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MorningMagazine_2024-11-25 Jack Dawson
DPS to close seven schools, cut grades at three others
Denver Public Schools will close seven schools and cut down the number of grades at three others.
The cuts are a part of Superintendent Alex Marrero’s consolidation plan – his way of trying to stave off a budget crisis.
The district’s Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday evening in support of the plan, which Marrero announced two weeks ago. The Superintendent only needed the board’s approval to close schools, but his plan to restructure the other schools relied on the board’s closure decision.
DPS will close five elementary schools: Castro, Columbian, Palmer, Schmitt, and the International Academy of Denver at Harrington. They’ll also close West Middle School and the Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design, a high school. Three schools will see cuts to the number of grades they support. Those are DCIS Baker 6-12, Dora Moore ECE-8 School and Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy.
Together, those 10 schools employ 267 staffers and enroll 1,844 students – many of whom are students of color and children from lower-income families.
Staff members at schools that close will be able to interview for other positions within DPS, while students will have a seat at specific schools, depending on where they live.
DPS has lost tens of millions in per-pupil funding from the state annually due to enrollment drops. The cuts come as K-12 enrollment continues to trend downward statewide, according to The Colorado Sun.
The closures and cuts will happen at the end of the current academic year.
For more details on the schools impacted and plans to relocate students, head to kgnu.org or The Denver Post.
Penrose funeral home owners plead guilty to state charges
The owners of a funeral home in Penrose pleaded guilty to 190 counts of abuse of a corpse this past Friday.
Jon and Carie Hallford, owners of Return to Nature Funeral home, were accused of improperly storing nearly 200 decaying bodies inside their business while promising families their loved ones were cremated or buried. They gave those families fake ashes and fabricated cremation records.
The Hallfords each admitted to 190 counts of abuse of a corpse during the joint hearing in El Paso County District Court. Both face between 15-20 years in prison under the deal.
In court Friday, Jon Hallford said he QUOTE “knowingly treated the bodies or remains of 190 individuals in a way that would outrage normal families sensibility,” while Carie said she had not been inside the building for “well over a year” because her husband wanted to protect her from being exposed to the conditions there. She added, though, that she did know of the conditions and chose to do nothing about it.
District Court Judge Eric Bentley says he’ll impose sentencing on April 18, if he formally agrees to the plea deals.
The couple initially faced over 200 felony charges for abusing corpses, theft, money laundering and forgery. But under the plea agreements, all other charges against them were dismissed.
Last month, the Hallfords pleaded guilty to one federal count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. They’d faced 15 federal counts initially, for defrauding the federal government and funeral home customers. The Hallfords will serve the sentences for their state charges at the same time as their federal charges, according to The Colorado Sun.
Casa Bonita employees are unionizing
Workers at Casa Bonita voted unanimously to unionize. Employees of the Denver restaurant will group up with two unions: the Actors’ Equity Association and the IATSE Local 7.
The vote was publicized on Friday, in an announcement that said 80 workers filed for an election earlier this year to address fair pay, improvements to safety, and clear communication with management.
Entertainment workers including cliff divers, actors, puppeteers and magicians have expressed concerns surrounding “insufficient training” and “abusive patrons emboldened by alcohol.”
The restaurant opened for full service in September after a year of soft-launch operations.
Xcel runs out of EV rebates in Colorado
Xcel Energy has spent $5 million they set aside for new and used electric vehicle (EV) rebates. This leaves 100 income-qualified Colorado customers with rebate approvals but no checks in the mail. The company does not plan to ask the Public Utilities Commission for more rebate money, according to The Colorado Sun.
While some hopeful customers might not end up shopping around for an EV after all, car dealers will still see a boost in EV sales due to over 1,000 Xcel rebates that did end up getting sent out to Coloradans. This is also good news for automakers, who The Sun says were pushing sales this year to meet both customer demand and state mandates requiring them to stock more EVs for sale to help clean the air.
Fully electric vehicles made up 22% of new Colorado car registrations in the third quarter of this year, a big leap from last year.
Customers in Colorado who are still interested in purchasing an EV may benefit from other rebates focused on helping people afford faster home chargers and any wiring upgrades necessary to install them. The company apologized for the inconvenience that the issue caused for some customers.
