Updated 11:45 a.m. – With little discussion, the State Board of Education voted 7-0 this morning to grant innovation status to three schools involved in the reorganization of education offerings in Far Northeast Denver.
The three schools are the Noel Community Arts School, the Denver Center for International Studies at Ford and the Denver Center for International Studies at Montbello.
The issue has been divisive within the Denver public schools, and the school board split 4-3 in vote on the issue last week. The Denver Classroom Teachers Association has opposed the innovation designations, arguing that because the innovation law requires sign off by current teachers, it can’t be used here because new staffs are being hired at the three schools.
In recommending the state board approve the applications, CDE Associate Commissioner Rich Wenning urged members to take “an expansive view of the statute” regarding staff approval, given that the three are new schools.
Innovation designation gives a school exemption from a variety of state and district regulations, including provisions of union contracts.
Get more detail on the issue in this previous EdNews story.
What’s churning:
The State Board of Education, charged with writing the regulations necessary to implement Senate Bill 10-191, digs into the task at meetings today and Thursday. The board will have a follow-up discussion this afternoon on the recent report of the State Council for Educator Effectiveness and devote its entire 9 a.m. to noon meeting Thursday to a study session on the issue.
Board members have plenty of other matters to deal with today, including formal appointment of Robert Hammond as commissioner of education, consideration of three controversial innovation applications from schools in Far Northeast Denver and a briefing on the latest TELL Survey of school working conditions. Agenda information.
Boulder school board members on Tuesday selected Bruce Messinger to be the next superintendent of the state’s eighth largest school district. Messinger has been superintendent of Helena, Montana schools for the past 14 years and was a deputy superintendent in the Greeley school district from 1993 until 1997.
Messinger was chosen over two other finalists, current Boulder assistant superintendent Deirdre Pilch and Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Nancy Sebring. Boulder’s current superintendent, Chris King, is retiring after four years in the district’s top seat.
Read the district’s press release, including links to Messinger’s application and his new three-year contract, which starts July 1.
What’s on tap:
The St. Vrain school board meets at 7 p.m. at the Educational Services Center, 395 South Pratt Parkway, Longmont. Agenda.
Good reads from elsewhere:
Looking back: Former New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein pens a piece for the Atlantic about what he learned from eight years running the nation’s largest school district.