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DPS Gender-Neutral Bathrooms, Boulder City to Cut Circle of Care Jack Armstrong
Headlines Tuesday Sept 9, 2025
DPS Gender-Neutral Bathrooms
The Denver Public Schools district is asking the Trump administration for a ninety day negotiation period, now that a deadline to convert its gender-neutral bathrooms back to male and female-specific bathrooms has passed, without the change having been made.
That deadline was yesterday. The Education Department set the deadline last month after saying Denver schools discriminated against girls, first by creating a gender-neutral bathroom at East High School, and then by establishing a district-wide policy of letting students use the bathrooms that correspond to their gender identities. They issued a September 8th deadline to change them back, according to the Denver Post.
In a written reply, lawyers representing the school district protested what it termed the administration’s “intransigence,” and said the district has been willing to discuss ways to resolve the issue, options, and are still willing to do so.
The Post says the Education Department has not yet commented on the school district’s reply.
Trump Admin Cuts Blue Ribbon Program
At the same time, the Trump administration is eliminating a federal program that recognized four Colorado school districts last year.
The Education Department told state agencies that they’re ending the National Blue Ribbon Schools program, according to Chalkbeat. The program honors high-performing schools nationwide.
Denver, Fort Collins, Grand Junction, and Pueblo schools were all recognized by the program last year.
The Trump administration officials said that eliminating the program is, quote, “in the spirit of returning Education to the States.”
Beyond recognizing high-performing schools, the program also shared best practices with other schools across the country.
The Blue Ribbon Schools program was created under the Reagan administration in 1982.
Circle of Care Funding Cuts
A Boulder non-profit that serves people living in lower-income senior care facilities, is facing the possibility it will have to shut down at the end of this year. KGNU’s Andraa Von explains.
The City of Boulder did not renew a funding grant for Circle of Care, which has provided low-income seniors an opportunity to experience cultural and performing arts events in the community for free for more than twenty years. The organization’s purpose is to end social isolation for older people, and to improve their health and quality of life,”
Circle of Care is an award-winning nonprofit in the Boulder Housing Partners network, according to Boulder Reporting Lab. It offers 200 events a year through tickets donated by leading local cultural venues. Additionally, for the past 3 years, it has partnered with Masterclass to provide 500 seniors with one-year scholarships to take online classes taught by experts in subjects ranging from music to science and business and beyond.
Boulder’s Director of Housing and Human Services said that increased demand for what she called “basic assistance needs”, like food, shelter and childcare, forced them to eliminate about ten nonprofit grants, including a $22,000 grant to Circle of Care. This cut is part of the city’s proposed 2026 budget which prompted a hiring freeze earlier this year.
Instead of an expensive campaign, the Circle of Care founder and director Joan Raderman is initiating a peer-to-peer fundraising effort . She said it is “essential for Circle of Care to raise $50,000 by Dec 1 to stay open and is hoping for $150,000 to operate effectively over the next three years.
Those wishing to make a tax-deductible donation or to contribute in other ways, find contact information on KGNU’s website at KGNU.org/headlines.
(To donate to Circle of Care, send a check to Circle of Care, P.O. Box 4204, Boulder CO. 80306. Donations are tax-deductible. Anyone wanting to contribute in other ways may contact Joan Raderman at 303-358-4300.)
“Vibrant Denver” Measures On Fall Ballot
Denver has finalized what measures will appear on the November ballot. City Mayor Mike Johnston’s “Vibrant Denver Bond” is slated for the ballot and is expected to raise funds for city projects by up to 1 billion dollars.
The Vibrant Denver Bond is connected to measures 2A through 2E.
Denver City Council approved ballot measures last month. Each measure corresponds to raising funds for different goals for Johnston’s administration.
This includes raising money to spend on roads, city parks and playgrounds, health and human services, city facilities, and housing.
Colorado Politics reports that depending on the term of the debt, city taxpayers could end up paying twice the proposed amount.
The city of Denver told Colorado Politics they have no intention of extending the bond beyond six years.
State Prison Population
The number of people in Colorado state prisons has reached a level that requires the state to reduce it.
The available spaces in state prisons stood at just under two percent as of mid-August, according to Colorado Newsline. That means that under state law, officials must work with the state parole board and the Office of Community Corrections to lower the number of incarcerated people.
That bi-partisan law, which passed unanimously in 2018, requires reductions in inmate population when the number of available prison spaces is below three percent for thirty consecutive days. When that standard was met last month, it triggered the law for the very first time.
Corrections officials must identify imprisoned people who meet specific conditions that would make them eligible for parole, such as convictions on non-violent crimes.
