Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Teachers

Poudre Schools Cut 182 Positions as Enrollment Declines
DENVER7, Approved, Local

Poudre Schools Cut 182 Positions as Enrollment Declines

By: Adria Iraheta | Denver7 District officials say some cuts reflect unfilled vacancies — but parents say fewer educators mean kids pay the price. FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Poudre School District is eliminating 182 educator positions heading into the next school year, citing budget issues as the driving force behind the cuts. The move comes after months of conversations about declining enrollment, forcing Poudre School District to consider how its budget could reshape schools across the district. PSD is projected to have 654 fewer students in its schools next year, citing fewer school-aged children in the area due to declining birth rates and fewer younger families moving into the area due to housing costs. Denver7 was there as parents brought their co...
Denver Teacher Dismissed After Students Asked To Act Out Kissing Scenes
Approved, Local, The Denver Gazette

Denver Teacher Dismissed After Students Asked To Act Out Kissing Scenes

By Nicole C. Brambila | The Denver Gazette An administrative law judge has recommended the dismissal of a teacher at Northeast Early College — a high school in the Denver Public Schools district — after finding classroom activities and personal disclosures to students amounted to “incompetence and neglect of duty,” setting up a final vote by the school board. After meeting in executive session Wednesday, the DPS Board of Education unanimously voted to accept the dismissal of Jennifer Honka, a French teacher. They could have rejected the April 30 decision by Judge Keith J. Kirchubel. The board’s action came without public discussion. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
Former Colorado Teacher Of The Year Finalist Sentenced To 14 Years In Student Abuse Case
CBS Colorado, Approved, Local

Former Colorado Teacher Of The Year Finalist Sentenced To 14 Years In Student Abuse Case

By Logan Smith | CBS Colorado A finalist for 2025 Colorado Teacher of the Year violated the terms of her probation and continued to contact one of her former students after she'd been criminally charged for having a relationship with the student and fired from her teaching position, according to a court document. Tera Johnson-Swartz was sentenced on March 19 to 14 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. Two cases were filed against her - the first following a grand jury investigation into the relationship, the second after detectives learned that Johnson-Swartz was trying to maintain contact with the student. The student confirmed those attempts, according to the arrest affidavit in the second case. In an interview, the student said his former teacher walked u...
Teachers Accused of Pushing Anti-ICE Activism on Young Students Nationwide
Breitbart, Approved, National

Teachers Accused of Pushing Anti-ICE Activism on Young Students Nationwide

By Warner Todd Huston | Breitbart Anti-American, left-wing teachers are forcing K-12 kids to join anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests all across the country as Democrats and foreign-funded activists continue to march in support of criminal illegal migrants. A school teacher in Boston, for instance, proudly released a video showing what appears to be first grade children parading inside the classroom with anti-ICE signs, according to the MassDailyNews. https://twitter.com/MassDailyNews/status/2018930359635689602?s=20 Teachers have a vested interest in Joe Biden-styled, open borders immigration because as more illegals enter the country, more students from families of illegals are fed into the school systems for free education. Hence more t...
SCOTUS Asked to Decide If Schools Can Punish Teachers for Off Duty Speech
Just The News, Approved, National

SCOTUS Asked to Decide If Schools Can Punish Teachers for Off Duty Speech

By Greg Piper | Just the News Appeals court said teacher who privately shared views about George Floyd riots on summer vacation caused "disruption" because of media attention. Jury rules against district that suspended student for memes about principal. Public employees may lose their First Amendment rights to express "controversial views while off the job" without suffering professional discipline without Supreme Court intervention, according to lawyers for a suburban Chicago teacher fired for Facebook posts about George Floyd's death in 2020. Judicial Watch petitioned the high court to review a 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that said the Board of Education of Township High School District No. 211's interest in "avoiding disruption" from Je...
Deadline Nears for Educators Seeking Refund of Union-Backed Political Spending
Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Deadline Nears for Educators Seeking Refund of Union-Backed Political Spending

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER—An annual deadline is looming for Colorado teachers to request a refund of that portion of their union dues going to political purposes with which they might well disagree. Members of Colorado’s statewide teachers’ union are entitled to a $49 partial refund of their dues. The money otherwise goes toward supporting union-backed candidates and political causes. Many teachers are unaware of their right to the yearly refund, or the mid-December deadline to apply. Every Colorado teacher who joins their local union automatically joins the National Education Association (NEA) as well as the Colorado Education Association (CEA). According to the CEA website, the statewide union is then organized into approximately 200 ...
Education funds drained by bureaucrats while kids fall behind
New York Post, Approved, Commentary, National

Education funds drained by bureaucrats while kids fall behind

By Post Editorial Board | Commentary, New York Post If you think spending more money on America’s schools will lead to greater student achievement, guess again: A new analysis of 12,000-plus school districts shows just the opposite. Not only does more spending not correlate with better student performance, turns out it coincides with moderately worse performance. The public-policy watchdog Open the Books looked at payroll growth at 12,531 public-school districts from 2019 to 2023, and compared it to the percentage change in the district rankings on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exams, the gold standard for measuring reading and math proficiency of fourth and eighth graders. Guess what: The greater the payroll growth, the more...
In rural school districts, creative solutions to house teachers being created
Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

In rural school districts, creative solutions to house teachers being created

By Lindy Browning | Contributor, Rocky Mountain Voice From Deer Creek School District on the far Eastern Plains to Rangely on the western border of Utah, from Telluride and Aspen to Vail and Steamboat Springs, school districts all over rural Colorado are struggling with a need for affordable and available housing for teachers. In an effort to begin finding solutions for what school districts foresee as a long-term problem, Colorado Rural Schools Alliance (CRSA) hosted their first Rural Housing Forum in Beaver Creek on Thursday, Oct. 24. CRSA represents 146 of 178 school districts in Colorado. The remaining 32 are located in urban areas.  Chris Holbert, formerly a Colorado senator and Minority Leader, and current consultant for CRSA, doesn’t think that one-size solutions fit all sc...

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