What’s churning:
Most school district offices are open today and students begin trickling back to class tomorrow and Wednesday. So shake off the holidays because there’s plenty going on in the world of education this week. Here’s a taste:
TUESDAY
Aurora Public Schools board members continue their conversation about changing graduation requirements, including adding a year of math and allowing students more freedom in choosing their electives. Changes would likely be effective with the Class of 2015. Board action on the issue is slated at their next meeting, Jan. 18. We’d like to provide a handy link to the proposed changes but that seems to be missing from the district’s website. Here’s the full agenda for tomorrow night’s 6 p.m. meeting, which includes minutes from the last board discussion about the issue. The meeting is at the usual place, 1085 Peoria St.
WEDNESDAY
The legislative Joint Budget Committee holds a hearing from 9 a.m. to noon on the 2010-11 budget for the state Department of Personnel and Administration. The hearing includes discussion about the Public Employees’ Retirement Association, which covers all state teachers and substantial numbers of higher education employees. The meeting will be in the JBC hearing room on the third floor of the Legislative Services Building, 200 E. 14th Ave.
THURSDAY
Jefferson County School Board members hold a special 5 p.m. meeting to talk about whether censured board member Laura Boggs should be allowed to serve as a board representative on committees. Boggs was censured for “unethical behavior” by her fellow board members on Dec. 16. That’s also when board member Paula Noonan requested the board take action to restrict Boggs from serving on various community committees.
The meeting is at the district’s administrative building in the Seminar Room, 4th floor, 1829 Denver West Dr., Bldg. 27, in Golden. It’s slated to last an hour, followed by the regularly scheduled board meeting beginning at 6 p.m. at the same location, but on the first floor. Agendas for both meetings are here, including a list of committees. Boggs now serves as the board’s representative on a National School Board Association committee.
FRIDAY
The Colorado Commission on Higher Education meets starting at 1 p.m. at the Community College of Denver King Center Concert Hall, 855 Lawrence Way on the Auraria campus. The key agenda item is a decision on how to allocate state financial aid funds to colleges. Staff has presented four alternatives for the commission to consider. All the choices involve cutbacks, because state aid is flat but the number of eligible students has grown. See the staff memo here, and check this document to see how each allocation method would affect individual colleges. See full agenda here.
Good reads from elsewhere:
- Unsolicited advice: NYC’s new chancellor gets some tips from veteran educators. The New York Times
- Revisionist history: Va. history textbooks rife with errors, review finds. The Washington Post
- Spirited debate: Bill Gates, Randi Weingarten slug it out in joint interview. Newsweek