The district ended Jennifer Honka’s employment at last month after an outside review found sufficient evidence to terminate the former French teacher for cause.

Honka, who taught at the school for eight years, faced numerous allegations from students and staff at the high school, including that she had students participate in skits that frequently called for the teenagers to kiss one another, according to an order issued by an administrative law judge who conducted the review.

A student told investigators that Honka “always picked girls to act in the skits,” then “convinced” them to kiss each other, according to the review.

The skits forced students “to express their preferences and consent about a very personal and sexualized activity on the spot in front of their peers,” Judge Keith J. Kirchubel wrote. “…Multiple students manifested extreme discomfort about these skits in their reports to other teachers and to (the principal).”

Honka could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

Other allegations detailed against Honka in the court order:

• During a family tree project, Honka told students that her own son was conceived using the sperm from one of her aunt����ap husbands
• Honka revealed her own history of abuse by her parents during a different class assignment
• In a team-building exercise, she had pairs of students hold a balloon between their bodies and try to pass it around without using their hands and without popping it
• Honka described her own suicidal ideation in detail to students in her class
• She confronted and berated other staff members in front of students multiple times

DPS leaders placed Honka on leave in March 2025 following an investigation into the allegations against the teacher and moved to fire her months later. Honka, who is gay, accused DPS officials of discriminating against her because of her sexual orientation, according to a court document.

She appealed her termination and the case went before Kirchubel, who ruled in April that there was sufficient evidence for DPS to fire the teacher for incompetence and neglect of duty.

“Her choice of skits, her implementation of them, and her repeated disclosure of sensitive and potentially traumatizing information amounted to incompetence and neglect of duty as it was shown to have negative effects on (Honka’s) students with little or no educational value,” the judge wrote in his decision.

The DPS Board of Education unanimously voted in May to approve Honka’s termination.

“The safety, emotional well-being and dignity of our students are the absolute highest priorities of Denver Public Schools,” district spokesman Bill Good said in a statement. “We commend the bravery of the students who came forward to report these incidents, as well as the school staff who acted immediately as mandatory reporters.”

Denver police also investigated the allegations against Honka after receiving a report from the principal at Northeast Early College.

“DPD was notified of an incident, but no reported crime occurred, and it was referred to DPS for further investigation,” police spokesman Sean Towle said.��He declined to release a police report on the investigation.

Michael Bennet, now Colorado’s longest-serving senator in 50 years, is eyeing a full-time return to the state in his bid to become its next governor.

His appeal against Attorney General Phil Weiser in the June 30 Democratic primary is based on senatorial deftness and long experience in public office. His record includes winning a key provision in the 2021 American Rescue Plan to expand the federal child tax credit — a move heralded by the Brookings Institution as leading to a “” across the country before the provision expired after about six months.

When then-Gov. Bill Ritter appointed Bennet to fill a Senate vacancy in 2009, he was new to elected office — but he wasn’t new to public life. He’d served as the superintendent of Denver Public Schools and as then-Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s chief of staff, after a stint working on corporate mergers for billionaire Phil Anschutz.

Bennet, 61, entered the governor’s race in April 2025, and his decision to run was , since U.S. senators hold one of the most influential political posts in the country.

He said at his announcement event that he saw an opportunity in Colorado to “forge a better politics” than what����ap practiced in Washington, D.C. He pledged to build an economic and educational foundation to “drive a stake through Trumpism.”

“We have people all over Colorado that are working in their communities, and at the county level, who are desperate to have a partner in the statehouse, who believe that what we have to do in this state is unify the citizens of Colorado,” Bennet said, listing off priorities like cutting the costs of housing and childcare and raising education levels. “… This is not a moment for rhetoric, it’s a moment for results.”

With so many other Democrats seemingly waiting in the wings, Bennet’s entrance into the race after Weiser threw the political world for a loop — and kept the field from growing.

“I was surprised, just because it seemed like it was outside the realm of what he was thinking about,” said U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, a Lakewood Democrat who’s endorsed Bennet, in an interview last fall. But like other backers, she quickly understood the move after a conversation with him.

“When you talk to him, it becomes clear that he felt like this was where he could make the biggest impact, and that’s what we all strive for in public service,” Pettersen added. “… While I was surprised, I understand that his breadth of experience — from superintendent to the Senate — and (with) the opportunities he has in Colorado, I understand why he wants to do this.”

‘We have to unify Colorado’

Bennet quickly lined up major endorsements from across the state. The rollout was a show of force for the campaign, drawing on Bennet’s long history of winning statewide campaigns and his reputation among Democratic leaders.

During the campaign, he’s taken some swipes at outgoing Gov. Jared Polis, a fellow Democrat. That included during a May debate co-sponsored by The Denver Post, when he took exception to Weiser citing his experience in state government.

“I don’t think the state government has done very much to solve our housing crisis, to solve our childcare crisis, to solve our healthcare crisis, to solve the fact that for the first time in a generation, businesses are moving out of our state because they can’t succeed as well in Colorado,” Bennet said.

Bennet, who grew up in Washington, D.C., earned a law degree from Yale Law School and spent much of his early legal career on the East Coast. Before he entered Colorado’s political sphere, he worked for Anschutz, buying up and restructuring distressed businesses, including oil companies and movie theater companies, earning millions of dollars in the process.��

A quick look at the Colorado governor candidates running in this month’s Democratic, Republican primaries

He served in Hickenlooper's mayoral administration beginning in 2003, then was appointed superintendent of DPS in 2005. In that role, he declining enrollment and a stark achievement gap between students of color and white students. He also made the decision to close a storied northeast Denver high school that had struggled in the decade prior.

Since his appointment to the Senate, Bennet has won new terms by increasingly large margins. In 2022, he won nearly 56% of the vote, routing his Republican rival by nearly 15 percentage points.

Bennet ran for president in 2020, though he dropped out of the race early in the Democratic primaries.

He has repeatedly pointed to education and support for children of all economic stripes as key motivations for his public service. That streak continues with his gubernatorial bid.

By last fall, three of his four major policy proposals so far had circled education and childcare. He also has keyed in on housing affordability, aiming to help families dig roots in the Centennial State and help their kids find their own Colorado dream.

“Whether you think you’re the most conservative person in Colorado, or the most liberal or progressive person in Colorado, if our kids can’t afford to live here, it doesn’t matter,” Bennet said in an interview last year. “... We have to unify Colorado -- build a coalition across our state to do hard things -- and I think I’ve got the experience and the leadership skills to be able to help us.”

Former Colorado House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar said that breadth of experience -- and focus on children -- helped bring her into Bennet's camp early in the race.��

“When I look at Michael’s career, he has a history of governing. He’s been a senator, he’s had to really think about policy issues, he’s had to make important decisions when it comes to votes,” Esgar said. “... I think what I’ve always appreciated about Michael is the work he’s really done and the vision he has for Colorado’s kids, throughout his entire career.”

Questions about Senate seat

But Bennet's senatorial experience has also been an avenue of attack.

The question of why he's leaving one of the most powerful political positions in the country to run for office closer to home has followed him on the campaign trail, no matter how many times he says why.

Former U.S. Sen. Tim Wirth, a Democrat who represented Colorado from 1987 to 1993, said he told Bennet he wished he'd stay in the Senate, where he was elected to serve, and that he was "surprised and disappointed" he would end his term early.

"If I were in the Senate, I'd be as visible as possible fighting Trump," said Wirth, a Weiser supporter. "I've told both Michael and (now-Sen.) John Hickenlooper that I wish they were both a lot more aggressive than they've been. They've got effectively safe seats, and they ought to be outspoken."

Bennet has contended with blowback for controversial votes to approve some of President Donald Trump's cabinet nominees last year. During the May debate, Bennet said he regretted voting for Energy Secretary Chris Wright but defended voting for Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins because the state needed support on wildfires.

Bennet has also raised eyebrows with his pronouncement that, should he win the governorship, he'd time his resignation so he could appoint his own successor to the U.S. Capitol.

He's stuck to that plan, while saying he doesn't have a replacement shortlist and won't commit to identifying possible candidates to voters. He's said only that he would appoint someone who's younger than 50 years old.

Staff writer Seth Klamann contributed to this story.

School systems began curtailing their spending last year by pulling back on staff raises, but now they are taking more drastic measures — marking a period of retrenchment that administrators say is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

“This is probably the first of a number of difficult budget years because the state of Colorado simply can’t invest in K-12 — not to say that (the state) really invested in K-12 over the last number of years either,” said Scott Smith, chief financial officer for , during a school board meeting last week.

The K-12 budget crunch stems from the fact that enrollment is falling nationwide as fewer people have children and rising housing costs change where families live.

Generally, districts receive less money from the state when there are fewer children in their classrooms. The state uses a mechanism called averaging to determine how much money individual districts receive and to soften the impact of declining enrollment.

This year, Colorado used a three-year enrollment average, a change from last year’s four-year average. The change in how the state counts students is affecting districts’ bottom lines, and education officials are concerned about the state’s ability to implement the funding formula in the future given the government’s own budget constraints, officials who spoke to The Denver Post said.

While districts didn’t seeing a decrease in state funding this year, some, such as the , are receiving the same amount of money they did two years — which is a problem because the dollars that districts do receive aren’t stretching as far as they used to, as costs for health insurance, fuel and other expenses have increased, said Tracie Rainey, executive director of the .

“Every district is facing very different challenges,” she said. “They are very unique to every community.”

Democratic state legislators hope voters will approve a ballot measure in November that would exempt K-12 education funding from the spending cap set by the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights, which would increase education funding by giving the state a $4.5 billion buffer before it needs to refund money.

Several metro Denver school districts have recorded deficits in recent years, using money they had saved in their reserves to balance their budgets. But district officials said they can’t continue to rely on those savings to make ends meet.

As a result, and Cherry Creek Schools began cutting jobs this year, slashing 139 and 159 positions, respectively. Adams 12 Five Star Schools eliminated roughly 150 positions in 2025.

Cherry Creek will reduce about $23 million via the cuts, a move that enabled the district to balance its roughly $846 million budget without using reserves.

Jeffco Public Schools, the state’s second-largest district, has spent most of the school year implementing a plan to trim $45 million, which included laying off 50 employees this month and cutting 89 unfilled positions.

The district expects to use $13 million from its reserves to balance the 2026-27 budget, an improvement from the $49 million deficit Jeffco ran last year. Jeffco Public Schools’ budget is nearly $1 billion.

“We are doing the work to live within our means, we’re making financially responsible decisions, and yet the declines in enrollment are so great that we continue to grapple with it,” outgoing Superintendent Tracy Dorland said.

Jeffco Public Schools leaders are hoping voters will approve a $15 million mill levy override in November that can increase funding for the district. Otherwise, the district will have a second round of reductions, Dorland said.

The , the state’s third-largest K-12 system, will close three elementary schools at the end of the month in an effort to save money. Still, the district will operate at a $22 million deficit next year because leaders plan to give staff 2% raises.

The Douglas County district saved money during the pandemic when schools struggled to fill staffing shortages, which is now enabling it to increase employee wages — a priority in recent years —by dipping into those reserves, Chief Financial Officer Jana Schleusner said.

However, the district can’t continue to use the money stashed away and is planning to slash between $15 million and $18 million — cuts that are likely to include jobs — in the 2027-28 fiscal year, she said.

“This is probably about the last year to use our reserves to stay where we are,” Schleusner said. “…As a nation, our demographics are changing. People aren’t having as many kids.”

, the state’s largest district, was able to balance its billion-dollar budget for next year without using reserves. But district officials expect to begin running a deficit by the 2027-28 academic year, according to the

The district is facing a cumulative four-year deficit of $28 million between the 2027-28 and 2030-31 fiscal years, according to a presentation district officials gave the Board of Education in May.

“We can’t continue to do everything we are doing when we have substantially fewer children,” DPS Chief Financial Officer Chuck Carpenter said.

The district’s financial outlook for the next four years “is something to be concerned about,” he added.

“This is not a decision I made lightly and is not one intended to diminish or disregard the great success we’ve shared in DPS during my tenure,” Marrero said. “…This decision comes after thoughtful reflection on several personal and professional considerations.”

Marrero is one of 21 people who applied for the job, according to the which first reported that the Denver superintendent was seeking the position. The contract of Miami’s current superintendent, José Dotres, who made $370,000 a year when he was hired, ends in February, according to the newspaper.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools, with more than 385,000 students, is a much larger district than DPS, which had 89,210 pupils during the 2025-26 academic year.

The DPS Board of Education hired Marrero in 2021 and he now makes at least $346,529 a year. At the time of his hiring, a expressed concern about Marrero’s appointment to lead Colorado’s largest K-12 district, including whether he understood the American West and Chicano culture.

But past and present board members have defended Marrero, who is Afro-Latino and bilingual — traits they said were positives in a district where more than half of the students are Latino.

The board also stood behind Marrero as he has taken on the Trump administration, including by suing to prevent federal immigration raids in schools.

But Marrero has found himself in disputes with board members as well as during his time in Denver on issues related to school closures and armed police in schools.

In November, Marrero was considered a finalist to become next CEO. After news reports circulated that Marrero was up for the job, the superintendent did not deny the claim but expressed that he remained dedicated to DPS.

Marrero expressed similar sentiments in his statement Thursday regarding his candidacy for the Miami job.

“Regardless of the outcome of the Miami-Dade superintendent selection, my commitment to leading Denver Public Schools, our students, staff, families and the important work ahead remains unchanged,” he said.�� “My focus continues to be on successfully closing out this school year, preparing for the year ahead, and ensuring stability and continuity in service of our shared priorities to continue to advance the district.”

The Board of Education voted unanimously Monday evening to , which applies to both district-run and charter schools.

“We know constant access to technology can be a distraction to learning,” board Treasurer Donald “DJ” Torres said.

DPS, the state’s largest district, is the latest K-12 system in Colorado to ban smartphones in schools, joining a national movement aimed at curtailing social media use during instructional time.

DPS’s new policy prohibits students from using cellphones and other devices, including smartwatches, during and between classes. The ban does not apply if students leave campus during their lunch period.

Previously, DPS left it up to individual schools to determine if and when students were allowed to use phones. DPS created the new districtwide policy after hearing parents and teachers largely supported a “bell-to-bell” ban.

The school board’s vote also comes as a new state law requires each of Colorado’s K-12 districts to craft a cellphone policy by July 1. DPS’s policy is more stringent than mandated by the state law, which only requires districts to create policies that address smartphones in schools.

The board is leaving it up to school leaders to decide how to enforce the policy. Some schools already require students to put their devices in locked pouches when they enter the building or in buckets during class.

More than 80% of community members contacted by DPS supported banning cellphones in class, while 64% of them approved of an all-day ban in middle and high schools, according to a presentation given to the school board last week.

Parents and school employees were more likely to favor cellphone bans than students were, according to the survey results.

“It was a thoughtful community recommendation,” board Secretary Marlene De La Rosa said of the policy.

The agency’s  on Monday accused the district of having clubs that “exclude students based on race” and of using students’ race to determine class assignments and academic support, according to a news release announcing the investigation.

The Office of Civil Rights did not identify the clubs in question or provide further details about those allegations.

“We strongly disagree with the characterization of district programming,” Cherry Creek Schools spokeswoman Ashey Verville said in a statement. “The district has not yet received a copy of the complaint. Without the complaint, we are not in a position to respond further.”

The Education Department said it is also investigating a parent committee — called the — that the Office of Civil Rights said grants access based solely on race, “denying other parents an equal opportunity to participate in the decisions that directly impact their children’s education.”

The Voices of Color Committee is made up of parents, teachers and administrators and has a goal of creating “an inclusive and safe environment” for students of color, according to the district’s website.

The Education Department said it has received complaints that the district trains teachers that the U.S. “was founded on ‘white supremacy’ and categorizes individuals as ‘oppressors’ and ‘oppressed’ based only on their skin color,” according to the news release.

The agency accuses Cherry Creek Schools of violating .

The Denver Post asked the Education Department for more information about its allegations against Cherry Creek Schools, but an unidentified spokesperson said via email that the agency would not comment on an open investigation.

“These allegations of racially discriminatory conduct in this District seem to permeate almost every aspect of the school community, affecting students, teachers, and parents alike,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a statement. “Federal law prohibits racial discrimination, which means that race cannot be a factor in how the school educates its students or trains its teachers.

The Trump administration has repeatedly threatened to pull federal funding from K-12 districts nationwide that implement policies the federal government has called discriminatory, such as those that aim to recruit more Black teachers, place more students of color in advanced classes or otherwise relate to diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The Trump administration previously launched separate investigations into Denver Public Schools and Jeffco Public Schools, accusing those districts of discriminating against girls with policies that support transgender students.

Both DPS and Jeffco Public Schools — the state’s two largest districts — defied the Education Department, refusing to alter their policies despite pressure from the federal government.

DPS hasn’t heard from the Education Department in months. But last week, the department threatened for a second time to pull Jeffco Public Schools’ funding for allowing transgender students to play sports and use girls bathrooms.

At the college level, the Trump administration launched an investigation last year into the University of Colorado’s Colorado Springs campus, accusing the school of discriminating against students because it “supported” a conference held by a nonprofit that aims to help students from underrepresented groups earn business degrees.

School districts across the country have implemented similar policies in recent years to curb social media use during instructional hours, as research shows that these platforms negatively affect students’ mental health and academic outcomes.

DPS, the state’s largest district, is considering a “bell-to-bell” ban, which would prohibit all students at both district-run and charter schools from using their phones or other devices, including smartwatches and earphones, during and between classes. The ban would not apply if students leave campus during their lunch period.

If the DPS school board approves the Monday, the ban will take effect when school resumes in August.

“Cellphones are the No. 1 disruption in the classroom,” said Maria Falcón, a DPS special education teacher. “There’s just no control.”

In the past, DPS left it up to leaders at each of the district’s nearly 200 schools to decide how to handle smartphones in their buildings. Most have allowed some level of use, but others, such as Marie L. Greenwood Early-8, have prohibited students from using their phones on campus for several years.

DPS is creating a districtwide smartphone policy to comply with a new state law, but the district would be going a step further than required by banning the devices in school buildings. The law requires K-12 systems to adopt a policy governing cellphone use by July 1, but doesn’t mandate that they ban or limit the devices in school.

Cellphone bans have varied across the state. The adopted one of the state’s first bans in 2019 when the district prohibited elementary- and middle-school students from using their phones during school hours. The ban has since been expanded to high schools.

The DPS school board is moving toward banning cellphones across the entire school day because parents and teachers have made it clear they want a districtwide policy, director Marlene De La Rosa said Friday.

Many schools already have mechanisms in place to limit cellphone use in their buildings. Some require students to put their devices in locked pouches when they enter the building or place them in buckets during class.

Under DPS’s proposed policy, staff at each school would determine how to enact and enforce the ban, De La Rosa said.

“If they have something that is working, that’s all on the administrative side for the superintendent to work with the school,” she said.

The policy the board will vote on is similar to a recommendation made by an advisory committee. Falcón, who served on the committee, said the recommendation for an all-day ban on phones developed because of how difficult it is for staff to respond to student conflicts online.

“It should be completely gone,” she said of phones. “Social media, in conjunction with the cellphones, is just madness.”

DPS parents and other community members largely support a policy that limits cellphone use in school, according to a recent district survey.

More than 80% of community members contacted by DPS supported prohibiting cellphones in class, while 64% of them approved of an all-day ban in middle and high schools, according to a given to the school board during a Thursday meeting.

Parents and school employees were more likely to favor cellphone bans than students were, according to the survey results.

Lundynn Estrada, a junior at the Denver School of the Arts, said she opposes an all-day ban because she worries about not being able to contact her mom during the school day, including in the event of a school shooting or other emergency

“I just worry about the safety of my peers as a student,” the 15-year-old said. “…I understand some of the benefits of it. I don’t really see the potential in it in terms of safety.”

Students also need their phones when they leave campus for lunch, said 16-year-old Aaliyah Garcia, adding that she and her peers use the devices to pay for food. She supports schools restricting phones in the classroom, but thinks students should be able to use their devices during passing periods and lunch.

“I do believe that phones are a necessity in this day and age,” said Garcia, a junior at CEC Early College. “Everything is just digital now and not everywhere is safe.”

The teenager said phones aren’t the distraction teachers often make them out to be and that, in her experience, most students are not on their phones during lessons.

“One rotten apple will ruin the whole batch, kind of thing,” Garcia said of students and cellphones in class.

De La Rosa, the board member, said the district will monitor the all-day cellphone ban and make changes if needed.

Advocates for cellphone bans say such prohibitions will help combat cyberbullying and mental health illnesses in youth.

“Cellphones are harmful in the learning environment,” said Joshua Ewing, executive director of . “…The phones should go away and they should stay away until they leave the school.”

A recent by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that when schools require students to put away their phones, their usage of the devices falls, but disciplinary actions initially increase — and test scores don’t improve.

But, Ewing said, the benefits of cellphone bans extend beyond academics as students are more likely to socialize with each other when their devices are put away.

“(School is) where we learn to develop social bonds with our peers, to navigate conflict,” he said. “That is something that is lost if our students are constantly scrolling on TikTok or Instagram during the school day.”

Gentry obliterated the preseason juggling test administered by Denver North head coach Clay Porter. Gentry’s nearly half-hour spectacle of soccer skill left Porter amazed, but not necessarily surprised, given how Gentry juggles the various balls of her life.

“She never gets overwhelmed,” Porter observed. “In that (juggling test), she was fluid. There weren’t really any scrambles. That ball stayed about 6 inches off her foot for about 25 minutes, and it’s just a testament to the amount of time and effort she has put into her game. She worked her (tail) off to do that in that moment that day, like she has done to become such a great player in competition.

“… And that’s not unlike everything she does, where excellence is always a common thread.”

A quick recap of Gentry’s impressive resume: Star soccer player signed to Oregon State. All-state flag football player. A 4.98 GPA and an extensive list of community service. That complete package is why the Vikings’ centerpiece is the winner of The Denver Post’s inaugural April Heinrichs Award for the top senior girls soccer player, scholar and citizen in Colorado.

Denver North principal German Echevarría calls Gentry “a complete game-changer in how North athletics is viewed” amid a historic run for the Vikings’ girls soccer program.

With Gentry as a four-year varsity starter and two-year captain, Denver North made the playoffs every season. That included the Class 4A semifinals in Gentry’s sophomore season, winning the program’s first league title in her junior season as the program moved up classifications and returning to the postseason, again in Class 5A, this spring.

Over that span, the winger tallied 15 goals, five assists and 35 points in ’26 to finish her career with 34 goals, 32 assists and 100 points. She was the focus of every opponent’s scouting report since breaking out with 10 goals as a freshman in 2023, with teams often man-marking her for the entire match in an attempt to limit her effectiveness.

“She’s one of those players where when she gets a chance, she’s going to put it away, whether it’s a goal or with an amazing assist,” said Riverdale Ridge head coach Danelle Dondelinger, whose Ravens played Denver North each of the last three years. “The last two years in particular, she was a truly dominating factor on the field. And she truly is a beast that you have to honor (with a special game plan).”

From the ‘edge of quitting’

Gentry’s technical skill can be traced back over a decade to the backyard of her Highland home, where she and her older sister, Addison Gentry, would set up obstacle courses to dribble and juggle through. It was in those formative years that Lea developed one of her patented offensive moves: she pops the ball up over a defender’s head, then races around to get it in open space to create a chance.

“We would set up a goal at the end of the yard,” Addison Gentry recalled. “We’d put anything we could find out there in the way — chairs, tables, extra goals, other balls, hoses. It was crazy, fun stuff. And in those times I could tell soccer was going to be her lifelong passion.

“From a young age her footwork was insane and when we took that (over-the-head) move to games, opponents were wowed, because it’s not common to see people playing in the air that much.”

By the time Lea got to high school, it was quickly apparent she was going to be an all-timer at Denver North. But a rough sophomore year in which she lost confidence due to an untenable club situation and then missed a penalty kick in in the semifinals nearly derailed her career.

“I was on the edge of quitting,” Lea Gentry said. “But I found my love for the game again. I leaned back into it. And I knew (the missed PK) wasn’t something to dwell on or keep overanalyzing, but that it was something I could grow from.”

Since that moment, Porter saw Gentry’s “work rate, focus and drive all improve.”

“I saw a belief in her that I’m not sure she had before,” Porter said. “But she had arrived at the point where she realized she could lead the team. And so she did it. She embraced that standard and never shied away from it.”

Her teammates took notice. Chloe Thompson, Denver North’s goalie who has played with Gentry since elementary school, witnessed a relentless competitor who understands how greatness gets crafted in the practice beyond practice.

“We would work on shooting after practice, tons of extra shots, and she always had to end on a goal,” Thompson said. “There was one practice where she felt like she hadn’t done enough conditioning, so she ran more after practice.

“Another time this season, we were doing the Viking run, which is (a jogging/sprinting progression) around the field. She completed it with her group, then ran it again with the juniors and freshmen. I just laughed, like, ‘That was an insane workout, and you’re still going?!'”

An indelible impact

Gentry took that same insatiable approach in the classroom. Steve Wiant, who taught Gentry for four years in , says Gentry’s artistic side was another example of the well-rounded 17-year-old’s attention to detail.

For one project, Gentry combined penmanship samples from her family members to invent a unique font for a fictional restaurant’s branding. For another, she was a leader on the creation of an art installation in the Denver North front office that featured laser-cut symbols representing the school and its community. Gentry also won a congressional art contest for a digital illustration of Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and her creation was

Throughout all her successes, Wiant says Gentry stayed focused on her ultimate goal: college soccer. She ended up with 15 Division I offers before committing to Corvallis.

“She didn’t outwardly celebrate her academic success,” Wiant said. “And I had no idea about how good she was in flag football before I found out on social media. These were all just benchmarks to her, I think, because she’s been so driven and focused on her endgame. Even now, she knows she’s going to a very competitive environment at Oregon State, so she’s remained focused on bigger things down the road.”

When she heads off to join her college program in mid-July, Gentry will have left an indelible impact on the Northside community.

For the past 12 years, Gentry has volunteered with her family at the Saint Elizabeth soup-and-sandwich lines for the homeless. While a student at Denver North, she also helped coordinate a food and shelter relief project for Venezuelan migrants, assisted her father with a tiny-home project for the homeless, and volunteered at various soccer clinics, including one held recently at Valdez Elementary.

“I grew up with my mom saying things like, ‘Put yourself in other people’s shoes’ and ‘You never know what’s going on at home,'” Gentry said. “So I’ve always wanted to have that mindset, and I’ve always wanted to support those less fortunate than I am, because I already have all the support and everything I need. So if I have the opportunity to help someone else get that support, I’m always going to do it no matter what.”

Gentry beat out a field of 38 nominations to win the April Heinrichs Award, including four other worthy finalists in Fossil Ridge’s Reese Morgan (runner-up), Buena Vista’s Mae Blazer, Chatfield’s Tyler Sternberg and Frontier Academy’s Emily Gesick.

Denver North’s female athlete of the year was voted the winner by a 17-person selection committee that included high school coaches, former standout Colorado players, media members, and Heinrichs herself. Gentry was named on all but two of the ballots, and received 10 first- or second-place votes.

For winning, Gentry receives a $1,000 scholarship from the nonprofit that sponsors the award, the Colorado High School Girls Soccer Player Award Corporation. She will also receive a luncheon in her honor and be recognized at the match on July 3 against the Kansas City Current at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

“I’m kind of speechless to be honest, and I see winning this award as an incredible opportunity,” Gentry said. “I think many, many girls will look up to this award in the coming years, and having my name under it is phenomenal. I aspire to be a person that girls look up to, and it’s humbling what this award says about me as a player, in the classroom, in the community, and as a person overall. It’s a bar I want to live up to going forward.”

The district’s statement came after the Education Department again threatened to pull its federal funding over policies the Trump administration says discriminate against girls by allowing transgender students to compete in female sports and use women’s bathrooms.

The warning marks the second time this year that the agency’s has accused the district of violating .

The department issued its initial warning in March, giving the district 10 days to agree to a resolution, which would have reversed any policies that permit transgender students to play sports or access facilities, including overnight accommodations.

“The department����ap interpretation has no basis in the Title IX regulations and is not supported by any binding court decision,” Jeffco Public Schools said in an unsigned statement Wednesday. “At least one federal court of appeals has held that (President Donald Trump’s) executive order does not have the force of law and that it did not amend Title IX.�� Prior federal administrations have taken the direct opposite view — that Title IX protects transgender students’ access to school programs and facilities.”

In their statement, Jeffco officials said they believe the Education Department’s renewed threat came in response to a letter the district sent Tuesday, informing agency officials that the Office of Civil Rights’ findings were based “on a fundamental misunderstanding of the data we provided in July of 2025.”

The federal government has said more than 60 male students are competing on girls’ sports teams in the district. The statement, which the Education Department cited in accusing Jeffco Public Schools of discrimination in March, is false, according to the district’s letter.

“To be clear, the data did not show any male student occupied a girls’ athletics competition role,” district officials said in their statement. “Jeffco also suggested that OCR direct its demands to the State of Colorado, since Jeffco lacks authority to deviate from or disregard the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.”

The Education Department said in a statement Wednesday that Jeffco Public Schools hasn’t taken any action — including changing its policies — since the March letter and, as such, the department sent the district a warning letter that says federal funding could be pulled if changes aren’t made within 10 days.

But Jeffco Public Schools said district officials do not believe the two sides are at an impasse because they are still within the 90-day period given for good faith negotiations.

The federal government has targeted K-12 districts with policies supporting transgender students since Donald Trump returned to office last year.

The Education Department also accused Denver Public Schools of discriminating against girls in violation of Title IX by creating gender-neutral bathrooms at East High School. DPS defied the agency’s deadline to convert restrooms back into single-sex facilities last year, but the district never heard back from the Education Department.

Attorneys specializing in Title IX have said that Trump is misusing the law — which was created to ensure girls and women can participate in school activities without sexual harassment — in targeting districts for pro-transgender policies.

The Education Department launched its investigation into Jeffco Public Schools last year after a family sued the district in 2024, alleging their daughter went on an overnight trip and had to share a bed with a transgender girl.

“Not only did the district trample on females’ sex-based protections by allowing males to compete in their sports, intrude in their bathrooms, and sleep in their overnight accommodations, but now it refuses to fix the problem after being given the chance,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a statement. “It is indifferent to the law and to the safety, privacy and dignity of women and girls. Its behavior here is unconscionable.”

The expenses show former Superintendent Christopher Smith — whose travel drew scrutiny in recent months — isn’t the only frequent-flying K-12 leader in metro Denver.

His peers at the Denver, Jefferson County, Aurora and Douglas County school districts have also had the chance to accrue miles in the past two years as they traveled to places such as Breckenridge, New Orleans and Helsinki, Finland, the expenditures showed.

It’s not unusual for K-12 district leaders to travel to conferences across the U.S. to receive professional development, but it’s becoming “increasingly more common” for superintendents to undertake international travel, said Melissa Gibson, executive director for the .

“Professional learning has always been a priority and, frankly, should be a priority,” she said. “…A lot of the highest quality conferences really occur at the national level.”

The expenditures reviewed by The Post covered a range of costs, including the superintendents’ airfare, mileage, meals, hotels and other travel expenses for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 fiscal years.

The travel costs for each superintendent reflect a small portion of each district����ap budget, but come as K-12 systems are tightening spending and closing schools amid declining enrollment and other financial pressures.

“It just sounds like a lot of money when schools are laying off teachers,” said Jane Feldman, an ethics consultant who previously was executive director of the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission, of the superintendents’ travel expenses. She is also chair of the. “…It’s a lot given the current economic pinch that all governments are under.”

Among the state’s five largest districts, Superintendent Alex Marrero spent the most money — $37,433 — on travel to conferences, including to Helsinki and Shanghai, China, documents show.

Marrero’s travel appears to exceed similar trips taken by his predecessors.

Former DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg spent at least $8,927 traveling to conferences during his final two years leading Colorado’s largest K-12 district — although records for him were incomplete. Susana Córdova, who preceded Marrero, spent less than $5,000 on travel as her tenure overlapped with the pandemic.

“It is important for the superintendent to also collaborate with, and learn from, other similar districts nationwide for the benefit of our students,” spokesman Bill Good said in a statement. “As such, travel is an expected and endorsed part of the superintendent����ap role and has been included in each of his contracts.”

Marrero traveled abroad to attend conferences held by the , an organization that Good said has a long history with DPS. Boasberg also attended conferences hosted by the organization, he said.

outgoing Superintendent Tracy Dorland spent the least amount of money — $6,408.53 — of the five metro Denver leaders, The Post found.

DPS and Jeffco Public Schools are the state’s largest and second-largest K-12 districts, respectively. They each operate a roughly $1 billion budget.

Superintendent Michael Giles and Superintendent Erin Kane spent $29,039 and $25,212, respectively, on travel during the same time period.

Smith, who previously ran Cherry Creek Schools, spent $23,499 on travel to conferences before he resigned in January.

An outside investigation found that Smith and his wife, Brenda Smith, the district����ap former human resources director, likely violated district policy by charging Cherry Creek Schools for costs of events they did not attend or only partially attended.

The district fired Brenda Smith earlier this month, citing multiple policy violations related to travel and contracts. The outside investigation did not find the Smiths violated district policy by accepting paid trips to Brazil and Guatemala, but ethics experts told The Post likely violated a state law that prohibits government officials from accepting gifts that can influence their decision-making.