North Denver News

By Margaret Hunt Cynthia O’Lane, longtime music teacher at Edison Elementary, retired this month. Photo by Christine Loehr After a 39-year teaching career, including 10 years as Edison Elementary’s music teacher, Cynthia O’Lane retired at the end of the 2023-24 school year.  In her time at Edison, O’Lane became one of the most beloved teachers by students, parents and fellow teachers alike. She developed a robust music education... Read more...

By Margaret Hunt This school year, two landmark pieces of state legislation took effect in schools across Colorado. House Bill 19-1192 and House Bill 20-1336 were years in the making, and both affect social studies standards and graduation requirements for all Colorado students. HB19-1192, which was co-sponsored during the 2019 state legislative session by Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez—a North Denver native, former state representative and... Read more...

By Erich Jegier Trevista students cut loose at the school’s Fun Run. Photo courtesy of Trevista at Horace Mann “Trevista is like one big family, there are really good people there,” said Anisha Berrier. Berrier’s two children attend Trevista at Horace Mann, an elementary school located next to Ciancio Park at Navajo and 42nd.  “It takes a village,” Berrier said, “and Trevista has been my village.” Trevista first opened as an ECE... Read more...

By Kathryn White  A revived City-School Coordinating Committee (CSCC) met for its first time March 22 after being legislated back to life last November by City Council members Amanda Sandoval and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez. The CSCC is intended to bring the city and school district together and is written into the city’s Revised Municipal Code. “As a parent of kids attending North Denver elementary, middle and high schools,”... Read more...

By Jill Carstens Yes! There is a variety of reasons you should pay attention if your child ends up being left-handed.  My own son grew very naturally into his left-handedness, and due to the fact that he was always such a smart and capable child I never looked into how, even in current times, this could pose as a challenge for him. Unfortunately, we still have not completely adapted for folks who are left-handed. Most of the world is... Read more...

By Kathryn White Skinner Middle School eighth-graders attended ClimateCon! Jan. 23 courtesy of an environmental justice grant from the Black Parents United Foundation. Photo courtesy of Kassandra Montoya Fifteen eighth-graders from Skinner Middle School filed into an auditorium on the CSU Spur Campus bright and early Jan. 23. And they had done their homework. They were there to attend the first ever ClimateCon! Colorado... Read more...

By Kathryn White Last year, The Denver North Star introduced readers to Jen Anderman and Regis University’s new GLOBAL Inclusive program, an academic experience for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). It’s a one-, two-, or three-year program designed with the Jesuit principle of cura personalis (care for the whole person) in mind. Students take specially designed and integrated courses and are supported by... Read more...

By Kathryn White Bloom, a new interactive exhibit for newborns and toddlers, opened Oct. 16 at the Children’s Museum of Denver. The nature-inspired space features details designed to promote many types of learning and play: sensory, constructive, physical, social and imaginative.  “When we set out to design this experience, we took a hard look at the latest research on the different types of play and their role in the cognitive,... Read more...

By Cassis Tingley Since City Council members Amanda Sandoval and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez proposed the revival of Denver’s City-School committee in late August, the City Council and the board of Denver Public Schools have been at odds. Complete with “surprise” press conferences, lawyers and claims of “blindsides,” Sandoval’s and Gonzales-Gutierrez’s hopes to update the historic committee have turned into something of a saga.  “It’s... Read more...

By Kathryn White Voters in a C-shaped swath of the city making up Denver Public Schools (DPS) District 5 will cast votes starting this week through Nov. 7 deciding between incumbent Charmaine Lindsay and two challengers, Marlene De La Rosa and Adam Slutzker. Lindsay was appointed by the DPS board in June 2022 to serve the remaining 17 months of Rev. Brad Laurvick’s term when he moved out of the district. The Denver North Star... Read more...