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State Report Highlights Progress and Ongoing Challenges in Colorado Schools
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kdvr.com, Approved, State

State Report Highlights Progress and Ongoing Challenges in Colorado Schools

By KDVR Staff | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — A total of 55% of Colorado school districts received an accredited or higher rating for the 2025-2026 school year in the preliminary school and district accountability frameworks released Wednesday by the Colorado Department of Education. The frameworks are used to accredit school districts and assign school ratings by measures such as graduation rates, academic achievement and growth, according to the CDE, which said this year’s preliminary frameworks were based on data from 2024-2025. “The steady progress in the school and district frameworks is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our students, staff, and communities over the past few years,” said Colorado Education Commissioner Susan Córdova, in a statement. The 55% acc...
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Are you racist? The Durango School Board thinks so.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Are you racist? The Durango School Board thinks so.

By Protect La Plata Kids | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Durango School District 9-R has spent heavily on a quiet plan to bring diversity, equity and inclusion policies into local classrooms. Attached to this commentary are invoices obtained through CORA requests to the district. They show the board paid Make It Plain Consulting more than $209,000 between 2021 and 2025. A combined file of the invoices can be viewed here. What the community didn’t realize is that the board’s long-term goal was to introduce Critical Race Theory under the banner of DEI. School board directors Kristen Smith, Erika Brown and Andrea Parmenter started by pushing a new resolution for the Durango 9-R Board of Education. As of July 2025, three Federal Civil Rights Complaints were filed against D...
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Veteran Colorado Teacher Opts Out Unions, Champions Educator Choice
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State, Approved, IW Features

Veteran Colorado Teacher Opts Out Unions, Champions Educator Choice

By Jordan Jantz | IW Features When she started taking education courses in college, Jill Cullis thought teaching was just her backup career plan. She never imagined she’d be an educator, let alone spend more than three decades working in Colorado’s public schools, teaching students while helping colleagues find freedom from the teachers union. And she never imagined her workplace would become so politically hostile that she would be forced to retire. “I remember my mom saying, I just kind of came alive when I would talk about teaching,” Cullis told IW Features. “It was sort of a plan B, but in reality, it was God’s plan A for me.” Cullis was raised in a conservative household, and in high school, she read Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose, which cemented the freedom-focused values ...
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Colorado parents shaken as former school counselor faces assault charges
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Fox31, Approved, Local

Colorado parents shaken as former school counselor faces assault charges

By Parker Gordon | Fox31 DENVER (KDVR) — A former Poudre School District counselor has been arrested after allegedly having an “inappropriate relationship with a student for several years”, said the city of Fort Collins. On Tuesday, the city of Fort Collins said in a press release that Cassandra Poncelow, 40, has been arrested on multiple charges, including sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust, following an investigation into Poncelow’s employment at the school district. The city of Fort Collins said that a report was made to Fort Collins Police Services in July that a former counselor at the school district had an inappropriate relationship with a student while employed. Detectives, following the report, initiated an investigation into Poncelo...
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Gimelshteyn: Don’t blame Trump—Colorado’s education crisis was created by failed state and local leadership
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Colorado Politics, Approved, Commentary, State

Gimelshteyn: Don’t blame Trump—Colorado’s education crisis was created by failed state and local leadership

By Lori A. Gimelshteyn | Commentary, Colorado Politics According to the 2024 Colorado Measures of Academic Standards (CMAS) results, an alarming seven in 10 students in Denver Public Schools (DPS) are not meeting grade-level expectations in math and nearly 60% of students are not proficient in English. That is not a small gap; it is a catastrophic failure. But instead of taking responsibility, DPS and progressive politicians are pointing fingers at the federal government, pretending they had no warning of federal funding requirements, all while defending classrooms increasingly focused on ideology instead of academics. On July 2, CBS Colorado reported the Trump administration froze nearly $7 billion in federal education funding nationwide, including $70 million earmarked for Colo...
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Restoring Education: Veteran educator Priscilla Rahn invites teachers to reconnect and rebuild
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, State, Top Stories

Restoring Education: Veteran educator Priscilla Rahn invites teachers to reconnect and rebuild

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice This August, as educators across the country prepare for a new school year, veteran teacher and author Priscilla Rahn is offering something more than just a back-to-school refresher—she’s offering a movement. With over three decades of experience in public education, Rahn has worn nearly every hat in the system: teacher, principal, teacher evaluator and higher education mentor. Now in her 32nd year, she’s channeling that experience into her new book, Restoring Education in America: An Inspirational Teacher Toolbox, along with a powerful professional development book study designed to reignite teachers’ passion and purpose. “I was inspired to write the book because I’ve observed how professional development has changed,” Ra...
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Anderson: The Union Isn’t Fighting for Kids Anymore—It’s Fighting for Control
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Anderson: The Union Isn’t Fighting for Kids Anymore—It’s Fighting for Control

By Christy Anderson | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Contracts. Impasse. Mediation. Oh my!  We’ve all seen the headlines, the crowd of red shirts, and the talking points about “fighting for teachers and students.” But as a teacher—and a former union member—I’m here to tell you: what’s happening with the Mesa Valley Education Association (MVEA) isn’t about students. It’s political theatre, and it’s about control.  Let’s start with a bit of history.  Teacher unions were initially formed to give educators a voice in working conditions. In the early 20th century, teachers—primarily women—were underpaid, lacked job security, and had no influence in how schools were run. The National Education Association (NEA), founded in 1857, and the American Federation of T...
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Boll: Colorado calls it protection. Parents call it betrayal.
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Approved, Commentary, State, Substack, Top Stories

Boll: Colorado calls it protection. Parents call it betrayal.

By Laureen Boll | Commentary, Genspect Colorado is increasingly unhinged when it comes to gender Imagine the nightmare: You learn that your 17-year-old daughter, with whom you’ve always shared a deep, loving bond, has embarked upon an intimate relationship with her female teacher—a deeply inappropriate situation under any circumstances. But instead of acting to safeguard your child, school officials secretly label her “homeless” to allow her to move in with the teacher, withholding the truth from you. Unfortunately, this is the harsh reality for one Jefferson County, Colorado, family. When the parent uncovered the deception and confronted the high school principal, they were met with a shocking defense: the teacher was simply “helping kids explore their sexual identity.” Some ...
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