Denver Public Schools buses at their home off Federal Boulevard, Dec. 14, 2019.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
A majority of sampled Denver voters would support a ballot initiative that would issue a $975 million bond to Denver Public Schools, according to a new poll from civic engagement nonprofit Denver Families for Public Schools and Keating Research, Inc.
The Denver Public Schools Board of Education is weighing a proposal from the district’s Community Planning and Advisory Committee to put the nearly $1 billion bond on the November ballot for Denver voters.
The board is due to vote on sending it to the voters in August.
The bond would be used for maintenance projects, a new school and safety and technology improvements.
The recommendation comes after five months of discussions with the committee of parents, educators and students on how a bond would be most beneficial.
Diving into the poll findings
The survey polled 500 likely Denver voters on a wide range of issues, including the potential bond. Keating Research noted that that support was consistent across political beliefs.
“Support for the Denver Public Schools bond measure is widespread, extending across party lines as Democrats (78% vote yes), Unaffiliated voters (62% vote yes), and a plurality of Republicans (43% vote yes) support the bond measure,” a report on the survey said.
Major projects the bond would pay for include:
$240 million to install air conditioning in 29 DPS buildings without A/C, install more efficient A/C units at more locations, and conduct a geothermal study on school use of A/C.
$301 million for “critical maintenance,” which includes mechanical, electrical, plumbing and sustainability upgrades.
$100 million for “quality learning environments”, which would pay for a health clinic at the Paul Sandoval Campus, all-gender restrooms and building outdoor classrooms.
$11 million to implement and improve district-wide safety systems, including weapons detection, security cameras and crisis communication.
The poll also surveyed voters on what they think of DPS leaders
While surveyed voters expressed support for the potential bond, Denver residents appear to be dissatisfied with the current leadership.
Forty-seven percent of respondents held an unfavorable view of the current Denver School Board. Fifty-one percent of respondents said they were unfamiliar with Superintendent Alex Marrero, with 33 percent holding an unfavorable view.
Denver Families for Public Schools paid for the study as part of its goal to understand how voters feel about the potential bond. The nonprofit plans to decide whether it will endorse the bond in the coming weeks.
McMeen Elementary knows first-hand what it’s like to absorb some of the thousands of new immigrants that came from Venezuela and other places to Denver this last school year.
The school is a magnet for immigrants — boasting students from 25 countries.
A new film, “McMeen in the Middle, Denver’s Migrant Crisis,” profiles the real-life challenges for the new students and their families and the burden felt by teachers, DPS administrators and the community as they tried to meet the needs of the newcomers.
Denver Public Schools received about 4,700 students in the unprecedented school year.
The film’s producer, Anna Alejo of CBS News Colorado, said while reporting on the arrival of new immigrants to Denver and the costs associated with the migration, McMeen Elementary in the Washington Virginia Vale neighborhood stood out.
“It was clear that [this] was an opportunity to witness up close how the arrival of so many new children every week was affecting classrooms and how the school … had a limited ability to respond,” Alejo said.
Teachers grapple with the stress of supporting new students
Soledad Montecino, who herself immigrated from Chile to the United States about 15 years ago, is among the teachers profiled in the film.
She was attracted to the school because of its mission to serve immigrants and its dual language program, where students are taught in Spanish and English. This past school year, her first-grade class ballooned from 29 students at the start of school to 35 by the end of the year.
Throughout the film, Montecino talks about the highs and lows of the turbulent year and wonders how she’ll feel when she has time to reflect back on it.
“Maybe one day, I’m going to feel proud of [what I accomplished this year] or maybe I’m going to resent it, because this is putting a lot of stress on me,” Montecino says in the film. “And at the end of the day, I feel like ‘Why I didn’t do more?’”
A bright spot in a difficult year was watching the community rally around the newcomers, Montecino said. Families brought in clothes and donated money to support field trips and other activities for the students.
Montecino said students came to first grade without knowing any letters or their sounds.
“[Things] like holding a pencil or how to write down their names,” Montecino said. “Everything was new.”
The chance was especially taxing early in the school year when a new student arrived in her classroom every two or three weeks, she said. At the same time, the arrivals allowed her other students to be helpers, guiding the newcomers through the transition to a new classroom and a new country.
Montecino noted it was surprising that many of the students talked about their journeys to the United States in positive terms, despite the extraordinary challenges of the multi-country trek.
During a unit on animals and their habitat, she said the newcomers talked about what they had witnessed.
“They mentioned that they saw monkeys, they saw snakes. Some of them were in a little boat and they saw alligators,” Montecino said. “For them, it was like a child going to Disneyland and telling you all of these details.”
As kids go to school, parents struggle to find housing and work authorizations
One of those students is first-grader Maikol Rosas.
Her mother, Genesis Salloum, said parents like her tried to shelter their children so they wouldn’t notice the dead or injured as they made their way through difficult terrain, including the perilous and often-deadly Darién gap connecting South and Central America.
In the film, Salloum said they left Venezuela over a year ago because of political persecution. She said as they traveled through seven different countries, she told her children they were on a “walking trip.”
“Those parents and all of the adults around them did an amazing job,” said teacher Montecino, who taught Rosas. “Crossing the jungle and telling a story to the kiddos so they [could] have the sense that it’s an adventure and not something horrible because it was horrible.”
Listen to the audio feature of this story from CPR
Salloum said Maikol has had a difficult time adjusting to a new language, a new way of life and a new climate.
She’s also faced significant hardships. Because many new immigrants don’t have work visas, they’ve had to contend with wage left. And, Salloum said, because one of Maikol’s siblings has a medical condition, her family has expensive medical bills to pay.
Alejo, the film’s producer, said she was struck by how determined Salloum was to find work despite the obstacles.
“She talked about how … when she knew there was a time limit on how long the families could stay in the shelter, she worked very hard every minute of the day to try to find work, to try to find an apartment they could afford,” Alejo said.
Early on, Salloum said, she and her husband had to find work from people willing to hire them without work visas, but it still wasn’t enough to pay rent each month.
“It’s also important to note that given where they can afford to rent and where landlords are willing to offer them a place to stay, it’s not very safe,” Alejo said. “And that is also something that really concerns some of the educators at McMeen.”
Ultimately, Salloum was able to get work authorization, housing and steady work.
But safety is still an issue. The family lives in a section of Denver near the school that has one of the highest incidents of gun violence.
“So it’s not easy for these families,” Alejo said. “They dream of finding a better place to live. They want to stay at McMeen because they love the school, but they would like to get their kids to a safer environment.”
The school became a one-stop shop for a host of other needs as well.
Alejo said some of the young newcomers came to school hungry because their parents didn’t qualify for work permits in the U.S. and didn’t have a steady source of income.
During the school year, McMeen began sending students home with bags of groceries before weekends and school breaks, in addition to providing free breakfast and lunch on school days.
Many of the new students weren’t able to provide documentation of past vaccinations, so the school began vaccinating students.
Soledad Montecino is a first-grade teacher at McMeen Elementary. Courtesy of Anna Alejo
Tooth decay was a problem since many of the children had received limited dental care in their native countries and had been on months-long trips, often on foot, through South and Central America without any oral care.
The school also brought in providers to test students’ vision and fit them with glasses. Since it doesn’t get cold in Venezuela, McMeen also began providing winter clothing to the children.
Alejo noted that on top of all of the student’s needs, McMeen and other schools that received the newcomers were constrained by funding since a lot of the children arrived after the state’s official October student count.
“The school had limited space, limited manpower and [large] class sizes and as you can imagine, it’s difficult to teach reading, writing and mathematics when you have that many first or second graders,” Alejo said.
Doing what’s best for students even in a tense political climate over immigration
Given heightened concerns about immigration this election year, both Republicans and Democrats have questioned the ability of the country to absorb so many new immigrants, many in violation of US laws.
Soledad Montecino said as an immigrant herself, she knows how difficult it is to come to a country where you don’t know the language and have to start from scratch.
“We are here to work,” she said. “We just want the opportunity to live and work in a country where we feel safe. We don’t want anything for free.”
Alejo said the film set out to profile people — teachers, administrators, students and parents — at the neighborhood level who aren’t always heard.
“We don’t take sides as journalists,” Alejo said. “But … I hope the documentary offers a view of how migration affects people, affects communities, and the school.”
What’s next for schools?
As for the upcoming school year, Alejo said enrollments are expected to stabilize.
Most of the new families plan to stay at McMeen, which means classrooms are preparing to have 35 students again this year.
Alejo said when CBS News reached out to Denver Public Schools about a plan to address crowded classrooms, officials said they would be in touch with principals at McMeen and other affected schools to see what they could do.
Teacher Soledad Montecino said that one of the pluses of the last school year was that it provided her with the tools to be a better teacher next year.
“I’m hoping that we can have more help, more resources, not just for the school, [but] for those families,” she said.
Nearly $1 million — mostly from a group supporting charter schools — has poured into the Democratic primary for a seat on the Colorado State Board of Education, a race that some observers say could play a role in the future of charters in the state.
But the two candidates vying to represent the 2nd Congressional District dispute that Tuesday’s primary, whatever the result, will alter the fate of charter schools. They each said in interviews that they support school choice, a system in which charters — public schools that have more autonomy than traditional, district-run schools — play an integral part.
“I believe this is a false narrative,” said Marisol Lynda Rodriguez, an education consultant new to politics with a background in charter schools.
Denver Public Schools headquarters, March 23, 2023.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.
By Melanie Asmar, Chalkbeat
Denver Public Schools will soon debut a new discipline matrix — a flowchart of sorts that gives school staff guidance on when students can be suspended or expelled for behavior ranging from bringing a gun to school to bullying.
The new matrix will be more detailed than the current one, according to a presentation given by district officials to the school board Thursday. It is meant to be less subjective, more specific, and more realistic. It will include greater differentiation between offenses and provide real-world examples.
The presentation includes a few of those examples. For instance, it defines “extortion/sextortion,” an offense for which a student could be suspended, as: “Student A (willingly or unknowingly) shares a nude photo with Student B. Student B tells Student A they must pay them $1000 to keep it off Instagram.”
The shooter was a 17-year-old student who had previous weapons charges and had been expelled from a neighboring school district. That he was allowed to enroll in a traditional DPS high school caused some parents to question the district’s discipline policies. Neither the new matrix nor the old one addresses whether a formerly expelled student can enroll at a school.
The district was already planning to revise the discipline matrix before the East shooting, but the incident increased the urgency and deepened the scope of the changes, said DPS Deputy Chief of Staff Deborah Staten. The goal of the revisions is to help school staff “get very clear about what behaviors are, and what consequences for behaviors are, and not have to guess,” she said.
The new matrix is not necessarily more punitive. It emphasizes the use of restorative justice and encourages school staff to find alternatives to suspension if possible, Staten said.
“Our goal is not to have kids out of school,” she said. “Our goal is to have kids in school.”
The board does not need to vote on the new matrix, which will take effect this fall.
The new matrix has more levels
DPS hasn’t yet released the full matrix. But the presentation notes some of the changes.
The new matrix will include seven levels of behavioral offenses instead of six. Bringing a firearm to school is now a level seven offense — the most serious — and makes a student of any age eligible for expulsion. In other categories, younger students face lesser consequences.
Homicide and attempted homicide were also added as level seven offenses. Staten said that decision was “met with mixed emotions” but reflects the reality of urban school districts.
“Those are behaviors that happen in schools, so when we talked about this, we said, ‘Let’s call the thing the thing,’” Staten said.
Level four encompasses behaviors including disorderly conduct, defined as when two students “engage in mutual fisticuffs” that “does not result in major injury.” Level four offenses are punishable by an in-school or out-of-school suspension.
Level two includes nicotine offenses, such as vaping at school. Students could get an in-school suspension, but not an out-of-school suspension, for a level two offense.
Unlike in past revisions, a committee of DPS staff and community members met eight times over six months and made more than 75 recommendations for how to rewrite the matrix.
Black students are disproportionately disciplined
While the East shooting was a main driver of changing the matrix, Superintendent Alex Marrero acknowledged at an April school board meeting that there was another factor: DPS has been flagged by the state twice in four years for disproportionate discipline of Black students with disabilities under a federal regulation that requires states to monitor it.
In the 2023-24 school year, the out-of-school suspension rate for Black students with disabilities was nearly 20 percent, according to district data. The suspension rate for all students with disabilities was 10.6 percent, and the suspension rate for white students with disabilities was 5.5 percent.
Black students without disabilities are also disproportionately suspended, the data shows.
The district was first flagged by the state for discipline disparities in November 2020 based on data from the 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20 school years, according to documents obtained by Chalkbeat in an open records request.
DPS had to submit a corrective action plan to the Colorado Department of Education and allocate a portion of its federal special education funding to address the problem. In its action plan adopted in 2021, DPS pledged to conduct a districtwide awareness campaign and provide targeted support to schools that had suspended the most Black students with disabilities.
DPS was not flagged by the state in the 2020-21 school year, which was largely remote due to the pandemic, or the 2021-22 school year, according to state records. But in November 2023, the district got a warning letter from the state that its schools had once again disproportionately suspended Black students with disabilities in 2022-23.
“We had no choice but to revise the previous version of the matrix,” Marrero said in April. “The way it was being used was incredibly disproportionate.”
The district will roll out the new discipline matrix to school leaders in July and begin training teachers and other school staff in August, officials said. The district plans to offer training to parents as well, and post the matrix on a website accessible on mobile devices.
Nobody at Florence Crittenton High School’s graduation ceremony flinched at the sounds of babies crying, giggling and shouting.
Those interruptions were expected — even celebrated.
For many of the students onstage, the squirming children behind the commotion were their sources of motivation, their reasons to push forward and finish high school in the first place.
“This is an end of an era,” said 18-year-old Jenny Alvarez to the crowd as her son, Osiel, watched quietly with her family. “We are saying goodbye to people we once knew, opening our eyes to something new. It can be hard, when we think about all the things we went through.”
Florence Crittenton High School student Jenny Alvarez makes a speech during her graduation ceremony at the Auraria Campus’ King Center. May 28, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
A school dedicated to students who are pregnant or parents
Florence Crittenton High — FloCrit to those who love it — is a special place within Denver Public Schools. It’s program meant specifically for students who are pregnant or who have kids.
Graduations at FloCrit represent more than the average end-of-year ceremony. Diplomas, caps and gowns all point to huge transformations that have taken place within their students.
The walk across the stage is less about leaving childhood behind and more a recognition that these girls are ready to take control of not only their futures, but also the futures of the babies who depend on them.
“Today’s a day to remember,” Alvarez said from the podium. “A day to be proud of.”
People hold up the babies of Florence Crittenton High School students, as their mothers sit on stage during their graduation ceremony at the Auraria Campus’ King Center. May 28, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Florence Crittenton Services is over a century old, but they haven’t always held graduations.
Jenny Alvarez and Geneva Aragon toss their caps into the air during Florence Crittenton High School’s graduation ceremony at the Auraria Campus’ King Center. May 28, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
MonaLisa Martinez was a student at FloCrit in the 1990s, back when girls only went to classes there during their pregnancies, then returned to their home schools to graduate. She would have preferred to finish her studies with the other mothers in her class, like Alvarez did.
“I would’ve loved that, for the simple fact that they shared the journey with me and I was able to celebrate with them in the end,” she told Denverite. “They were a part of the village, and it takes a village. Your fellow students, they’re your support.”
Jenny Alvarez carries her son, Osiel, into Florence Crittenton High School.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Jenny Alvarez gives an end-of-year presentation in her civics class.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
The school expanded in 2012 with the help of city bond money. That upgrade allowed students to finally finish their school years under one roof.
Martinez now runs FloCrit’s early childhood education program, watching over children and enabling their mothers to concentrate on their studies.
“It’s really sweet, how my son has a connection with his teachers,” Alvarez said. “It makes me feel safe. And they have a special spot in my heart, because that’s my child and they have love for him. Then I go to class, I greet everybody and I just get started on my work and focus on what I need to get done for my future.”
Jenny Alvarez embraces her son, Osiel, as she drops him off at Florence Crittenton Services’ early childhood education center before she heads to class. May 15, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
This time of year, as students prepare to leave FloCrit’s embrace, Martinez said she always remembers exactly what it felt like to be in their shoes.
“It still feels the same. And I know what they’re feeling and what’s running through their minds and their hearts,” she told us. “A lot of the emotion here is their journey’s not over. They still have to keep it going in the world we live in.”
But these students are ready for that next step. They have to be.
Like those of many of her classmates, Alvarez’s pregnancy was unplanned. So was her monumental growth.
“I was an F student. I would ditch class a lot,” she remembered. “I used to be a rebel in school. Sometimes, I look back at my memories and I’m like: I am a whole different person.”
“I have heard it from my family members, that having this baby was a blessing to me,” she added. “Because they saw me develop so differently, and pass all my classes with A’s, and be more centered in life in general.”
Julie Garcia accepts her diploma from Florence Crittenton High School Principal Joshua Howard during her graduation ceremony at the Auraria Campus’ King Center. May 28, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Her close friend and classmate, Julie Garcia, said she also felt pulled toward a new way of being after the arrival of her daughter, Juliett.
On the heels of seismic change, it was a necessity.
“Now that we have a responsibility, we have to be on this. Because we know we can’t wait,” she said. “We have to move on with life. We don’t have time to slack anymore.”
Florence Crittenton Services executive director Desta Taye-Channell stands with her graduating high school seniors before they walk onstage at the Auraria Campus’ King Center. May 28, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Desta Taye-Channell, Florence Crittenton Services’ executive director, said she sees that recognition in all of her students.
“When they realize the responsibility of parenthood, they’re very, very driven to be successful,” she said. “I think any woman — especially those of color and those who have been really oppressed by poverty — it’s a big deal when they realize regardless of situations they’re smart, they’re able and they have a future.”
At the same time, mourning their own childhoods
Alvarez and Garcia said they’re proud of the ways they’ve grown up, though they still mourn their childhoods’ premature ends.
They’ve drifted away from their old friends, kids who no longer see the world the same way they do. Their relationships with their families have changed, too.
Florence Crittenton High School senior Jenny Alvarez (left) sits with her friends as Julie Garcia and Geneva Aragon ride a rollercoaster during a field trip to Elitch Gardens.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
It’s one reason FloCrit’s administrators make sure to give seniors a field trip, this year to Elitch Gardens. Alvarez and Garcia said they deeply feel that need, to just be girls.
“It feels nice to do that, to go to the park and chill with our friends. And we look like little kids, but it makes us happy,” Garcia said. “It’s like we’re healing each others’ inner child.”
‘I wanted to give up, but then I remembered who was watching’
They’ve learned the skills they’ll need to continue with their lives outside of school, to make time for self-care as they tend to their children and careers.
Garcia plans to become a phlebotomist. Alvarez will attend the Community College of Denver in the fall to pursue a business degree.
Julie Garcia embraces Jasmine Juarez, her close friend and classmate, after Florence Crittenton High School’s graduation ceremony at the Auraria Campus’ King Center. May 28, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
But they could put those future plans away for one sweet evening, graduation night, and celebrate how far they’ve come.
“I wanted to give up, but then I remembered who was watching,” Garcia wrote on her graduation cap.
And Alvarez wrote on Osiel’s little mortarboard, topping his ceremonial robes: “My mommy did it, and she did it for me!!”
Julie Garcia waits to enter Florence Crittenton High School’s graduation ceremony at the Auraria Campus’ King Center, with a cap she decorated that reads “I wanted to give up, but then I remembered who was watching.” May 28, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Jenny Alvarez fixes her son, Osiel’s, cap before Florence Crittenton High School’s graduation ceremony at the Auraria Campus’ King Center. May 28, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
DENVER — Santa Martinez’s classroom is a melting pot of different cultures and different languages.
Many of the Bruce Randolph School English language development teacher’s students are new to the country.
Amid so many big life changes, they find solace in their teacher, who can relate to them in a way.
“I am in my first year teaching here for Denver Public Schools and I have [been here for] nine months in Denver,” Martinez told Denver7.
Martinez is from the Dominican Republic on a J1 Visa. She’s part of the district’s new International Educators Institute. It’s a push to get more international teachers in DPS classrooms.
Superintendent Dr. Alex Marrero said it all started with a trip to the Dominican Republic.
“I went up for what I thought was just simply an educational keynote around biliteracy,” he explained.
Dr. Marrero told Denver7 that dozens of teachers expressed interest in coming to work at DPS to learn more about the district’s biliteracy efforts in hopes of replicating it in their home country.
Denver Public Schools begins push to get more international educators into its classrooms
Martinez was one of those educators.
“We were so into it,” she recalled.
Of course, moving to a new country isn’t easy.
Dr. Marrero said that out of all those teachers.
“It was more like eight that made it [to Denver]. Then out of that eight, five are still with us.”
That’s where the idea for the institute was born. It provides wraparound services and support beyond work to help these teachers settle into the Mile High City.
The district says its goal is to have at least 200 international teachers in classrooms by this fall.
Dr. Marrero said the district is using its existing relationships in other countries to recruit teachers, as well as reaching out to higher education institutions overseas to get the word out.
While Martinez admits it was still a challenging journey, it was all possible because of the help she received from DPS – from finding housing to getting around the city.
“I think that I received enough support and I’m still receiving it because people are asking, ‘How are you doing? We are so glad that you are here,’” she said.
When asked what her favorite part about Denver has been so far, Martinez said, “I love my students. All of them [have] something to show to the world.”
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Mayor Mike Johnston announces budget cuts and changes to Denver’s immigrant programs at the City and County Building on Wednesday, April 10, 2024.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
A scammer is trying to take advantage of young people interested in applying to Denver YouthWorks, the city’s program that will give students who work 100 hours over the summer a $1,000 stipend.
The group behind the messages said it would offer students help finding jobs and qualify for the $1,000 bonus the city was offering.
Sadly, for the students, the offer was too good to be true.
“Unfortunately, after an individual provides their personal information, the scam organization asks to send them money for services that never materialize,” according to a statement from Denver Public Schools.
“The YouthWorks Initiative will never ask you to pay to be included in the program,” the district added in a statement. “To make sure that you are on the right track, go to www.denvergov.org/youthsummer. From there, you will find all of the details and the legitimate link to apply to the program.”
The district is also encouraging students to attend the city’s hiring fairs. One is online today, May 24, from 4 to 5 p.m., and the other is in person on Saturday, June 1, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the PPA Event Center, 2015 Decatur St.
Caden O’Kellylee, 12, remembers what it was like sitting in his elementary classroom when temperatures hit 90 degrees for hours a day.
“It’s pretty exhausting,” he said, thinking back to his time at Teller Elementary, one of more than 30 schools in Denver Public Schools without air conditioning. “Sometimes it’s hard to think.”
There was a portable AC unit in the window, “but they were very loud and weren’t very fun to listen to.It was just uncomfortable.”
Denver Public Schools has gradually added traditional AC units to most of the schools. This November, voters may decide on air conditioning for the remaining 30 schools.
When O’Kellylee learned about an efficient way to both heat and cool in the same unit, something called a heat pump, he wondered: “Why don’t we have these?”
O’Kellylee is a member of Earth Rangers, the middle school extension of DPS Students for Climate Action, which is comprised mostly of high school students. They are lobbying for climate-conscious heat pumps to be installed in schools that don’t yet have air conditioning. They hope to get this option on the city’s November ballot.
Earth Rangers Oscar Park, Caden O’Kellylee, Calloway Jackson, Halle Jackson (left to right), and DPS Students for Climate Action members Amelia Fernandez and Farah Djama pose for a picture after speaking at the DPS Community Planning and Advisory Committee in support of heat pumps in school buildings on April 9, 2024.
Get the gas out
“It’s more efficient and it uses electricity instead of fossil fuels,” said Earth Ranger and sixth-grader Halle Jackson.
The kids did their research. Earth Rangers knew that focusing on heating and cooling in their schools would have the biggest bang for the buck. Energizing buildings accounts for 84 percent of DPS’s carbon emissions. Forty-one percent comes from heating through natural gas, said Jackson.
They toured DPS’s Evie Dennis multi-school campus in the city’s northeast. It has solar panels and is heated and cooled using geothermal high-efficiency heat pumps. They take the place of natural gas boilers and traditional air conditioners.
Aerial photo of solar panels on the roof of GALS Denver school. Students would like Denver Public Schools to make use of Inflation Reduction Act incentives for more solar panel projects like this one.
Water is pumped into the ground through a set of large pipes and they split into a series of smaller horizontal pipes, kind of like radiant heating in a home. The pipes then either transfer heat to the ground or absorb heat from the ground.
“The pipes switch back and forth and allow heat exchange,” said Adam West, a DPS energy engineer. “So, you’re either pushing heat into the ground or allowing heat to be exchanged in the ground when you’re in cooling mode — or when you’re in heating mode, you’re absorbing heat from the ground and putting it into the buildings.”
Most schools use natural gas heating and traditional AC units. A heat pump is two in one.
Control box for one set of heat pumps at the Evie Dennis campus of DPS schools on April 9, 2024.
“When the district adds AC, it gives us an opportunity to electrify heating,” West said. “Using electricity to heat our schools allows us to power heating with renewable electricity or carbon-free electricity from the grid.”
The cost of installing heat pumps can vary compared to AC units depending on the school system, said West. The district currently has about 20 buildings with some use of heat pumps.
Students are asking that when an HVAC system is updated or if new AC systems are installed, the district uses climate-conscious heat pumps. They say that’s consistent with the DPS Climate Policy and the DPS Climate Action Plan, which came about through student advocacy. The plan has a goal to reduce the district’s overall greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2050 from 2010 levels. One of the key strategies to doing that is eliminating the use of natural gas in DPS buildings.
If you ask any child or youth about climate change, anxiety often comes pouring out. Many of the students in Earth Rangers or DPS Students for Climate Action remember exactly when they realized the depth of the crisis.
At the beginning of the pandemic, O’Kellylee discovered a book in the library on climate change.
“I just couldn’t stop,” he said. “I checked out more and more and more and then I realized the problem that we were creating for ourselves to deal with.”
Listen to the radio version of this story
Amelia Fernandez, 16, said she learned about the climate crisis at age 13.
“I knew I had to do something. I started very small.”
She said climate anxiety among youth is very prevalent.
“We are inheriting a crisis that is threatening our very existence, it’s threatening the existence of all the creatures that we could coexist with.”
DPS Students for Climate Action members Farah Djama and Amelia Fernandez (left to right) advocated for DPS’ climate policy and the DPS Climate Action Plan on April 9, 2024.
Farah Djama, 17, recalls that when she was 15, she had a lot of climate anxiety. A friend advised her to attend an online conference with The Climate Reality Project. Djama eventually joined DPS Students for Climate Action and advocated for the district’s climate plan, one of the strongest in the nation. She said that the plan can inspire students around the country.
“Thinking back to when I wasn’t involved how much anxiety I felt and how powerless I felt. Now I feel a lot more empowered.”
Her school Thomas Jefferson High hasn’t finished installing traditional AC. She remembers sweating and being distracted at the beginning of the school year. She said in the winter, the heating system didn’t work when her friends on the robotics team met on weekends.
“They had to wear parka coats with gloves … that are flammable. And for anyone who works with power tools or electricity, that’s a hazard. Someone could get hurt.”
The students have their sights on heat pumps in all DPS schools. They are starting with a first goal of getting heat pumps for the 30 DPS schools that still need air conditioning.
Will heat pumps for schools go before voters?
One recent Tuesday, students showed up to where any child wants to go on a Tuesday night – a DPS Community Planning and Advisory Committee meeting!
The 72-person committee will decide what goes on a potential bond ballot measure this November.
“Electric buildings are the future and we want Denver to lead the way in making that future a reality for school children everywhere,” sixth-grader Oscar Park told the committee.
Sixth graders Oscar Park (left) and Caden O’Kellylee (right) speak in support of installing heat pumps in 30 school buildings without air conditioning at a DPS CPAC meeting that decides what will go into a proposed bond measure. April 9, 2024.
Amelia Fernandez, 16, encourages the district and bond committee to investigate federal Inflation Reduction Act tax credits for solar and geothermal power on April 9, 2024. She is a member of DPS Students for Climate Action.
A cost analysis found that for 13 of the 30 schools, heat pumps would be cheaper than traditional AC. For eight more schools, it’s still cost-effective but would require the district to tap into another fund for an extra $7 million.
The district has proposed spending $247 million to add AC to 21 of the 30 schools. For the remaining nine, the analysis found it would take another $43 million for construction costs.
Fernandez wants heat pumps in all 30 schools. During the CPAC meeting, she asked the district to consider tapping federal tax credits for solar and geothermal through the Inflation Reduction Act, which could help with upfront costs. If the district waits, “it’s just going to make the climate problem worse.”
But the bond is a flat amount, and DPS has a lot of capital needs districtwide. It’s up to the committee to decide next month how to allocate the money.
“I fully understand where students are coming from with saying, ‘let’s do all 30 schools,’” said the district’s energy engineer West. “Ultimately, funding schools for climate action can’t just be done locally, especially in Colorado.”
He said it would take municipal, state, and federal support. He estimates that changing out160 plus main school buildings with electrified heating will be a multi-decade effort.
Adam West, an energy engineer with Denver Public Schools, stands in the main heat pump room at the Evie Dennis campus in northeast Denver on April 9, 2024. A heat pump either absorbs heat from the or pushes heat into the ground to warm and cool a building. It is much more efficient than a traditional AC system and natural gas boilers and dramatically reduces carbon emissions.
The kids want to see quicker progress
They’re driven to give something back to the Earth instead of destroying it because it gives us so much, said Earth Ranger Park.
“It gives us somewhere to live, it gives us food, it gives us us,” he said. “Without it, we wouldn’t exist.”
Right now, they’re focused on getting more youth involved in the bond measure, one cog in the biggest issue of their lifetimes. They’re hoping to grow Earth Rangers (they have fun cheers like the “colossal squids,” one where they yell “chomp chomp!”) to tackle more issues like getting climate and renewable energy issues into the curriculum.
Along with the DPS Students for Climate Action, they are helping host a Climate Summit on Friday, April 19, at East High School from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. All students and community members are invited. It will focus on how students can contribute to climate actions and build leadership and advocacy skills. The keynote speaker is Madhvi Chittoor, 13, the youngest UN child advisor and founder of Madhvi4EcoEthics and the EcoEthics Global Movement.
“If you are a youth right now experiencing eco-anxiety, worrying about the present and the future, you have to know that the only antidote is action,” said Fernandez. “There’s no point in wallowing in your own despair.”
The Northeast Early College 309-kilowatt solar array is a parking lot canopy that also serves as a power station to help reduce utility costs for local families. Students are advocating for more projects like this one to reduce the district’s carbon emissions.
A center that provides free food, clothing, mental health support, workforce training, and more to students and families at six public schools in Denver will close in less than three months.
The middle and high schools served by the resource center are known as “pathways schools” and work with students who have struggled at traditional schools or are at risk of not graduating. Three years ago, the resource center — called The Village — opened at Contemporary Learning Academy, one of the pathways schools.
The Village was launched with grant funding and is now paid for by federal pandemic relief known as ESSER earmarked for schools, DPS spokesperson Scott Pribble said. The Village cost $771,690 to run this school year, he said.
But with that money expiring, Denver Public Schools must commit the last of its pandemic relief dollars by Sept. 30. Pribble said The Village is slated to close June 30.
Rose Gianni’s dedication is well known at Denver Green School Southeast. After her north Denver mobile home was damaged by two electrical fires, school staff launched a GoFundMe fundraiser to help.
Since Denver7 shared Gianni’s story, the GoFundMe has collected more than $10,000 in donations.
“I feel so grateful. I wish I could tell everybody thank you. Thank you, thank you for everything they have done,” Gianni said Thursday.
“I honestly didn’t think it was going to get the traction it received,” said Aleaha Harkins, a music teacher at the school.
Harkins said she was inspired to start the fundraiser because of Gianni’s connection to students and staff.
“It’s been incredible. When I first started this, I set a fairly small goal, and I thought that was going to be a huge feat. And once we surpassed that goal, it just filled my heart because now Rose is able to actually get the repairs that she needs,” said Harkins.
Gianni said she will be able to move back after the necessary repairs are made. Electricians said her home will need to be rewired.
The Follow Up
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A fistfight between two Excel Academy students escalated into a shooting this week, sending people running for cover and setting neighbors around the Denver public high school on edge.
The fight-turned-shooting happened at around 12:15 p.m. Monday in the 3100 block of West Colorado Avenue, around the corner from Excel Academy, a pathway school that is designed to help students who are behind on credits get back on track for graduation.
Two students and their families were involved in the fight, Principal Cynthia Navarro wrote in a letter to parents Monday.
“At no point were our students or staff inside the building ever in danger,” she wrote.
The shooting comes as Denver Public Schools faces increased public scrutiny over its handling of gun violence among students, particularly in the wake of last year’s shooting at East High School in which a 17-year-old student wounded two school administrators.
People who live near Excel Academy said during a Denver Police Department neighborhood meeting Wednesday that they’ve raised concerns about the school for years — particularly around nuisance issues like students parking across driveways, littering or drag racing in the streets — and questioned whether school officials were doing enough to protect students and residents.
On Monday, two young women met in the street to fight while a crowd of about a dozen people watched, according to video of the incident reviewed by The Denver Post. Most appeared to be high-school-aged, but there were at least two adults in the mix, said Cyan Santillana, who witnessed the fight. One of the adults was encouraging the fight, she said.
After a couple of minutes of fighting, at least one of the people watching drew a gun and fired shots, the video shows. The crowd scattered, with people diving behind cars or into alleys for cover. A single adult man was shot in the incident and survived, Denver police said.
No arrests had been made by Wednesday and police did not answer questions about the man’s condition or about the shooting.
Fights in the neighborhood, which abuts Federal Boulevard, are not entirely uncommon, Santillana said, but this was the first time she could remember shots being fired.
“It’s getting to the point where something definitely needs to be done now,” she said. “There are kids in this neighborhood, there is an elementary school right down the street, and there was this active shooting right in front of the houses.”
She added that most of the 250 students at Excel Academy don’t cause problems, but that the small group who do “give the school a bad rap.” One student just happened to be walking by when the shooting happened and had to run for cover, Santillana said.
The shooting took place during the school’s lunch hour, when many students were out of the building enjoying warm weather, said Scott Pribble, spokesman for Denver Public Schools. The fight prompted a 20-minute “secure perimeter” at the school, during which staff and students stayed inside and locked exterior doors, Navarro said in the letter to parents.
Pribble said there’s no indication that any of the involved students had a gun on school grounds before the shooting happened. He declined to discuss whether the involved students faced discipline like suspension or expulsion, adding that the disciplinary process takes time.
Between 2018 and April 2023, Denver police responded to 59 incidents involving guns at 31 Denver public schools, data provided by the police department shows. About half of those incidents involved possession of a gun, and just over a quarter involved menacing. Only three incidents were considered aggravated assaults involving a firearm, according to the data.
None of the 59 gun-related incidents happened at Excel Academy, the data shows.
The school with the highest number of police responses to incidents involving guns was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Early College in Green Valley Ranch, with five police responses. Police handled three incidents at East High School during the more than five-year span, including the March school shooting.
