The Sheridan Educators Association and district administrators spent the day negotiating at the state Capitol after being summoned by Gov. Jared Polis, who had been imploring the two sides to end their 22-day contract stalemate.

Thursday’s negotiations were mediated by Polis’ staff and representatives from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

Full details of the agreement were not announced, but the union said the district had met its demands to reinstate its contract, create a path to recognize classified staff and put “an end to the retaliatory and restrictive policies that have caused instability in our schools.”

“To every Sheridan educator who has been part of this: We have set the standard for what it means to fully enfranchise our community, and to make sure educators can unionize and have the dignity they deserve in their workplace,” said Kate Biester, president of the Sheridan Educators Association. “While this entire process has been incredibly difficult, I want to say unequivocally that the challenge has been worth it.”

The governor’s office said the Sheridan Educators Association’s membership was expected to vote to ratify the agreement Friday, and the Sheridan School Board would vote on the agreement Tuesday. The union said teachers would return to the classroom once the agreement is fully ratified.

“We share the governor’s urgency in moving forward toward swift ratification to avoid further delays and ensure students return to a stable, consistent learning environment in which each student can thrive,” said Dr. Gionni Thompson, the Sheridan School District’s superintendent.

District officials and union representatives met in the state Capitol for hours Thursday to try to end their three-week deadlock, which began April 1when nearly 100 school employees went on strike after the union accused district leaders of refusing to both reinstate the Sheridan Educators Association’s collective bargaining agreement and recognize classified employees as union members.

The walkout was Colorado’s longest teachers strike in at least 45 years: It lasted for 17 working days and prompted several statements from Polis urging the two sides to reach a deal.

The strike closed schools during the first few days, but the district����ap five campuses had since reopened — though union representatives have said few students returned to school.

After the union rejected a Monday offer from the district and the strike continued, Polis on Wednesday asked both sides to meet in his offices Thursday morning, and he told reporters in the early afternoon that talks were still ongoing. They continued until the early evening, ending a few hours before the deal was announced.

“I urge both sides to officially ratify the agreement quickly to avoid further delay,” Polis said in a statement Thursday night. “These students have already missed critical classroom time, and each of them deserves a great education and to be back in school. I appreciate the commitment from both sides to reach a workable solution that best serves the families and students of the district while supporting our educators.”

The stalemate also imperiled the future of the entire district: The lawmaker who represents Sheridan schools, state Sen. Jeff Bridges, said this week that he was drafting legislation to combine the district with Denver Public Schools out of frustration with Sheridan leaders. It was not immediately clear if the deal announced Thursday impacts Bridges’ plans.

Tensions had also escalated between the union and the district: Union officials said they would support Bridges’ bill if community members also backed it, and the association also announced plans to seek the recall of the district’s elected board members.

They threw support behind Mayor Mike Johnston’s “Vibrant Denver” plan. They supported a slate of union-backed school board candidates. They joined much of the rest of the state in directing tens of millions of dollars more per year toward free school lunches, and they overwhelmingly stood behind a City Council-approved ordinance to ban the sale of flavored tobacco.

Colorado election results

Oh, and they agreed to rename the city's Department of Excise and Licenses.

The 2025 off-year election featured lower turnout, with the 1.73 million returned ballots reported by the state amounting to 37.9% of registered voters, though that was still inching up. And it was mostly a local affair, with the state's capital city dominating headlines -- while other local races and measures promised to make their own impact.

Here are five takeaways from Tuesday night's election results in metro Denver.

Bond win gives Johnston affirmation at key time

A year ago, Denver voters narrowly rejected their new mayor's proposal to significantly expand city funding for affordable housing. But on Tuesday night, Johnston appeared to have successfully wiped the taste of that defeat from the city's mouth.

Voters overwhelmingly approved the Johnston-backed, five-pronged "Vibrant Denver" bond package. All five ballot measures were comfortably ahead after polls closed at 7 p.m., and as of Wednesday morning, all were above 60% support.

Denver election results

After recent financial struggles and municipal layoffs, Johnston took the win as a stamp of approval for his agenda and his administration. It comes at a pivotal time: Not only does it follow on the heels of last year's stumble, it arrives at just past the midway point of his term -- the first of what the mayor hopes will be a multi-term tenure.

"Our belief has always been people want us to move with the urgency the city deserves, and that's what we've done," he said in an interview from the campaign's watch party in Capitol Hill.

The $950 million bond package will pay for roughly 60 capital projects in Denver over the next six years.

Yes to slaughterhouses, no to vape shops?

The bond package wasn't the only statement from Denver voters Tuesday. Referendum 310, which asked whether to retain the council's flavored tobacco ban, moonwalked to victory: As of 10 p.m., it had an eye-popping nearly 45-point cushion over the repeal-the-ban campaign, a margin that shrank only slightly, to 41 percentage points, by late Wednesday afternoon.

The pro-ban faction was helped along by $5 million from billionaire Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg was the single-largest donor for a Denver municipal race in history, .

But so comfortable was the margin of victory that it's unclear if Bloomberg's largesse was even necessary.

The referendum's opponents had warned that the ban would harm locally owned small businesses. That's similar to an argument against a ballot measure from last year, which sought to ban slaughterhouses in the city. Voters sided with business last year. Not so much this time around.

There are, of course, key differences: The slaughterhouse ban would've essentially applied to the one such facility operating in the city, the defenders of which put employees front and center in their campaign.

Shops that sell tobacco products, even of the vaporous kind, appeared less able to marshal local support. That may come down to the general unpopularity of the product. showed that 91% of respondents thought vaping products were very or somewhat harmful.

DPS's union-backed candidates regain ground

In four Denver Public Schools board races, the teachers union-backed candidates comfortably led challengers, some of whom were backed by school reform-minded groups. Only one race was close Tuesday night, but the union-backed candidate, DJ Torres, saw his lead grow to 9 percentage points by late Wednesday afternoon.

The likely wins would be a reinvigoration for the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, which lost ground two years against candidates backed by a charter school-aligned group.

“Our candidates ran authentic campaigns, remained committed to their values, and it����ap encouraging to see that their authentic selves are resonating with voters,” Rob Gould, the union's president, said after early results were released Tuesday.

It's also a loss for those reformers, who had hoped to build upon their 2024 gains and fully flip the board. Johnston had also weighed in on their side and endorsed their slates of candidates. Instead, they find themselves farther back.

The victory for the union-backed faction comes at a pivotal time for the school district. Falling enrollment and financial struggles remain challenges for the new board to tackle.

Denver's at-large council elections set for change

In another strong statement, Denver voters appeared set to change how they elect their two at-large City Council members. Referred Question 2G, which will required the winners of those seats to be elected in separates elections, is steaming toward victory, with more than 54% of voters behind it.

Voters' support for 2G, which in part by a dark-money group, may change the dynamics of the at-large elections in the 2027 cycle. Currently, the at-large seats are filled in one race, with the top two vote-getters earning the seats as voters each cast up to two votes.

Supporters of the proposal argued that the at-large members should be elected just like the rest of the council's members, who represent geographic districts. But opponents argued it would require candidates to choose one at-large seat or another, allowing for gamesmanship.

Others wondered if the proposal was an effort to unseat the two council members who now occupy those seats -- and who are among the most progressive members of the city's governing board.

Aurora progressives find new life

To the east, Aurora voters embraced progressive City Council candidates while seemingly directing two conservative incumbents toward the exit.

That could include Danielle Jurinsky, a prominent conservative who spoke at a Donald Trump rally last year and was a prominent voice in the Venezuelan gang controversy last year. As of late Wednesday afternoon, Jurinsky was still in third place in the city's at-large race, from which two candidates will join the council. The two candidates leading in that contest, Rob Andrews and Alli Jackson, are decidedly to Jurinsky's left.

Colorado election results by county

Another conservative incumbent, Steve Sundberg, was also trailing to progressive opponent Amy Wiles by nearly 8 points.

Should the results hold, the progressive gains would reverse Aurora council losses for that faction in recent years and give left-leaning members a slight majority on the council.

The city has found itself repeatedly in the national spotlight of late: Allegations of a gang takeover in parts of the city became a national political talking point -- and local debacle -- last year, and the city was subsequently the site of some of the earliest immigration raids of President Trump's return to office this year.

Elsewhere on the municipal front, Littleton's quest to blunt denser multifamily housing developments seemed destined for victory. The city joins a growing list of municipalities where pro-density housing reforms embraced by local leaders were then rejected by residents.

Staff writer Elliott Wenzler contributed to this story.

It is a proverbial “tale of two cities.” One plot line reveals that approximately three quarters of DPS white students are proficient in reading, outscoring their Colorado peers by 17 points. A parallel tale suggests that of Black, Hispanic, and low-income students who 70% or more are not proficient in reading and, in contrast to their white peers, underperform similar students statewide.

These same terrible patterns hold true in math, where over 80% of Black and Hispanic students perform below grade level and behind peers statewide. We are not making a “real difference” for most of our kids as 65% of students are Black or Hispanic. In fact, the long-term trend suggests that, for many, the situation is only getting worse.

The data is even more confusing. Over three years, test scores for all student groups went up. Up is good and we credit DPS, generally, for this trend. However, when you put the starting line at 2019, scores have just now surpassed pre-pandemic levels for DPS white students, while scores among DPS Black and Latino students are still recovering on most metrics. There is nothing exceptional about the recent rise – we are merely back to where we started, for some.

Search your school’s 2025 CMAS scores

There is a glimmer of promise when we observe growth scores. These scores reflect performance relative to an expected amount of learning for any given school year, based on typical performance of similar students the previous year. For most DPS subgroups, growth was slightly higher relative to state peers. But there, again, the group that is growing fastest is white students. Most minority students are not growing as much as peers or quickly enough to ever achieve grade level proficiency. Unless DPS can radically accelerate growth rates for historically underserved students, the nearly 50 point achievement gap between white students and students of color will only expand.

It is worth noting that DPS' actual performance bears no relationship to the wildly unrealistic targets proposed by the superintendent and approved by the school board in January. DPS set strategic targets for minority student subgroups between 10 and 20 points higher than those actually achieved. This failure is not surprising as DPS did not articulate a realistic plan for lifting up the achievement of chronically underperforming groups. It is surprising, however, in the context of DPS’ stated success.

We celebrate the fact that some schools in the district are defying their “demographic destiny.” As measured by test scores, students of color are better served by charter schools than by district-managed schools, and some DPS charter schools have made great headway in closing the gap. There are also some district-managed schools exceeding the odds, which begs the question: What steps is DPS taking to identify and scale strategies that work?

As members of EDUCATE Denver, we invited the superintendent to speak to a forum of community members to find out. We were interested in learning about DPS’ bright spots, challenges, course corrections and efforts to leverage best practice. The Superintendent declined the invitation, refused to send a delegate, and countered that the district would hold its own forum next year – a decision we certainly hope was not motivated by the upcoming Board of Education election this November.

When test scores were publicly released in August, the district celebrated recent gains without putting them into proper perspective. Community members deserve a fuller picture, which we attempt to provide here:

With a budget of $1.5 billion and just over 90,000 students, DPS spends $11,452 per student each year. According to the data, less than one in two students are proficient in literacy and fewer than one in three students are proficient in math. Shareholders (taxpayers) of any other $1.5 billion organization would demand a complete overall of such a failing institution. (In the case of a $1.5 billion public entity whose core business is students’ futures, a more practical solution is to follow the evidence.)

So, what now? Schools and programs in DPS that are closing the achievement gap between white and minority students should be replicated urgently in other schools across the district. In addition to studying the high performers in our midst, DPS should dive into the extensive body of research that exists to identify promising practices around the country. What they will find is that higher performing school districts not only have ambitious goals; they have detailed plans to achieve them. They have leaders who talk to, and work with, their communities. They have school boards who maintain focus on student learning and monitor that plans are executed.

There is no question that DPS teachers, staff and students are working hard, but they need more direction and support. The citizens, taxpayers, and voters of Denver need to express their desire for clear goals from the school board and coherent strategy from the superintendent. It is well past time for serious conversations about the structural issues plaguing Denver Public Schools. It is our only hope for a “tale of one city” in which all children learn and thrive.

Federico Peña is a former mayor of Denver and an EDUCATE Denver member. Rob Stein is a former superintendent of the Roaring Fork School District, a former principal of Manual High School and a member of Educate Denver.

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Progress was apparent in situations like the successful DPS bond initiative and also the recent school closure process, which was expectedly difficult but thoughtfully considered and well-executed. Unfortunately, old habits die hard, and this month, we saw patterns of the past re-emerge.

On March 20, the school board went into executive session to receive legal advice related to the superintendent����ap contract. The contract is not set to expire until June 2026 and as such, a frenzy of secrets, whispers, and rumors followed, speculating that an early contract renewal was underway. Concern mounted at the prospect of a new obligation made with no regard for performance evaluation, academic outcomes among students, community input, or the traditional timeline for such a decision.

Why take this topic behind closed doors and why now?

Some allude to motives like potential federal meddling or the challenges associated with short superintendent tenures. Perhaps. However, it doesn’t take a depth of education experience to ponder a relationship with the upcoming Board of Education election. Are members scheming to lock in a controversial superintendent, before their seats are contested? Or is it to get ahead of a difficult bargaining process with teachers?

The only certainty here is that the closed-door conversations and rushed contract are not happening to lock in leadership that is effectively closing achievement gaps or building a culture of safe, welcoming schools for staff and students alike. These are Denver’s values and the principles around which any superintendency should revolve. A board hostile to a superintendent who does not embrace these values won’t keep him, no matter what the cost. The cost will be to taxpayers – and students – via an expensive buyout or a lawsuit.

A recent poll published by Denver Families Action reveals that less than one in four likely Denver voters has a favorable opinion of the DPS School Board. In that context, it is curious that members would move away from transparency, away from sound process, and away from community engagement. Their actions erode public confidence yet again.

On April 2nd, a slew of public speakers lined the boardroom to express discontent regarding the initial executive session and a second scheduled for the same date. Their distaste for the inexplicable contract deliberation was palpable. Speakers called on the Board to manage a transparent, authentic, and community-centered process – to remain true to their commitment to engage DPS families, students, educators, and community members in meaningful discussion about the future of DPS leadership.

With that, the Board abandoned the second, scheduled executive session. Did they remember that trust building in a diverse community is a delicate dance? That community deserves to be at the center of decision-making that impacts their children’s future so directly? The status of the contract extension is uncertain, and I eagerly await their next steps. As a former board member who continues to care deeply about the success of our students and the future of Denver, I encourage each of them to act with integrity and get back on track. Two steps forward … REPEAT!

Barbara O’Brien is a former vice president of the Denver Public Schools Board of Education, a former lieutenant governor of Colorado and a member of EDUCATE Denver, a non-profit dedicated to helping DPS.

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Jamie Jackson beat two opponents to represent Aurora’s House District 41. She succeeds now-Sen. Iman Jodeh, who won a separate vacancy appointment to the state Senate in early January.

Jackson will serve essentially a full term in the House and will be up for a full election in 2026.

“I am deeply honored and humbled to have been selected to serve as the next Representative for House District 41,” Jackson, who is the chief operating officer of the Naloxone Project, said in a statement released by the Colorado Democratic Party. “Thank you to the vacancy committee, community members, and everyone who supported me throughout this process. Your trust and confidence mean the world to me, and I do not take this responsibility lightly.”

Jackson beat Anne Keke, who serves on the Aurora Public Schools board, and Aly DeWills-Marcano, who works for the Community Economic Defense Project, a nonprofit group.

Jackson’s selection was the fourth vacancy appointment to the legislature in recent weeks. In addition to Jodeh, Democratic Sen. Matt Ball was elected in early January to succeed Chris Hansen, who resigned to take a job in southwestern Colorado, and Republican Sen. John Carson was appointed to succeed Kevin Van Winkle, who was elected to the Douglas County commission.

Vacancy committees are controlled by the party that most recently won the vacated seat, and the committees are populated by local party officials, volunteers and elected officials.

The mayor delivered his State of the City address a year and five days after he was sworn into office. It was a speech light on announcements of new programs, though Johnston previewed a few — including new on-foot “trust patrols” that police will use to reduce crime in neighborhoods and a volunteering initiative spearheaded by his wife, Courtney.

Instead, Johnston, 49, used the speech to press the importance of parts of his agenda he’s rolled out in recent months, including the housing tax, while taking stock of his first year.

Johnston talked about a homeless man he met last year when the man was living in a tent with visible rat bites on his back. The mayor’s All In Mile High initiative has now moved more than 1,600 people out of illegal encampments on the city’s streets and into shelters and housing units, he said.

“In these last 12 months, Denver has housed more people faster per capita than any city in America,” he said.

It’s an initiative that’s still a work in progress, with questions about how to house all those people permanently. And while downtown’s streets are largely clear of camping, people have set up tents in other parts of the city, including along the South Platte River.

Johnston also spoke about the people helped by the city as tens of thousands of migrants came to Denver over the last year, with some of them staying here. The his administration launched this spring is dedicated to supporting roughly 800 people and their families with food, shelter, job training and legal support for six months as they await temporary work authorization from the federal government.

“Our work is not done, but our progress is dramatic,” Johnston said of his administration’s two signature programs thus far. “Our successes here have opened up new opportunities for even greater impact in the year ahead. Inside each of these struggles, we see the need for more work to be done.”

Johnston also spent time looking forward and asking Denverites for help, both by donating their time and through their tax dollars.

Earlier this month, Johnston and supporters on the City Council unveiled what they are calling the Affordable Denver sales tax measure. That 0.5% dedicated sales tax would raise an estimated $100 million a year, powering a raft of affordable housing efforts. Their goal over the next decade is to help build or secure 45,000 more homes and apartments that are affordable to people struggling to afford to stay in Denver.

But ramping up the city’s efforts to that level will depend on support from voters.

“If we want to keep the (single) mom and the grandma and the college graduate in Denver, we can — but we have to choose it, and we have to fight for it,” Johnston said. He pivoted to what was the most urgent request in his speech, name-checking the initiative: “This November, I will ask you to choose it by voting for an Affordable Denver on your ballot.”

In a departure from his predecessor Michael Hancock, who gave his final State of the City speech in 2022 at the Montbello Recreation Center and tended to select city buildings for the annual address, Johnston on Monday delivered his remarks inside a privately owned venue. He spoke from the stage of the historic Paramount Theatre, 1621 Glenarm Place.

The nearly 100-year-old art deco theater is just feet from Denver’s still-under-construction 16th Street Mall rehab project.

One of Johnston’s key focuses has been revitalizing downtown and breaking the “doom loop” of visible homelessness and crime, coupled with greatly diminished office worker foot traffic in the wake of the pandemic. In May, Johnston announced plans to expand an obscure special downtown taxing authority that he and supporters project could generate $500 million in new public investment downtown over the coming decade.

On Monday, Johnston noted that by the time he gives his State of the City address next year, most of the 16th Street Mall will finally be refurbished, with construction fencing gone. But that project is only part of his vision for the city’s core and what he thinks major public investment can bring to the area.

“We will use these resources to turn downtown from a central business district to a central neighborhood district, complete with affordable housing, public parks, child care, great retail, restaurants, art and music, and walkable, activated streets where you can get lost in a vibrant world you can only find in Denver,” he said.

The mayor encouraged attendees on Monday to sign up for Give5 Mile High, the new volunteer program Courtney Johnston is leading. Participants will be asked to give five hours of their time one Saturday each month to support an important need in the city.

The initiative will launch next month in partnership with Denver Public Schools, with an initial focus on helping students prepare for the school year.

The mayor has already demonstrated his public safety priorities through his budget. The city has allocated $8.2 million this year to efforts to grow the Denver Police Department by 167 officers. On Monday, Johnston — who has previously made the distinction between residents feeling protected and feeling policed — announced that his administration will up police patrols in known high-crime areas.

Denver council members highlighted some of their own priorities during Monday’s event.

Councilwoman Amanda Sandoval, elected by her peers as council president last week, announced the council was pursuing a citywide rezoning effort that would make it much easier for homeowners to build accessory dwelling units, including backyard homes and garage apartments. Sandoval did not tie that effort to a bill passed by the state legislature this year that is also dedicated to clearing the way for ADUs on the Front Range, including in Denver.

“The importance of accessory dwelling units is creating benefits for homeowners and providing much-needed, family-oriented affordable housing without diminishing and demolishing existing homes,” Sandoval said.

To close his speech Monday, Johnston returned to the central theme of his inaugural address a year earlier: the role that he says belief plays in overcoming daunting problems.

“Those challenges that have overwhelmed other communities have only made us stronger,” he said. “Because the one thing you won’t find in Denver is that destructive, contagious belief that we can’t. Here in this capital of the New West … people believe in each other and they lean on each other and they fight for each other — fortified by the deep belief that all our problems are solvable, and we are the ones to solve them.”

Parents fear for their children’s safety. There are regular . Fewer than one in five low-income elementary school students is reading at grade level.

Now is exactly not the time to give Denver Public Schools a billion dollars in new funding. The leadership of the district is running DPS into the ground.

It is shocking and inexcusable that there have been no significant changes in safety policies in the 15 months since the murder of East High School student Luis Garcia, or the preventable shooting of two school administrators.

Weapons continue to be a major problem in Denver’s schools while the public has even less visibility into what is being done to address these problems. Students found with guns on campus are allowed to return to school with daily weapon searches.

Student achievement in DPS cratered after the pandemic and has shown no signs of recovering, while many other Colorado school districts have bounced back.  Only 13% of Denver’s low-income elementary and middle school students are reaching math proficiency and the growth numbers for high school math are getting worse relative to most school districts in the state.

The district had slow but steady increases in achievement for all groups of students whether Black, Latino, White, non-low-income or low-income for over a decade. DPS is now moving in the opposite direction with achievement becoming worse for nearly every group of students on math and literacy since coming out of the pandemic.

Denver, like most large cities is losing enrollment because of rising housing costs, gentrification, and families having fewer children. The negative impact on student learning is compounded significantly each year as needed classroom dollars are diverted to fund many half-empty school buildings. Denver’s surrounding districts, Jefferson County and Aurora have stepped up to address this fiscal problem by “right-sizing” their districts through program consolidation and school closure, ensuring more dollars go to teacher pay, staff, and classroom supplies than underused facilities.

Given the school board’s fiscal mismanagement and inability to address this fundamental structural problem, it makes no sense to give the district more money. DPS must have a plan to address its growing fiscal problems before receiving more funding.

Yes, our schools are underfunded, and teachers are underpaid. Buildings need to be upgraded with air conditioning. But first we need to make sure student safety and learning needs are being addressed while the board effectively manages their budget.

Despite last November’s election of new school board members with a clear mandate to have the district focus on safety, achievement, fiscal management while holding the superintendent accountable, little has changed, other than fewer drama-filled board meetings.

There is no new achievement plan, strategy to bring spending in alignment with declining enrollment, or any effort to ensure the superintendent is accountable for student success.

In fact, there is growing evidence the district����ap downward spiral is accelerating with no substantive evaluation of the superintendent, senior leadership silenced, staff working in fear, and many of the best district����ap best educators leaving.

It will take years for DPS to build a core of educators committed to serving students better.

Twenty years ago, DPS had falling student enrollment, declining test scores, and less than half of low-income students graduating from high school. Thanks to broad and deep community leadership combined with in-depth media coverage of the challenges in DPS, the school board changed, and a series of superintendents were able to get the district on an improvement path. These efforts from 2002-2019 resulted in student achievement, graduation rates and college admissions rising for all student groups.

With devasting problems growing once more, Denver voters are again at an important crossroads. Voters can demand the district address these clear problems before supporting the bond or they can allow themselves to be distracted by calls for needed air conditioning. I’ll be the first to call for a billion-dollar bond once the district has stabilized its budget and enacted policies ensuring a safe quality school environment for all students with clear measurable targets. But until this happens, we need to say “no, not now.”

Van Schoales is the former President of A+ Colorado, a former teacher, Denver School Principal, active Democrat and has never not supported an education tax increase or bond until now without a change by the DS board.

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Victims carry an unbearable burden, a soul-scarring violation of innocence and trust. As a survivor of human trafficking and child sexual abuse by a teacher at Denver Public Schools in the 1970s, I’m sharing my story to seek support for a bill that would ask voters to remove the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits brought against rapists and pedophiles.

My journey is one of lifelong struggles directly related to the complex trauma from the intricate web of abuse I once endured in silence. Seeking justice in 2021 only brought forth further trauma. I and other child sexual abuse survivors were given false hope that our voices were finally being heard, only to have the door slammed in our faces once again when Colorado’s Supreme Court struck down a law that gave victims a three-year window to sue over abuses.

Now Colorado voters could have the final say. would send a measure to Colorado voters this November asking whether to amend the Colorado Constitution to eliminate the statute of limitations for the claims of child sexual assault victims. If passed, the amendment would allow survivors of child sexual abuse to pursue legal action against their abusers and any institution complicit in the abuse.

We have been stifled by time constraints and legal complexities for decades, allowing perpetrators to repeatedly escape accountability and continue to assault victims, knowing that the law is protecting them. And now the amendment is at risk of failing.

Some legislators are playing politics, and are claiming false contentions if the resolution were to pass. They argue that businesses, schools and churches would be forced to shut down, and our courts would be overwhelmed with new cases. There is zero evidence of these claims in the 30 other states that have passed retroactive laws like this one, and businesses that follow child protection protocols have nothing to fear.

Furthermore, less than .002% of the population filed claims in most of the states that have passed a retroactive law like this one. In fact, 30 jurisdictions have passed retroactive legislation for child sexual abuse claims, and 20 jurisdictions have eliminated the statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse.

The limitations in Colorado laws have historically favored abusers, neglecting survivors’ trauma and hindering justice. This amendment strives to change the narrative, to provide a legal platform of accountability that transcends the rigidity of time. It does not merely seek retribution; it aims to shift the burden of proof from the shoulders of broken victims to the feet of the culpable institutions.

In doing so, it not only paves the way for personal closure but also harbors the hope of systemic reform. It is a voice for the voiceless and a step towards the eradication of abuse. My question is, and always has been, why would anyone deny a child victim justice against their abuser – regardless of how many years have passed?

I urge the Colorado General Assembly to pass this resolution and give my fellow Coloradans the opportunity to vote for justice. The Child Sexual Abuse Accountability Amendment is a beacon of hope and a call to protect children. Many predators are still out there, working with our kids. It is time to unite to eradicate child sexual abuse and invest in our collective safety.

SCR 1 is not an isolated call for amends; it is a resounding testament to our collective commitment to root-out this plague, to empower survivors with the tools of retribution and restoration. This is more than a legal amendment; it is the embodiment of our social responsibility and moral obligation.

This amendment is an act of defiance — a statement from our society to the predators — that their crimes will not languish unpunished. It is a vow, a solemn promise from the community to the survivors, that their torment will not echo in vain. Together, we must push for the passage of SCR 1, for it is our collective duty — a duty we owe our children — to erase the lines that demarcate the limits of justice and to weave a future where no innocent soul is forsaken to the shadows of abuse. Our legacy to children must be protection, and our promise to survivors must be unfaltering support.

The state legislature must support this amendment; it is imperative for healing, and for justice, and for shielding our most vulnerable population. In this pursuit, we do not advocate for ourselves alone, but for a generation that is counting on us to create a world where victims of child sexual abuse and human trafficking have the opportunity to seek justice and add this critical layer of healing to their lives. We must not continue to rob them of their rights.

Jill Brogdon is a survivor of sex trafficking who was appointed by Gov. Jared Polis to the Colorado Human Trafficking Council in 2015 and served as vice-chair.

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Hernández beat out former immigration judge Cecelia Espenoza and former Greeley House representative Rochelle Galindo in a House District 4 vacancy committee appointment held at Regis University. Hernández was elected with a majority of votes on the committee’s first vote. He will serve the remaining year of Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez‘s term. Gonzales-Gutierrez was elected to an at-large Denver City Council seat in April.

“This moment belongs to those who struggle, who choose to struggle,” Hernández said after his victory was announced Saturday afternoon. He previously told The Denver Post that he planned to run for a full term next year, when the seat is up for a general election.

Hernandez, who teaches in Aurora Public Schools, inspired student protests last spring when his teacher contract with Denver Public Schools wasn’t renewed. He was later put on leave after joining students in the walkout.

Hernández said that housing, gun violence and education funding are among his top priorities. He has voiced support for a ban on assault weapons, reforms to zoning laws and increased protections for renters. He joins a progressive bloc of Denver legislators, many of whom, like fellow Reps. Elisabeth Epps and Javier Mabrey, are also new to the legislature. Denver Sen. Julie Gonzales serves as the state Senate’s majority whip and nominated Hernández on Saturday.

“Those who are most impacted are the best equipped to lead the fight for change,” Hernández said. “I know because of my students, I know because of my colleagues, I know because of the community members I’ve known, I know because of my aunt who’s in the crowd today that if we listen to each other, we can fight for change and we can win.”

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Re: “Upstream solutions to downstream problems,” July 30 commentary

In the 1960s, beverage containers were glass, aluminum, or cardboard. Why can’t we go back there today for many of our liquid products? It doesn’t take a new packaging discovery, a new plastic formula, or anything else. It����ap all right there. Why can’t our government require companies to evolve their packaging strategies to go “back to the future?”

Curt Anderson, Broomfield

This article hits the nail precisely on the head. We recycle but stay within the rules of our trash collection company to rinse out containers and strip the paper labels from metal cans. That requires “precious” water be wasted. And then we are not really sure.

We reuse plastic bags that the grocery stores send home with us for trash. The rest, we recycle at the store along with other plastic bags that display the “recycling” symbol, hoping those actually get recycled. And while there are alternative “biodegradable” trash bags available, most of us will not use them because of the cost. To us, it����ap a lot cheaper, at 10 cents per bag, and more environmentally expedient to reuse those grocery store bags for trash rather than commercially available trash bags that aren’t biodegradable and can’t be recycled.

We need to rethink this whole process if we’re going to make any progress.

Greg Albrecht, Aurora

TABOR money could be better spent than refunded

Re: “Proposition HH: Democrats are seeking TABOR runaround — again,” July 30 commentary

Evidently, Krista Kafer has never had to worry and stress about inadequate finances to pay for a home. She is not happy about Proposition HH efforts to use some or all of the TABOR money to help provide housing for people who can barely afford a home or who are actually without a home. It seems that if she would “lose thousands of dollars in TABOR refunds,” then surely she can afford to be concerned enough about the poor and the homeless people in Colorado to share some or all of her refund dollars to help provide safe and affordable housing for other people.

To me it seems that the average Coloradan would be amazed to receive Kafer’s “thousands of dollars in TABOR refunds.”

I remember a couple of years ago going to the bank to deposit my TABOR refund check of less than $1. We know that it cost much more than $1 to do the math, print, and mail that check to me. How much better would it be if those costs and refund dollars went to the kind and worthy cause of helping families and individuals in desperate need of affordable housing?

Janet Johnson, Golden

Refinery must be held to safety standards

Re: “More PFAs going into Sand Creek,” July 30 news story

What is it that about Suncor Energy that state and federal government agencies continue to give them a pass on pollution standards? They are allowed to comply with outdated standards; review and change of said standards are delayed by years; completion dates of new standards are ambiguous; punishment for exceeding standards appears to be minimal; and, worse, Suncor Energy’s actions flout laws and regulations.

Suncor is the worst air polluter on the Front Range. They continue to release “forever chemicals” into our water. When people feel powerless over their lives, in this case, regulation of Suncor’s polluting actions, they are most likely feeling helpless, anxious, stressed and depressed. It’s called “moral distress.” Isn’t it time to put a stop to Suncor’s egregious acts that disregard the mental and physical health of Colorado residents? Every day, corporations like Suncor are allowed to prioritize profits before people. Set a date, and make it happen. It’s already too late.

Mariann Storck, Wheat Ridge

Forty-five years ago, I was a member of Rocky Mountain Greenpeace, an extension of the original Greenpeace Foundation based in Canada. In response to local concerns about illegal and dangerous discharges into Sand Creek from the Commerce City refinery (then owned and operated by Conoco), a small group of us were prompted to go to the site to raise awareness in the community of this problem.

Armed with only some large absorbent mats, we waded into the creek to soak up the visible oils flowing out of the plant and into the creek. We felt that people living downstream of these discharges should be aware of and concerned about the possible health risks associated with these run-offs. Conoco officials basically ignored us as a bunch of loony tree huggers, as did the local media, and this action quickly died as anything newsworthy.

Flash forward to 2023 and Noelle Phillips’ in-depth article on the front page last Sunday. In addition to that “oily sheen,” the creek contains toxic chemicals and pollutants that we were unaware of so many years before. Our increased scientific knowledge has enhanced our understanding of the horrible consequences of the dangers of exposure to these pollutants. Yet over the decades, Conoco, Valero, and now Suncor continue with business as usual, relying on armies of lawyers and PR reps to downplay the dangers.

Every person downstream from the Suncor refinery should be shouting out for more aggressive methods of controlling and restricting these dangerous discharges.

I am battling prostate cancer. Did I get it from Sand Creek back in the 1970s? Maybe, maybe not. But can we afford to go another 40 or 50 years while risking the dangers to our people and our environment without making changes?

Bruce Weyler, Englewood

Election 2024: We can’t go back there

Re: “Trump will settle his score “Apprentice” style,” July 30 commentary

I offer my heartfelt thanks to Jo Ann Allen for the wonderful Sunday column. It is so good to know that there is a person of intelligence to put the truth out there. If you are kind enough to run for president or any position of trust and power, you’ve got my vote. I have zero trust left for the parties mentioned in your column. I do fear that this sort will keep getting elected.

Joan Tinnin, Parker

If this article doesn’t scare you, nothing will. It should be mandatory reading for all Republican-leaning voters.

Norma Turner, Highlands Ranch

Don’t overlook the good that SROs do on campuses

Re: “Tickets, arrests didn’t rise when SROs returned,” July 30 news story

As a former police supervisor of school resource officers (SROs), I read with interest the recent article updating the number of arrests and tickets being issued by Denver Police officers in our Denver public schools. I also noticed the frequent use of loaded, hot-button words such as “targeted,” “disproportionality” and “criminalization” sprinkled throughout the article, likely causing us to negatively evaluate how our police are performing.

Disregarding the stories behind these arrests and whether they were the appropriate course of action given the circumstances is ignoring, as someone famously said, “the rest of the story,” such as situations where police actually prevented harm to students, created an environment where students feel safer and developing positive relationships where barriers were broken between police and students are important as well.

If we are becoming conditioned to believe the only measure of SRO impact in a school is how many arrests or tickets occur, we are short-changing ourselves on their real measure of worth.

Jeffrey Cohn, Denver

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