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.

First-year teacher Krista Trofka fills in her class calendar at Denver鈥檚 North High School in 2007.

Denver approves later middle and high school start times, despite concerns about community input

May 21, 2021 at 8:27 a.m.

Citing a need for teenagers to get more sleep, the Denver school board voted Thursday to push back middle and high school start times until 8:20 a.m. or later, starting...

Denver Public Schools’ enrollment predicted to drop 6% by 2025

May 19, 2021 at 9:44 a.m.

Enrollment in Denver Public Schools is expected to decrease 6% by 2025 鈥� nearly double the rate of decline that district officials predicted before the pandemic.

Denver South High School student, Gra聧a ...

9陆 minutes of silence as Denver students weigh impact of conviction in George Floyd’s murder

April 21, 2021 at 6:55 p.m.

Shortly before noon at Denver鈥檚 South High School, a group of students filed out of the building holding large banners that read 鈥淏lack Lives Matter鈥� and 鈥淗ow Many More?鈥� Under...

A Colorado principal put an 8-year-old boy in a hold until he passed out. State law has “no teeth” to force changes.

April 19, 2021 at 8:16 a.m.

Two years ago in Colorado, an elementary school principal stood behind an 8-year-old boy gripping the boy鈥檚 crossed wrists until his body went limp, his eyes fluttered, and he foamed...

DENVER, CO - FEBRUARY 20: Students from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Early College attend a press conference calling on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education to take action against racism and to hire more teachers of color in Denver's schools at the DPS Administration building in Denver, CO, February 20, 2020. (Kevin Mohatt, special to The Denver Post)

Denver students to advise on new national Black history curriculum

February 19, 2021 at 8:06 a.m.

The first time Dahni Austin held a copy of a new Black history textbook for which she and other Denver high school students will serve as advisers, she cried. 鈥淭here鈥檚...

VAIL, COLORADO - NOVEMBER 8: Vail Health Hospital employee health nurse Diane Schmidt, left, gives a mock Covid-19 vaccine to Caitlyn Ngam, right, an infection preventionist at the hospital on December 8, 2020 in Vail, Colorado. With the state expecting its first shipment of a COVID-19 vaccine in a matter of days, the state health department ran an exercise to see how ready it is to take on such a mass vaccination campaign. The Pfizer vaccine, which is the first shot expected to gain federal approval, will be difficult for the state to distribute as it needs to be stored at sub-zero temperatures and requires two shots. The Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management held a dry run or drill of receiving the vaccines in a thermal shipping container at Denver International Airport, using a courier car to take the vaccines to Vail Health Hospital and then the path the vaccines will follow once at the hospital from the pharmacy to a patient receiving the vaccine. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

Denver to prioritize teachers at high-poverty schools for COVID-19 vaccine

February 8, 2021 at 11:46 a.m.

Teachers in Denver鈥檚 highest-poverty schools will be first in line for the COVID-19 vaccine when eligibility for educators opens on Monday, according to the school district抖阴ap plan.

Students in Denver and other metro school districts head back to class in person

January 12, 2021 at 8:35 a.m.

Denver elementary school students headed back to classrooms Monday amid a monthslong debate: While some teachers protest the return to in-person learning as too risky during the pandemic, some parents...

DENVER, CO - March 16: 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, Colorado on March 16, 2016.

Principal shares vision for new Denver high school modeled after historically Black colleges

December 30, 2020 at 6:00 a.m.

A new high school modeled after historically Black colleges and universities is set to open next fall in Denver, a school district working to improve education for Black students citywide.

Denver Public Schools to bring kindergarteners, first-grade students back later this month

September 11, 2020 at 6:25 p.m.

Citing decreases in COVID-19 cases and the challenges of remote learning for young children, Denver Public Schools said Friday that schools could start opening classrooms to kindergarten and first grade...

Westgate Elementary School has three kindergarten ...

How two Colorado kindergarten teachers, one in person, one online, navigated a new reality

August 26, 2020 at 7:56 a.m.

At 7:50 a.m., kindergarten teacher Liz Blaskowski stood by her classroom door inside Westminster鈥檚 Skyline Vista Elementary School, ready to greet 17 new students -- and take their temperatures. Several...

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