Melanie Asmar

Melanie Asmar covers Denver Public Schools. Asmar previously worked as a reporter for Westword newspaper in Denver and for a daily newspaper in her native New Hampshire. She joined Chalkbeat Colorado in 2015.

Thousands of teachers gather wearing red ...

Against a backdrop of protests, teacher contract negotiations in Denver get heated

May 31, 2018 at 1:25 p.m.

Buoyed by the energy of recent teacher protests, plus a sizable increase in state education funding, the Denver teachers union is renewing its push to get the school district to...

Colorado students hold steady on national exams, but achievement gaps persist

April 10, 2018 at 6:11 a.m.

Colorado students improved slightly last year on the standardized tests known as 鈥渢he nation鈥檚 report card,鈥� bouncing back after聽a dip in scores in 2015, according to data released Monday.

Alejandro Moya, left, and Salvador Garcia

Large achievement gaps in Denver highlighted by new national test data

April 10, 2018 at 6:11 a.m.

Compared to other large, urban school districts, Denver has among the biggest achievement gaps in the country between white and Hispanic students in reading and math.

A Denver Public Schools emblem and sign on the Evie Garrett Dennis Campus that houses five separate schools with 1,600 students in Pre-K through 12th grade in Northeast Denver on March 16, 2016.

Contract extension averts Denver teachers strike — for now

January 23, 2019 at 2:36 p.m.

No immediate vote on teachers strike after Denver School District agrees to extend the current pay-for-performance agreement until January 2019.

Teachers watch a master contract bargaining session between Denver Public Schools and the Denver teachers union on June 22.

Denver teachers union leaders call for strike vote if negotiations fail

January 23, 2019 at 2:36 p.m.

The Denver teachers union鈥檚 board of directors voted Tuesday to ask its members to strike if the union and the school district fail to reach an agreement Wednesday on teacher...

Denver's North High School is experiencing ...

Three Denver schools provide national model for how to discipline differently

March 14, 2018 at 9:26 a.m.

North High School is one of three Denver schools serving as national examples of restorative justice.

The Colorado Supreme Court chambers at the Ralph L. Carr Justice Center in Denver.

Colorado Supreme Court rules against Denver teachers, saying there is no tenure in public schools

March 12, 2018 at 5:09 p.m.

The Denver teachers who challenged a landmark state law that allows school districts to put certain experienced educators on unpaid leave lost their cases before the Colorado Supreme Court on...

Interim Manual High principal named as district begins search for permanent leader

March 6, 2018 at 9:26 a.m.

Renard Simmons, principal of the Denver Center for 21st Century Learning, has been named interim principal of Manual High School following the unexpected resignation of Manual鈥檚 leader late last week.

U.S. Rep Diana DeGette speaks to students at South High School on Tuesday about considerations over immigration after President Donald Trump takes office on Friday.

Denver should seize opportunity to better integrate schools, report says

February 28, 2018 at 9:19 a.m.

Denver school officials have been wrestling with how to combat segregation in a rapidly gentrifying city, and a new report by a local advocacy organization offers more ideas.

A girl rests at the end of yoga club at Doull Elementary in Denver.

Denver elementary school replaces detention with yoga

February 27, 2018 at 7:42 a.m.

The lights were dimmed low in the high-ceilinged auditorium of Denver's Doull Elementary School, where 13 barefoot students sat cross-legged on yoga mats arranged in a wide circle.

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