Early childhood education student, Jeily Cortes-Flores, bottom, picks up cards from a puzzle carpet in teacher, Kathy Mendez’s classroom October 02, 2013 at Denver Public School’s Pascual LeDoux Academy. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)
Summer vacation is here, and education news is starting to wind down. Catch up on news you might have missed including a pilot program to get preschoolers to start thinking about college, another visit from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and budget discussions, all in this week’s Take Note…
First, the biggest news of the week came Thursday when the chairwoman for the state Board of Education announced her citing dysfunction and the board’s overreaching decisions. Eric Gorski of the Denver Post has the story with a link to her .
National platform in Denver: The Colorado Department of Human Services is planning that will give low-income preschoolers $50 to start a children’s savings account for college. The program is being designed with support from national groups that announced Tuesday during the Clinton Global Initiative America a push to increase the number of children with savings accounts, based on research that shows they are more likely to go to, and graduate from, college.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, was in Denver again this week for some discussions during the Clinton Global Initiative. where Duncan was joined by Denver Public School superintendent Tom Boasberg to talk about teacher preparation. They agreed with teachers also in the discussion, that said spending time in the classroom is important.
Budgets: As school district’s are wrapping up their budget decisions,
Don Haddad, St. Vrain Valley Schools superintendent
the St. Vrain Valley school board on Wednesday approved a , of 16 percent that will bring his salary up to $250,000. The board on the same day voted to send a letter to Twin Peaks Charter Academy approving the decision to to investigate the school’s decision to prevent a student from giving a graduation speech where .
In the Thompson School District in Loveland, officials are trying to find at the district’s high schools to help students with scholarships, graduation and career paths. To start them, the cost would be of $125,000, the Reporter Herald reports.
Student run: A hotel partially run by students in the hospitality, tourism and event programs at Metropolitan State University of Denver has surprised officials by of operation, the Denver Business Journal reports.
A lawsuit was dismissed from court last week against a school in Colorado Springs. The nonprofit organization, that claimed students had been prohibited from praying and talking about religion during a free period called seminar. According to the news story, the organization said their goal, to give students freedom to talk with each other about religion, was accomplished.
Summer programs: YourHub reporter, Megan Mitchell, wrote this week about a that received a $2 million grant from the Colorado Department of Education that helped, in part, fund a summer field trip where kids had a blast.
