A+ Colorado

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A+ Denver and Chalkbeat Colorado announce BoardWatch partnership

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A+ Denver is excited to announce that BoardWatch Denver, a project steered by a team of committed A+ volunteers, will today become Chalkbeat Colorado’s School Board Tracker. Chalkbeat will be transforming BoardWatch from a rating system that graded the school board’s governance into a journalistic endeavor that will allow the public to easily access the voting history of school board members.

 

Chalkbeat Colorado will assign a reporter to cover meetings and provide recaps for the public.  Chalkbeat has the ability to reach the general public and inform them of the discussions and decisions that are made during each meeting.  Soon, the new Board Tracker will be able to link voting records with relevant news coverage of the issues the board is considering.

 

 

A+ Denver started BoardWatch over a year ago as a way to monitor the effectiveness of the Denver Public Schools Board of Education.  The idea was borrowed from a group in Pittsburgh that saw dramatic improvement from similar community oversight. Research was also clear that effective board leadership actually translates into improving student achievement.

 

A+ began tracking votes that have taken place over the past few years and published them on our BoardWatch website. Chalkbeat will use that information and will now publish the voting history in a searchable database here. We believe it is vital that the public be informed on how the board votes to ensure complete transparency. This tool will feature a searchable database to ensure easy access to the most relevant information. The tracker will launch with voting information on the Denver Public School board and will soon expand to include a select group of other school boards around the state, including Jefferson County.

 

The mission of A+ Denver is to harness the power of Denver’s civic leadership to build public will and advocate for the changes necessary to dramatically increase student achievement in public education in Denver. We are an independent, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization working to bring the power of Denver’s citizens to the effort of school reform. For more information, please visitwww.aplusdenver.org.