Teacher trouble
One Boulder High School teacher has been demoted for, well, teaching. The story goes like this: All of Jim Vacca’s AP Language Arts students opted out of PARCC and asked him to teach his class as usual. He agreed. The administration booted him from his AP duties. Now, over 600 of his students, frustrated about his punishment, have signed a letter asking for his reinstatement. “He doesn’t just teach what the book says, but he helps you figure out who you are,” Junior Micaela Seaver told the Boulder Daily Camera. “It’s really rare to find a teacher who does that.” It may be rarer still with administrative decisions like this one.
True story
Teachers have lost control of the curriculum and of their classrooms, and this is problem No. 1 for public education, suggests Heal our Schools, a new documentary by Colorado Springs teacher and filmmaker Laurie Gabriel. “If teachers stood together it would be a lot easier for us to stand up for our kids. We need a unified voice saying the way it is isn’t right for our kids,” she told The Gazette.
Out of control
Katha Pollitt on the IUD wars in the Colorado legislature over the the program that reduced teen pregnancies by a remarkable 40 percent and teen abortions by a remarkable 34 percent: The birth control that worked too well. Via The Nation.
Loud, not clear
After 87 legislators wrote a no-confidence letter to Governor Hickenlooper about Colorado human services director Reggie Bicha, he told The Denver Post, “I’ve heard loud and clear from members of the General Assembly that they need better communication, better collaboration from me and from my department, and I’m committed to making that happen. What he has apparently not heard is the main message: Step down.
Pot shot
Niwot residents have launched a new nonprofit to stop a marijuana store. Its name says it all: “No Pot in Niwot.” Via the Times-Call.
Shoot off
What started as a foot chase ended in yet another Denver Police Department shooting. The officers were uninjured and the suspect’s injuries were not life threatening. Via The Denver Post.
Photo credit: Stuart Pilbrow, Creative Commons, Flickr.
