denver May 2 for the dedication of the Ralph L. Carr Judicial Center.

Sotomayor will discuss her life and experiences with the students and take questions from 8 to 10 a.m. that day.

Participants were selected by the Colorado Youth Advisory Council, a legislatively created group that includes four legislators and 40 youth members from around the state. Get more information here about the dedication of the judicial center.

The teachers union and administrators in Adams 12 are back at the bargaining table earlier than some expected, but that doesn’t mean the two sides are seeing eye-to-eye on budget and salary issues.

Adams 12 Five Star teachers protest in the fall of 2012 over salary cuts used to prop up PERA. (Photo credit: Our Colorado News)

The ongoing battle between the two sides — over district budgeting practices, a slew of teacher and program cuts and a move by the district to have teachers pay more into their pension plans than any other Colorado district — is being played out through a fierce public relations battle.

So far, both sides agree that the early start to negotiations is beneficial. The district and union have met once so far for a contract re-opener and have two more meetings on the books May 2 and 9, even though the current contract doesn’t expire until August 2014.

“Both parties are optimistic about the current negotiations process that just started…and the opportunity to collectively address the matters at hand and what’s been put on the table,” district spokesman Joe Ferdani said Tuesday. “It’s just an opportunity to move forward and strengthen the relationship.”

But an early start does not guarantee a smooth start, and the process has already been marked by combativeness. The district sent out a public letter this month asking for the union to hold negotiations in public — something that hasn’t been done before in Adams 12. The union refused.

And the Colorado Education Association, rather than local teachers in Adams 12, seem to be handling more of the communication efforts as the stakes get higher.

“We weren’t sure the district would bargain this year,” said CEA spokeswoman Jeanne Beyer. ”But the request to do open negotiations was a surprise. The district and the DTEA had never discussed it.”

Learn more 

• EdNews story “Tensions boiling over in Adams 12,” Feb. 14, 2013
• CEA’s PowerPoint presentation summing up Adams 12 budget issues
• DTEA flyer dropped on doorsteps
• School board letter calling for open negotiations

Arbitration continues

Meanwhile, both sides are meeting with arbitrator Ben Aisenberg Tuesday in an effort to work out conflicts that erupted between the union and district after a slate of across-the-board, 1.5 percent salary cuts implemented in September. In part, the cuts are to pay for contributions to teacher pensions — contributions that the district used to cover.

The arbitrator’s advisory ruling is expected within a few weeks, and it remains to be seen how each party will react to what Aisenberg says since the findings are not legally binding.

“The board will take under advisement what the arbitrator says,” Ferdani said. “It’s ultimately important to know that that’s non-binding so while the board will consider that, they’re not in a position at this point to know exactly what they’ll do.”

Beyer said if the arbitrator determines that the DTEA (District Twelve Educators’ Association) contract has been violated and if the district fails to heed the arbitrator’s findings, a DTEA lawsuit is likely to follow.

Both sides try to sway the public

As pressure over the contraction negotiations and arbitration rises, both sides are campaigning to sway the public to their side.

Rob Kellogg, the Colorado Education Association’s director of research and public policy, has shared a PowerPoint presentation with community members in which the union lambasts the district for its overly healthy fund reserves and repeats claims made in a KDVR-Fox 31 news program that the district illegally tweaked budget numbers to make salary and program cuts more palatable.

In a letter written to the community in anticipation of the Fox News report, Superintendent Chris Gdowski disputed its contents and said the concerns come from a “disgruntled former employee.”

The union also dropped 20,000 bright orange flyers on doorsteps from the last two weeks of March. The flyer begins:

“Did you know that School District 12 has money in the bank and could invest more in our students’ education? But the District 12 School Board and Administration refuse to do this. Why? Because the School Board and Administration want to stockpile the taxpayers’ money.”

The flyer goes on to claim that the district over-estimates projected expenses to inflate its budget and shelves the resulting savings.

The DTEA also contacted about 2,000 voters via phone bank, Beyer said.

Several weeks after the flyer dropped, the Adams 12 Five Star Schools Board of Education published an open letter asking for open teachers contract negotiations.

The letter notes that the superintendent’s preliminary budget plan calls for $6.4 million to be spent on programs and services “with high priority needs such as additional teachers to manage class size at the elementary level, additional high school counselors, funding for classroom technology and additional busing for middle school students.”

In addition, the letter describes a proposal to spend $4.4 million on employee salary increases but that the specifics of the compensation packages for certified, classified and administrative staff would be determined, in part, through negotiations.

“Having open negotiations is in the best interest of the district, DTEA and the Five Star community,” the letter continues, pointing out that negotiations last year spanned nine months. “That is too long for our community not to have information concerning this process – what issues are on the table, where the parties stand on those issues, and what progress is being made. When the process prevents the sharing of accurate information it leads to rumors and misinformation. We are committed to changing that.”

Both sides expressed a desire to be conciliatory in a highly charged environment, but rhetoric is still flying.

“It’s unfortunate that some have tried to malign and put a stop to this process improvement through the spread of inaccurate information, and with dissemination of misinformation designed to generate an emotional reaction rather than build understanding,” the letter says.

But Beyer called the letter an act of “subterfuge” since school budgets are open and available to the public now.

“We had a conversation… Do we send a letter back to them?” Beyer said. “I don’t think anyone is interested in getting into a big public fight over this.”

COLORADO

• The House gave preliminary approval to the proposal to overhaul the state’s school finance system. EdNews Colorado 
• The final House vote on the bill is expected today. EdNews Colorado
• A bill under consideration in the legislature aims to help schools manage rising number of food allergies. KREX-TV
• A Fort Collins middle school was designated one of the country’s most environmentally friendly. Coloradoan
• Rocky Heights Middle School is the first in Douglas County to offer archery. Our Colorado News
• Some Pueblo Community College students say the school discriminated when it cut short a drag show. 9News

NATION

• President Barack Obama hosted a science fair to encourage students to pursue careers in STEM. New York Times 
• Atlanta is offering students extra help to catch up after the cheating scandal. USA Today
• A new survey suggests the public thinks American students perform worse on international science tests than they actually do. AP via HuffPo
• Texas teachers worry that new tests will unfairly penalize special education students and the schools that educate them. Dallas Morning News

OPINION

•  A survivor of the Columbine shootings, now a teacher, says no child should have to worry about gun violence in school. CNN

 

Rise & Shine

Each weekday morning, we search websites of various media, comb through RSS feeds and peruse Google alerts to bring you a roundup of the day’s top education headlines, in Colorado and across the country, by 8 a.m. If you’d like to suggest a story we’ve missed or a source we should add to the list, please email us at ednews@ednewscolorado.org.

Boulder mom of three and psychologist Suzita Cochran reflects on why public schools seem to favor extroverted students and wonders what can be done to boost the confidence of  classroom introverts. 

Ashley is an 11-year-old who lives in our neighborhood. She’s soft-spoken and curious. Her big brown eyes constantly take in the world around her. A while back I bumped into Ashley’s mother and we got to talking. I asked how Ashley’s transition to middle school had gone this year, since our son Daniel had been through a harder transition than I’d expected.

Ashley’s mom said in elementary school her daughter had always had difficulty speaking up and never liked group projects, but had managed to show her other strengths. Ashley soon discovered, however, that middle school had even more group work and seven teachers to get to know rather than one. She’d been a good student in the past, but at conferences in middle school a number of teachers said they’d like Ashley to be more active in group work and talk more in class.

Ashley said she would try to improve on these areas. Yet her mom had noticed that as the year progressed, Ashley seemed to be enjoying school less even though she had good friends.

Introverts in an extroverted world

Soon after this conversation with Ashley’s mom, I began reading Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain, and met many others like Ashley within its pages. Cain points out that we live in a country that reveres extroverts.  This stance has become more extreme in recent generations. As Ashley has found, and my kids will attest, group work is widespread in today’s public schools.

Cooperative learning favors extroverts who like to think through problems aloud rather than gathering their thoughts prior to offering them, as introverts do.  Yet today’s teachers are told they must prepare students for the working world where teamwork is the norm.

Cain lists additional research showing that working in groups is not always the best context for creativity.  Introverts do their best work alone, at least for a good portion of their working day. Studies have also shown that organizations that don’t allow employees to close the door to distractions are less productive than those which do – for both introverted and extroverted types.

Skills of introverts

Cain also highlights the strengths of introverts. They tend to have fewer interests, but pursue them more deeply over longer periods of time. This goes for friendships as well. Introverts notice their environment more accurately and are sensitive to changes around them, often catching problems in a project more quickly than others. Their sensitivity to people and environments, and lack of focus on wealth and fame, often makes them more effective leaders than extroverts. Introverts enjoy taking in large and varied amounts of information, and excel at synthesizing and strategizing.

When I spoke to Ashley’s mom, she told me that creative writing was Ashley’s favorite class and mentioned that her daughter brought a fairly mature understanding of the happenings around her into her writing. Her writing teacher noticed too.

Like many introverted children, however, Ashley was feeling that school wasn’t a place where she could regularly draw on her strengths.  Instead she often got the message that she needed to learn to be an extrovert. Granted, the skills of extroverts are important in life, but so are those of introverts. If we are teaching introverted kids to be more extroverted, why are we not helping extroverted kids learn the strengths of introverts in school?

Introverts and modern technology

Upon finishing Quiet, I picked up Sherry Turkle’s book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.  Turkle, an anthropologist and psychologist, has studied the effects of technology on today’s young people and our culture in general. She worries that teens who are constantly online or texting, are not “cultivating the ability to be alone and reflect on one’s emotions in private.” Young people who consistently look outward to their social networks, aren’t learning the skill that comes naturally to many introverts like Ashley, self-reflection.

Having interviewed numerous teens and adults throughout America about the role of technology in their lives, Turkle concludes:

A stream of messages makes it impossible to find moments of solitude, time when other people are showing us neither dependency nor affection.  In solitude we don’t reject the world but have the space to think our own thoughts.  But if your phone is always with you, seeking solitude can look suspiciously like hiding [to those contacting you].

I haven’t quite finished reading Alone Together, but after reading three-fourths of it, it occurred to me that perhaps Cain’s introverts have an extra layer of protection against the allures of modern technology – their natural comfort with solitude. And they have another leg up due to their tendency toward introspection.

I’ve always thought of myself as more of an extrovert, and two out of three of my kids are definitely extroverts. Yet reading Quiet reminded me that each of us has a unique mix of introverted and extroverted traits. Quiet helped me appreciate my introverted qualities, those of my neighbor Ashley, and my older son Stephen. The book even encouraged me to further develop some introversion characteristics that I don’t have in excess.

I think I’ll make a cup of tea, sit down in a quiet spot, and finish reading Alone Together.

How do your introverted kids handle school?  Please share your thoughts.

The proposed rewrite of Colorado’s school funding system won preliminary House approval Monday, with approval of two amendments intended to assuage the concerns of key interest groups.

Sen. Millie Hamner, D-Dillon

“There is nothing more important to Colorado than a well-educated population,” said prime sponsor Rep. Millie Hamner, D-Dillon. “Senate Bill 13-213 is a very significant piece of education legislation. … Our current school finance act is not working. It’s outdated.”

Republican opponents of the bill had a different view.

“The issue is the current school finance system hasn’t been adequately funded, and yet we say it doesn’t work,” argued Rep. Jim Wilson of Salida, a former school superintendent.

Rep Carole Murray, R-Castle Rock, said, “What we see in this bill is more of the status quo.”

The 3 1/2-hour debate was dominated by enthusiastic but doomed attempts by minority Republicans to amend the bill. Proposed changes included extending the school year, providing more money for charter schools, raising pay for teachers of at-risk students and even adding the contents of a dead parent trigger bill onto SB 13-213.

Of more importance were two Democratic amendments that passed. One would increase funding for at-risk students in some districts where fewer than half of the enrollment is at-risk. The other changes the bill’s provisions relating to principal autonomy in spending some at-risk funding. Those changes had been pushed by some large suburban districts and by the Colorado Association of School Boards.

Debate recap

• Review the debate in EdNews Tweets

Do your homework

• Latest summary of bill
• Details of House committee action on the bill

Major elements of the bill would fully fund preschool for at-risk students and full-day kindergarten for all students, provide a substantial increase in financial support for at-risk students and English language learners, give districts more flexibility to raise revenue locally and give principals more autonomy in spending some at-risk and ELL funding from the state.

The bill also would change how enrollment is counted, require more detailed financial reporting by schools and districts and mandate periodic studies of school funding and the effectiveness of the new funding system. The new system would roll out in 2015-16.

The brainchild of Sen. Mike Johnston, D-Denver, SB 13-213 grew out of nearly two years of study and consultation by a coalition of education and civic groups known as the Colorado School Finance Partnership.

But all those discussions didn’t mean the bill has had a smooth path through the legislature. Some suburban districts were unhappy that they’d receive smaller per-student increases than high-poverty districts like Denver and Aurora. Many charter schools were unhappy with their proposed funding while districts had different concerns about charter provisions. There also was pressure to expand to expand the possible uses of a $100 million innovation fund, which originally was restricted to lengthening of the school year for districts that want to do that.

The bill awaits a final House roll-call vote, and then the House and Senate will have to agree on amendments. That isn’t expected to be a major problem, given that the successful House amendments were carefully monitored and negotiated by Johnston and his staff.

So although the bill now looks likely to pass, the final say will be with the voters. The bill has a price tag of about $1 billion, and funding it requires approval of an income tax increase by voters. Two sets of possible tax-increase ballot measures are pending, and proponents are expected to decide in a few weeks which one to propose to voters.

Amendment after amendment

Rep. Kevin Priola, R-Henderson, proposed many of the unsuccessful GOP amendments on the school finance bill.

Here’s more detail on the key Democratic amendments passed Monday:

• The bill includes a “concentration” factor that tends to reward districts with very high percentages of at-risk students and English language learners, such as Denver and Aurora. That prompted districts with lower concentrations but significant numbers, such as Jefferson County, to complain. An amendment passed Monday increases per-pupil at-risk funding for 15 districts, including Jefferson County, St. Vrain, Mesa 51, Thompson, Brighton and Pueblo 70. Most districts would realize $274 more per at-risk student.

• The bill originally proposed that principals be given the freedom to decide how to spend state funding for at-risk and ELL students. The Colorado Association of School Boards was adamantly opposed to that, arguing it violated constitutional guarantees of local control. Business groups liked the provision because they like “backpack” funding. The amendment approved Monday gives school board review power over principals’ spending plans.

• The bill’s approach to charter school funding has been a hotly contested issue. An amendment adopted Monday creates a formula for distribution of extra funding to charters to compensate for facilities costs, something that some charters currently havo cover from per-pupil instructional revenues.

Republican amendments covered the waterfront, and proposed, among other things:

• Appending an A-F school and district grading system and a parent trigger provision to the bill. (Both were contained in House Bill 13-1172, killed earlier in the session.
• Adding 10 more days to the school year.
• Increased funding for charter schools.
• Bonus pay for teachers who work with at-risk students.
• Changing the bill’s definition of at-risk and diluting the at-risk and ELL concentration factors.
• A ban on extracurricular and transportation fees.

One Republican amendment, proposed by Murray, R-Castle Rock, was approved. It would provide $1 million for principal training in budgeting, part of the backpack funding issue.

Republicans proposed more than 20 amendments (not counting Murray’s and two that were withdrawn), compared to 18 proposed by Hamner and her Democratic allies. GOP members also tried “do overs” on eight amendments, as is allowed at the end of preliminary consideration.

Late in the debate, after the initial round of amending was done, Rep. Cheri Gerou, R-Evergreen, came to the microphone to tease Democrats about the complicated algebraic equation – with square roots – that’s included in the bill, in the section covering how state and local shares of school funding are to be calculated.

“Nobody can explain this funding formula,” Gerou complained. “You don’t understand your funding formula.”

Democrats were a little shaky on that issue. Hamner said, “The only people who will understand the formula are our district chief financial officers.”

One school district lobbyist, watching the proceedings from the House gallery, quipped that maybe even the CFOs don’t grasp everything about SB 13-213.

[View the story "House floor debate on SB 13-213" on Storify]

Kinard Core Knowledge Middle School in Fort Collins today became one of 64 schools nationally and the only one in Colorado to receive the U.S. Department of Education’s prestigious Green Ribbon Award, honored for “exemplary efforts to reduce environmental impact and utility costs, promote better health, and ensure effective environmental education, including civics and green career pathways.”

In addition, Douglas County School District is among 14 districts honored for the first-ever District Sustainability Award.

“Today’s honorees are modeling a comprehensive approach to being green,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “They are demonstrating ways schools can simultaneously cut costs; improve health, performance and equity; and provide an education geared toward the jobs of the future. In fact, the selected districts are saving millions of dollars as a result of their greening efforts. And the great thing is that the resources these honorees are using are available for free to all schools.”

Built in 2005, Kinard Core Knowledge Middle School features geothermal heating and cooling, wind powered electricity and open-space daylight features. Kinard is also the only school in Colorado that scores a perfect 100 based on Energy Star rating standards.

Meanwhile, the feds credited Douglas County School District for building a sustainability initiative based on student-led programs. Efforts support the three “legs” of sustainability — social, environmental and economic. The program has grown from 11 students in one class to more than 3,000 students running the energy program across more than 60 schools. Electrical use has dropped over 20 percent and recycling and gardening are growing throughout the district, according to the CDE.

The schools were confirmed from a pool of candidates voluntarily nominated by 32 state education agencies. The list of selectees includes 54 public schools and 10 private schools. The public schools include seven charter, five magnet and four career and technical schools. The schools serve various grade levels, including 40 elementary, 23 middle and 19 high schools are among them, with several schools having various K-12 configurations, from 29 states and the District of Columbia.

Over half of the 2013 honorees serve a student body more than 40 percent of which is eligible for free and reduced price lunch. The list of all selected schools and districts, as well as their nomination packages, can be found here. A report with highlights on the 78 honorees can be found here.

COLORADO

• The Denver chapter of Stand for Children has turned over its leadership and is focusing on its grassroots ground game. EdNews Colorado
• A new bill that would require new school buildings to be energy efficient was introduced as other education measures advanced through the last-minute legislative crush. EdNews Colorado
• School districts around Boulder are trying to remove barriers to participating in sports for students with disabilities. Daily Camera
• In Boulder Valley, high school students’ access to computer programming classes varies by school. Daily Camera
• Four teams of students from Colorado Springs will compete in a national competition on improving national security. Colorado Springs Gazette
• Though they aren’t planning on unifying, school board members from three school districts will meet to share ideas. Mohave Daily News
• Denver students took part in a program to teach them financial literacy. 9News
• Colorado high school seniors, like those around the country, are sending out more college applications. Colorado Springs Gazette

NATION

• Boston schools reopen today for the first time since last week’s bombings. Boston Globe
• Foreign language instruction is booming in Utah, driven by its immigrant communities and large numbers of returned Mormon missionaries. New York Times
• Florida’s governor plans to sign a sweeping education bill that allows students to graduate even if they don’t pass tough math and science classes. Miami Herald
• An arts program for young black boys in Washington, D.C., teaches them to create art inspired by their lives. NPR
• The United Nations is driving an effort to get 61 million children around the world currently out of school enrolled in primary education. New York Times

OPINION

• Editorial: The only real solution to the problem of students graduating unprepared for college is to improve the quality of K-12 education. Denver Post
• Commentary: The state’s draft guidelines for graduation requirements should alarm districts who are currently graduating students who wouldn’t meet the new bar. Denver Post
• Commentary: A professor asks employers how important writing skills are in their fields. Denver Post
• Commentary: Battles over the proper role of standardized testing have been happening in the United States since at least the 19th century. New York Times

 

Rise & Shine

Each weekday morning, we search websites of various media, comb through RSS feeds and peruse Google alerts to bring you a roundup of the day’s top education headlines, in Colorado and across the country, by 8 a.m. If you’d like to suggest a story we’ve missed or a source we should add to the list, please email us at ednews@ednewscolorado.org.

Changes are afoot for the school reform group Stand for Children in Colorado, and that means even more money, door-knocking, charges and counter charges leading up to the Denver school board election in November.

Photo from the Stand for Children website.

Sonja Semion, 35, who has served as the organization’s interim executive director for the past five months, this week becomes the Colorado chapter’s new executive director. Along with helping keep Stand’s coffers full, she is overseeing Mateos Alvarez, 37, the newly hired metro director who will be the public face of Stand for Children in Denver.

“I think we’re really, really poised to start to do some really great things – getting folks engaged who have never been engaged in electing reform-minded candidates,” Semion said this week. “Our goal is to really make sure Denver continues in the path of reform. I would love to see a strong board majority as a result of the elections in the fall.”

While critics accuse Stand of being an out-of-state, teachers union-busting special interest group, the personnel changes at Stand suggest that the organization is taking a more grassroots approach.

For starters, Alvarez himself is a union guy, having most recently worked as an organizer, political director, and president of SEIU Local 105, a union representing 6,000 janitors and healthcare workers. His goal is to boost Stand’s member numbers by engaging parents on their turf — in predominantly Latino neighborhoods very much like the one he grew up in — around school issues they care about.

To achieve that goal,  the 500-member Colorado chapter of Stand plans to elicit input from communities on matters pertaining to their children’s education and boost efforts to engage parents in campaigning.

Without revealing names of potential candidates Stand could endorse, Semion said the organization is busy working on its campaign plan. Four of the seven board seats on the Denver school board are up for grabs in November, making it possible the board’s dynamic — which tends to follow Superintendent Tom Boasberg’s reform agenda — could shift. Already, national education organizations are eye-balling Denver as a place to watch — if not become more directly involved in the election.

Stand historically has backed candidates that promote more school choice and school and teacher accountability, and Semion said the organization will target candidates that would speed the pace of those reforms. “We’re looking for the right mix of leadership on the [Denver school] board,” Semion said. “Denver’s made some great changes, but we would love to see that happen at a faster pace.”

New faces at Stand in Colorado

The recent appointments bring a sense of stability to an organization that has experienced its share of staff shake-ups since it landed here four years ago. Most recently, Jennifer Draper Carson, who ran unsuccessfully in 2011 for a seat representing northwest Denver on the school board, left her position as Denver metro director for Stand and moved to Michigan.

Sonja Semion

The executive directorship has been empty since former head Paul Lhevine left in October after only 10 months. Semion said both sides determined Lhevine “wasn’t a good fit” with Stand and vice versa. (Lhevine could not be reached for comment.) Before that, Lindsay Neil ran the organization until she was tapped by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock to run the city’s Office of Education and Children.

In its 2011 tax return, Stand for Children claimed credit for helping to “maintain a 4-3 pro-reform majority on the Denver school board by playing a key role in the election of two reform candidates.” The group patted itself on the back for playing a significant role in the candidate recruitment process and reaching 21,000 voters through phone banks and door-to-door canvassing. The group also touted its work to ensure the successful implementation of SB- 191 “by influencing the Colorado State board of Education on the rules for implementing the teacher and principal evaluation system.”

Stand’s outreach in Denver

Aside from people involved in school politics and issues, Stand is actively engaged in recruiting parents in low-income neighborhoods that the organization has identified as lacking access to high-quality schools for all students.

Stand’s current focus is on the Far Northeast and southwest Denver, Mateos Alvarez said. But it’s also focused on things happening in the legislature, such as teacher evaluations and effectiveness, Common Core State Standards and the READ Act.

Read related EdNews stories

• Stand for Children makes its endorsements, Aug. 30, 2012
• Stand favors Dems with contributions, Oct. 31, 2012
• Stand backs endorsements with cash, Oct. 5, 2010
• The controversy over ‘Stand’: A closer look, Oct. 20, 2009

Alvarez, former organizer for the Service Employees International, and, before that, MOP (Metro Organizations for People, now known as Together Colorado), said he plans to let parents determine Stand’s agenda in Denver  – as long as it fits with the national organization’s guiding principles.

“Parents drive our work here,” Alvarez said. “They help us work toward results we want to see.”

In addition, he said he is “working with our organizers to build up our member base and to train them to begin to prepare for what is to come.”

As an example of a typical Stand scene, a group of parents recently showed up in their telltale blue Stand for Children (with the words “Stand with us” on the back) T-shirts at the state Capitol to endorse the school finance act proposed by Sen. Mike Johnston. They told personal stories about how the current funding situation in Colorado was short-changing their kids.

Mateos Alvarez

For Alvarez, the work with Stand is personal. He grew up in Fort Collins in a neighborhood where Spanish was often the main language spoken, and extended families lived in close proximity. His family first came to Colorado as migrant workers.

He said he struggled in elementary school and felt like an outsider. He quickly fell behind.

“I internalized those feelings,” he said. “I felt very sad and frustrated by those experiences. Early on, school wasn’t the funnest place for me.”

However, he found mentors over the years and ultimately graduated from the University of Northern Colorado.

Semion described the hiring Alvarez as a “coup for the organization,” which has seven paid staffers.

“He’s got a strong focus on organizing, and a lot of experience with groups we’re currently working with,” she said.

Members of Denver’s school reform community say there is always a place for Stand — primarily because of its hands-on work in local communities.

“Stand is qualified to … do organizing at the school and neighborhood level, which is a hole the [ed reform] community doesn’t address very well,” said Alexander Ooms, a policy analyst for the Donnell-Kay Foundation and a member of Stand Colorado’s advisory board, which has been dormant the past five months. “There are too many of us policy dorks and not enough people closer to the ground.”

Van Schoales, CEO of A+ Denver, another ed reform group, agreed.

“I think it’s important to have an organization like Stand working with teachers and with parents to organize around improving public education,” Schoales said. “We need the existing groups — they’re doing great work — but there are so many kids and schools and teachers… there’s just enormous amounts of work to be done.”

But not everyone wants Stand in town.

Stand’s critics not swayed by shift in approach

The organization attracted critics right out of the gate in 2009 when two Stand organizers sent letters to DPS principals asking for help identifying parents who might join Stand for Children’s campaigns. Organizers erred by using the name of senior DPS  administrator Brad Jupp — who at the time was on loan to the U.S. Department of Education in Washington working on policies around teacher quality — in trying to arrange meetings with principals without Jupp’s knowledge. The letters raised questions about whether the meetings were sanctioned by the district.

Further suspicions were aroused when it became known that Superintendent Tom Boasberg’s sister served on Stand’s national board, and that Boasberg and Stand’s co-founder and CEO Jonah Edelman grew up together and were childhood friends.

“When Stand for Children came to Denver four years ago, their first paid staffer said their mission was to affect the 2009 Denver school board race, and Tom Boasberg’s sister was on the board of directors,” DPS board member Andrea Merida said.

“Since then they have become a conduit of hedge fund and private equity money from Chicago and New York into Colorado politics. They doubled down on supporting Republicans and an extreme public education agenda in last year’s legislative races, and when they lost, they fired the executive director within days,” she said.

It’s no secret that Stand does get heavily involved in local elections — although not by cutting checks. In the 2011 election, for instance, Stand provided more than $43,000 in non-monetary support in the form of canvassing help and staff support, according to campaign finance reports. Then candidate Anne Rowe received nearly $22,000 in non-monetary contributions, while Draper Carson received about $23,000.

Semion said she doesn’t worry about any hard feelings by candidates who may not be endorsed by Stand. In the realm of politics and endorsements there are “never really permanent friends or permanent enemies.”

“There is always an opportunity to find some kind of middle ground,” Semion said. “It’s not about Stand for Children. It’s about parents standing up.”

A handful of education-related bills moved Friday, small bits of the torrent of legislation being pushed through the House and Senate as lawmakers race toward their May 8 adjournment date.

And one new education measure even got added to the flow, a bill that would require new school buildings to be “designed and constructed to the highest energy efficiency standards practicable.”

The measure, Senate Bill 13-279, is sponsored by Sen. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood. He introduced several unsuccessful school energy efficiency measure while serving in the House.

Kerr had talked before the 2013 session even started about introducing such a bill. He explained Friday that discussions with interest groups and the press of other legislative business delayed the bill. Kerr has an interesting cosponsor in the House – Republican Rep. Cheri Gerou of Evergreen, who’s an architect and a member of the Joint Budget Committee.

School district lobbyists have opposed such bills in the past because of cost, but this year the lack of time left in the session may also be a big hurdle.

Friday was the 101st of 120 legislative days. The House had dozens of bills on its calendar and was planning to meet over the weekend. The Senate got a fair amount of work done but knocked off early Friday afternoon.

One legislative tracking service, Colorado Capitol Watch, estimated late Thursday that about 300 bills remain to be decided in both chambers. “For Dems to move agenda forward, they need more hours – or fewer bills. The session runs for 14 more days. At ten hours/day, that’s 140 hours left to do 310 bills. That’s roughly 30 minutes per bill, total.” (Capitol Watch is run by Paula Noonan, who’s also a member of the Jeffco school board.)

Here’s an update of floor action on education bills over the last two days:

House final approval

House Bill 13-1299 – This rewrite of the state’s SMART Government Act doesn’t seem related to education, expect that it would create seven permanent between-sessions committees to replace the short-term “interim” committees that have a fixture of the legislature for decades. One of those bills would be responsible for education issues.

House Bill 13-1257 – This measure would clarify the Department of Education’s oversight powers over local school district teacher evaluation systems, if those districts don’t use the state’s model system.

Senate final approval

Senate Bill 13-217 – The bill would give the State Board of Education flexibility in how it applies student performance at alternative education campuses to the accreditation ratings of school districts. This is an issue of some importance to low-rated districts with alternative schools. See this story for background.

Senate Bill 13-218 – This seemingly innocuous measure creates a state fund that could be used colleges to match corporate grants for training programs that a business has asked a college to establish. But the bill is of interest because it’s entangled in the politics and bad feelings around the recent defeat of Senate Bill 13-165, the proposal that would have allowed community colleges to offer a limited number of bachelor’s degrees in technical fields. See this story for background on that, and this summary of SB 13-218.