Monthly Archives: January 2009

What would POTUS eat?

My particular hotspot for the federal school lunch program and the sheer inertia of action to fix it is usually pretty precise, but imagine instead a kinder, gentler question: what would the guy in charge of feeding the President Of The … Continue reading

Posted in Nutrition, Whimsy | Leave a comment

The power of affluent parenting

The principal at Denver School for the Arts (DSA) has resigned (see here). DSA is one of the most lauded schools in DPS, drawing students from well outside the district (side note that this is not necessarily good).  The principal has … Continue reading

Posted in Engagement | Leave a comment

Bureaucracy is as bureaucracy does…

EdNews Colorado has a story which encapsulates so much of why entrenched systems in public schools don’t change. It’s about school lunch and the Colorado Department of Education. And it ain’t healthy. Poor kids get screwed in many ways, and school lunches … Continue reading

Posted in Nutrition | Tagged | Leave a comment

Media Coverage (sigh)

Here is the headline on an article from the Rocky on Wednesday: DPS has no plans to close schools, job finalist says Here is the information that led to the headline, five paragraphs later: [Boasberg] said there were no plans to close … Continue reading

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The difficulty of community engagement

Much hay is being made over the lack of community participation in the DPS superintendent announcement.  In my mind, this decision suffers primarily from its unfortunate timing downstream from the appointments of CO Secretary of State, and US Senator. By far the weakest … Continue reading

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The DPS supt.: person or process?

Media reports discuss the current “choice” for DPS superintendent, but that is a misnomer.  There is no existing choice between qualified candidates. The alternative here is between a person and a process.  There are two different paths.  One of them is fraught … Continue reading

Posted in District Performance | Tagged | Leave a comment

Education resolution: diminish dualism

The mind tends towards division and opposition: heads v. tails, black v. white, defense v. offense, progressive v. conservative, Capulet v. Montague.   This simplicity has its advantages, but considered and thoughtful debate is not one of them. In education generally — … Continue reading

Posted in School Performance, Teacher Unions | Leave a comment