Progress Now Action

Last year, as you may recall, we expressed discomfort over Colorado Board of Education member Bob Schaffer's vote to force DPS to reconsider its decision to close the Life Skills Center Denver, a charter school plagued by below-average test scores but run by a major donor to Schaffer's US Senate campaign.

Well, it's been a nearly a year, and you might find it interesting to see how Life Skills has done since Schaffer forced through one more chance for his donor buddy to get this education thing right (you know, what charter schools are supposed to do better than the public schools they siphon money from).

Charter schools face the music

District staff members are recommending the board place the seven charter and contract schools that have had academic problems on two-year probation with specific plans for improvement...

Other board members said they are equally frustrated with the lack of progress at Life Skills Center of Denver, an alternative school for chronic dropouts that serves 238 students.

"I've lost my patience with several of those schools," said board member Bruce Hoyt, who would not identify ones he will vote to close.

That was yesterday. Today's papers report that Life Skills was one of the schools placed on "probation," presumably because so many charter schools are failing in Denver that they can't close them all at once. Not to mention that Schaffer would probably overrule them again.

Obviously, in voting to force DPS to remain saddled with this failing program intended to serve Denver's most at-risk students, Schaffer had the best interests of...somebody at heart. Though it doesn't appear to have been Denver's most at-risk students.