Denver Public Schools is experiencing a deeply concerning reversal of hard-earned progress achieved over the past two decades.  A recent report demonstrates how dramatic the downward slide has been for Denver students over the last year relative to all other school districts in Colorado.  While most Colorado school districts had lower growth scores which is reflected in the new Colorado “baseline growth” numbers, Denver did significantly worse compared to the state average.

These indicators portend a dramatic acceleration of the existing huge achievement gaps by race and income if a new school board does not take the helm and begin to focus on student needs and learning.  We need a new board with a laser eye on students.

While many Colorado school districts stepped up to meet the needs of students in the pandemic, the Denver School Board has been focused on adult issues, including the conduct of its members, board governance, and its attempts to limit the flexibility of innovation schools.

Other Colorado districts leaned into getting as many students back as quickly as possible especially those students most in need of support, other Colorado school districts like Adams 12 supported learning pods (while the Denver board asked families to stay in their online school programming that wasn’t working), while still others like Greeley set up full day summer school this last year to prepare students for the return to school (and having dramatic results). Denver’s University Prep public charter schools detailed a comprehensive plan to ensure students would continue to move forward.  The Denver School Board assumed no need to check in with families, all would return back to normal.

This has not always been the case. Denver Public Schools had a record of success that sadly it is departing from now.

Denver Public Schools had been a state and national leader with the expansion of health services, support for English language learning students along with academic learning to name but a few indicators for over a decade.

DPS was far from where it needed to be in terms of student support and achievement, but it had made significant progress with the growth of programming for the whole child and more resources being targeted to students most needing instructional help.

The evidence for these changes can be seen in a variety of indicators from graduation, college matriculation, academic “growth” along with improvements in the numbers of students meeting proficiency on the state standards for all groups of students by race and income. Most important, Denver had been outperforming state achievement growth scores for over a decade.

Denver’s previous median growth scores in math and literacy from 2016-2019 were 57 to 51 percentiles with the average over those years being 54.1 percentiles which is a significant gain over the state with the growth comparison of 50 percentile. Few, if any Colorado school districts had this track record over time.

Now, unfortunately, the latest 2021 state test scores in DPS which have been adjusted overall lower and called “baseline growth” were at the 40th percentile for 5th grade DPS literacy (Colorado’s average is 46th percentile) and the 6th grade DPS math percentile was 22nd (the CO percentile being 33rd).  You can see comparisons to other Colorado school districts here.

This is a catastrophic shift unlike any other large school district, going from making growth relative to the other students in Colorado to significantly losing growth relative to the state.  We also see early indicators of this terrible consequence with loss of enrollment in the early grades and a significant reduction in the number of students going to college and persisting per a DPS board report issued last week.

Only 20% of Denver’s students on free and reduced-price lunch met the state’s proficiency goal on reading at the 5th grade while even fewer of these same students, only 6% could meet Colorado’s basic standard for math at the 6th grade.

None of us, particularly our students, can afford to have low levels of achievement. We have seen what is possible in Denver and across the state, Denver can do far better. Be sure to vote by November 2nd and contact DPS if you’re available to volunteer your talents.

Rosemary Rodriguez and Dr. Rachele Espiritu are past members of the Denver Public Schools Board of Education. Rodriguez is the parent and grandparent of DPS graduates, and Dr. Espiritu is the parent of a current DPS student and a graduate.

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With its ample parks, abundant sun and mountain backdrop, Denver is a gorgeous city. But the last few days, it’s been especially pretty as the city has seen some of the most vibrant fall foliage it’s had in years. Reds, yellows, oranges and more have joined the normal greens that dot the Mile High City.

Experts have said the way the weather shaped up in 2021 made for especially eye-catching fall colors. Sadly, it won’t last much longer as a storm with rain and winds moving in this week could strip the leaves bare.

Here are some of our favorite images shared on social media over the past few days:

Denver Colors 10.24 from Denver

I don’t usually say this but fall in the city of Denver has been absolutely spectacular this year pic.twitter.com/GpIR10wU6T

— Nick Riccardi (@NickRiccardi) October 25, 2021

Washington park in the fall 😌 from Denver

Last bit of fall in the city from Denver

This one street feels like a Hollywood movie set. from Denver

Denver from the DAM from Denver

Look how colorful Sloans Lake is if you let your phone crank the saturation ungodly amounts. from Denver

Soaking in the final few days of these gorgeous fall colors in Denver…winds Tuesday/Wednesday probably bring down most of these.#COwx pic.twitter.com/m18ekmreix

— Chris Bianchi (@BianchiWeather) October 25, 2021

Denver’s fall is awesome from Denver

Jack-o-leaf-ern? pic.twitter.com/DINiVhlAvR

— Joe Rubino (@RubinoJC) October 26, 2021

Fall in Wallace Park Denver from Denver

Still cannot get over the view (no filter!) yesterday from @CopperDoorCof at @denverbotanic. If you see me sitting here every single day wearing sweaters and drinking my bodyweight in maple orange lattes, no you didn’t pic.twitter.com/aqBQc95O6T

— Beth Rankin (@byBethRankin) October 25, 2021

DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado search and rescue teams are responding to a viral social-media post that they say perpetuates misleading information that could complicate their missions.

The post, which has been shared thousands of times across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, among other platforms, encourages people who are stranded or lost while hiking to change their voicemail message to include their location, the time, the date and their situation.

Colorado’s Alpine Rescue Team responded to the post on its own Facebook page, pointing out a handful of problems with the information.

“The message that went viral was just not the best message to put out,” said Howard Paul, public information officer with Alpine Rescue Team. “If you find yourself in trouble somewhere in the backcountry, we don’t want you to waste battery power, we don’t want you to waste time calling your voicemail, calling a friend or relative.”

Paul added that lost hikers will likely be without a cell signal in the backcountry, and wouldn’t be able to change their voicemail messages anyway.

What to do if you’re in trouble in the backcountry

If a person is in trouble, Paul says they should only use their battery to make a call to 911. He encourages people to use text messages when possible.

“You may very well get a text message directly back from the 911 center. You could get a text back from the search and rescue team,” Paul said.

Charles Pitman with Summit County Rescue Group agrees that wasting cell phone battery in the backcountry can be a costly mistake.