Newsletter drops tomorrow.
Two stories about districts announcing things that sound like accountability — and what's actually in the fine print.
Jeffco MLO oversight committee. 27J bond middle school. Union deadline. Reader survey data.
Free, every Friday. cotlns-newsletter-education.beehiiv.com
27J renewed STEAD School's charter through 2031 — with conditions. The school has 30 days to submit a budget, an enrollment forecast, and a contingency plan. One director voted no.
Full story: www.thebrightonblade.com/news/stead-s...
Westminster's school consolidation plan passed 4-0 last night. WAIS moves to Harris Park this fall. Mesa closes in 2028-29. Hidden Lake gets a new home.
Here's what families actually need to know right now →
🔔 New money, broken promises & worried kids! Who's accountable when promises aren't kept? Dive into this week's Class Notes from Colorado Trust for Local News Education.
cotlns-newsletter-education.beehiiv.com/p/new-money-...
#EducationNews #LocalNews
The core issue: the district stripped proposed MOU language of any enforceable commitments on where revenue would go. I asked the board and district for comment. District missed the deadline. Board didn't respond.
Story here: www.thegoldentranscript.com/news/jeffco-...
New: Jeffco's teacher and para unions have taken the rare step of formally demanding the school board negotiate an MLO memorandum of understanding directly — bypassing the district team entirely.
The Colorado Education Association told union leaders they were "shocked." Thread below.
2 students at a Jeffco high school asked the board to strengthen immigration protections.
Their biggest fear? The policy doesn't cover ICE agents waiting in school parking lots or nearby.
"There's many kids who don't even go to school anymore."
www.thegoldentranscript.com/news/explori...
Adams 12 got $39M from voters. It's still cutting teachers. The two things are unrelated — one fixes compensation, the other is 7 years of enrollment decline.
The interactive tool tells you what it means for your situation.
www.northglenn-thorntonsentinel.com/news/new-mon...
Most families pay school taxes without knowing where the money lands. I put together a tool for my education newsletter that breaks it down like a receipt.
It's a Class Notes exclusive, out tomorrow — cotlns-newsletter-education.beehiiv.com/subscribe
3/ Obtained through CORA. Interactive table in the story so families can look up their school.
Principals are making staffing decisions now — budgets due by mid-February, staff notified by March 15.
2/ The BRB formula works as designed — high-need schools do get the lowest percentage cuts. But enrollment losses disproportionately hit those same schools.
70% of high-FRL schools face both BRB cuts and enrollment losses. 57% of lower-need schools do.
1/ New from me: Jeffco promised its neediest schools would get the smallest cuts. Records show enrollment losses erase that protection at 70 of 119 schools.
The combined total: $19.5M in school-level reductions. The district has cited $14M.
🔗 www.thegoldentranscript.com/news/jeffco-...
🔔 Dive into Jeffco's budget cuts & enrollment woes. Discover the $19.5M impact on schools. Are the neediest protected?
Find out more: cotlns-newsletter-education.beehiiv.com/p/class-note... #EducationNews #JeffcoSchools
cotlns-newsletter-education.beehiiv.com/p/class-note...
Stuart students also submitted comments. One asked for study hall to help with missing assignments. Another said large classes leave kids to "figure it out themselves."
Full story: www.thebrightonblade.com/news/27j-s-s...
The detail that stopped me: in a 50-minute class with 38 students, each kid gets less than 90 seconds of individual attention.
A state board member who's a retired middle school teacher said: "That scares me. I don't know how they do it."
Stuart MS in Commerce City just faced a state accountability hearing after five years of low test scores. The board voted 9-0 to approve the school's turnaround plan.
The principal, Krista Dean, has been at Stuart since the building opened in 2009. Her own kid is an eighth grader there.
🧵
Jeffco's public budget numbers only show half the picture. I got the other half through public records. 70 schools are getting hit twice.
Full breakdown on Friday for subscribers: cotlns-newsletter-education.beehiiv.com
Westminster Public Schools blocked ChatGPT for students last month. The concern: student data can be used to train the system.
The district is pointing kids to Google Gemini instead.
www.westminsterwindow.com/news/educati...
These guys say a lot of crazy things. Our reporter @suziereports.bsky.social was there to hear them. Oh, and also to see Joe Oltmann sashay across the stage while showing off a little gun under his jacket.
Local news matters. Proud to be part of this video from the National Trust for Local News about why small and midsize newsrooms are worth fighting for, and how innovation is the path forward. 🎥
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncrl...
A team of teacher-survivors has launched the first crisis intervention program for educators recovering from school shootings.
"No teacher has to go through this alone," says co-founder Abbey Clements.
www.thegoldentranscript.com/news/they-su...
After the Evergreen shooting, everyone focused on getting students back. Who was taking care of the teachers?
A Columbine and Sandy Hook survivor say what they're seeing is the norm. So they built the first crisis team for educators.
Former Jeffco social worker pleads guilty to sexually assaulting a student she met through the district.
This is the fourth child sex assault case involving a former Jeffco employee in the past year. I break down all four cases here:
www.thegoldentranscript.com/news/jeffco-...
In 2024, the committee removed "Oversight" from its name. Its members had concluded it "does not oversee things."
Now the district is considering asking voters for more.
Full investigation: www.thegoldentranscript.com/news/jeffco-...
Meanwhile, $3.9M in mental health money sat unspent. The committee's own minutes said those funds "weren't being spent." The committee took no action.
The district used a pre-existing committee instead. That committee reviewed 5A spending exactly once in a single paragraph in October 2020. Then: nothing for 5 years. More than 55 meetings. No formal 5A discussion.
New from me: Jeffco voters approved $33M/year in 2018. The ballot named an oversight committee. The district says that committee was never created.
I read 7 years of meeting minutes. Here's what I found. 🧵
The architect and contractor who built Thunder Vista aren't commenting on the lawsuit.
If you've covered construction defect cases, what usually happens next?
Contractors were already in Thunder Vista's crawl space fixing pipes when the fire started.
The district knew about problems.
Could the fire have been prevented?
A Conifer lacrosse player took a hit. Ten minutes later, back in scrimmage. That night: concussion diagnosis. Did the coaches complete the required training? I filed a records request.
Find out in Friday's Class Notes → cotlns-newsletter-education.beehiiv.com
