Notified — Big Questions for Pueblo’s D60, Colorado Tourism is Breaking Records & the New ‘It’ Spot for SoCo Beer
Notified for Julyl 22, 2016
Lots of people are traveling to Colorado. 77 million, to be exact. The record-breaking numbers caught our attention this week. We break down those numbers and how Southern Colorado, which is far-removed from the tourist stops of Denver, plays into those numbers.
But the big news came from inside Pueblo School District 60.
Constance Jones, the Superintendent of two years, suddenly resigned without apparent reasoning. We share the questions that reporting will seek to answer and why this is a big story for Pueblo City Schools.
Pueblo City Schools Superintendent Resigns Without Citing a Reason
There are big questions for Pueblo City Schools this week. What issues were at the root of the resignation of superintendent Constance Jones, if any? Was it a personal decision? Is the charge of micromanaging (coming from KRDO reporting) accurate?
Where does a district knee-deep in turn-around accountability go when administration leadership is half-empty? And does this lack of filled positions at the administration level spell trouble for D60, which is in its last year on the accountability clock?
The reporting that will follow in the coming days, weeks and perhaps even months will start to unpeel the issue — which by no means is new, but an addition on an already strained school district trying to meet performance standards.
Here is what we know from PULP education reporter Sara Knuth:
- The resignation was very hush. Not even the district’s communication director knew of the resignation until the special meeting.
- The district is now looking to fill seven of its 14 leadership positions.
- There’s little time left to turn-around the district, as the accountability clock for D60 is in its final year. Jones was praised for her work in under-performing schools when she was first hired in 2014.
The D60 board has yet to speak out, but voted unanimously to accept the resignation.
Follow the updates surround Jones’ departure from the district here:
Colorado Tourism: Denver is the Hotspot, Pueblo Gets Lumped in with the ‘Other’ Colorado
It was another record breaking year for tourism in Colorado, according to a new report from the state’s tourism office.
The report broke Colorado into four sections: Mountain resort, Denver Metro, Pikes Peak and other (which was mostly rural parts of the state and all of Southeastern Colorado).
The obvious places such as Denver and the ski resort communities were big contributors to those records, but Pueblo — which has been attempting a big push for tourism — was categorized as ‘other’ in the report with the most rural parts of Colorado.
That doesn’t mean 2015 was a bad year for Pueblo tourism, however. The Pueblo Chamber of Commerce, which is also responsible for tourism, said money from the city’s lodging tax is up, and the organization is hoping more of that tax revenue can be put back into marketing Pueblo to other tourists from Colorado.
The full story here:
Should CSU-Pueblo and Yale Have Expelled Athletes Over Sexual Allegations With No Accuser?
That’s the question many are asking, as each athlete claim everything about the sexual encounter was consensual, and neither have been charged with committing a crime.
But schools operate under a “preponderance of the evidence” rather than “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
As the Associated Press reports:
Schools have been using the “preponderance” standard since receiving a “Dear Colleague” letter in 2001 from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, outlining how they should handle sexual misconduct allegations. It warned that schools that fail to promptly investigate allegations of sexual assault and harassment, even if the accuser does not make a complaint to the institution, can face a loss of federal money.
The full story:
Darryl Glenn’s Speech Never Made Television
Unless you’ve escaped all media for the past week, then you’re probably up on all things Republican happening in Cleveland this week for the party’s national convention.
Top conservative leaders, candidates and lawmakers are making headlines with speeches. Albeit, some of those headlines are because things have been getting downright awkward (*ahem* air kisses, plagiarism and Ted Cruz).
Colorado’s own Republican Senate candidate gave a six minute speech, but no major network aired the speech.
So, here’s the recap:
Why Wildlife Officials are Alerting Colorado About Expanding Wolf Populations
There could be serious legal ramifications to accidentally shooting a gray wolf, so the warning is more so for hunters who might not be expecting a gray wolf trotting across their path. Gray wolves have been on the endangered species list and highly uncommon in Colorado.
The underlining story here, though, is that the once endangered species is making a comeback so strong that it wouldn’t be completely rare to see one in Northern Colorado.
The full story:
ICYMI
A Greater Great Sand Dunes National Park
The Great Sand Dunes could accumulate 12,500 more acres. The federal government is moving forward in purchasing the land from the Nature Conservancy.
Included in the purchase would be a bison heard, meadows and wetlands.
The full story:
It’s Hot. You Deserve a Beer.
And lucky for you there’s a new brewery in Pueblo. Well, it’s in Pueblo West. But Jason Cipriani, author of PULP’s Pursuit of Hoppiness column, says the short drive is well worth the beer over at PDub Brewing Company.
Bonus: You can take the kids because they also make homemade sodas.
