BackboneAmerica

Heckuva week with grades due, service learning for a day, new students, training, ACT planning, substitute plans, coffee with a school board (more…)

It is too obvious why Secretary of Education Arne Duncan visited Denver public schools this week: to boost Michael Bennet, (more…)

“Sticks and stones can break my bones and words can really hurt me!” That’s my update on the old schoolyard saying (more…)

(Hilton Head, SC – Mar. 25) Once at the Comedy Club, sitting up front, the comedian asked me why I wasn’t laughing. “I’ll laugh when you say (more…)

Maybe I need to eat my words, or at least nibble them, when the Denver Post now informs us the DPS board and superintendent support (more…)

Not only is March the time for CSAPs in Colorado, it is the time principals weed out their probationary teaching staff. Ouch. (more…)

Running for a seat on the Colorado Board of Education almost two decades ago, I championed the idea of an accountability test. Little did I (more…)

I keep telling myself I like my job and love my students, but when the weather is mild, students’ behavior gets wild. And boy, could I use (more…)

State Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, is sponsoring SB-130, a pilot program for three charter schools serving autistic students. (more…)

“Charters fuel DPS growth,” said a Rocky headline this week. Why do public charter schools have waiting lists while (more…)

Colorado High School Charter, where I teach, has an amazing culture, says a former teacher who came back as our discipline coach (more…)

I miss Val. Val was an ornery girl when I first met her. I mistook her for a he because of her gender-bending style. But she kept me on my (more…)

In New York the teachers union wants to organize a couple of KIPP charter schools. That couldn’t be done in Denver without concessions (more…)

Mine was a circuitous route to the classroom. I initially planned on a teaching career, belonged to Future Teachers of America (more…)

Denver Public Schools has done it again: expedience versus quality leadership. In selecting chief financial officer Tom Boasberg (more…)