VOLUME 35| ISSUE 37
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 14, 2023
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Commerce City schools fight reorganization
More fines for Suncor BY MICHAEL BOOTH THE COLORADO SUN
standardized tests that don’t account for many of the socioeconomic factors that impact children in Adams 14. The district has one of the highest percentages of students who are learning English as a second language, as well as a high number of students from low-income families and students with disabilities. The district points to poverty, trauma, immigration fears, and environmental contamination as some of the many factors that impact learning in Commerce City more than elsewhere in the state. This spring, just 17.6% of third graders met expectations on state reading tests, up from 13.6% in 2022, but still lower than the 21.2% who did in 2019. In May 2022, Adams 14 was the first district ordered by the state to reorganize when State Board members said they no longer trusted that local leadership could make necessary improvements. The process for reorganization is spelled out in state law, but since it’s never been
The Environmental Protection Agency has once again fined Suncor’s Commerce City refinery over air pollution issues, this time demanding $161,000 for producing gasoline with too many pollutants, while also requiring Suncor buy $600,000 in clean lawn equipment for nine metro-Denver counties with excess ozone. The settlement announced by the EPA says Suncor in 2021 produced 32 million gallons of gasoline with excess benzene, and in 2022 made 1 million gallons of summer gasoline with too-high Reid vapor pressure, which can lead to pollution from evaporation. The fine comes on the heels of the EPA in August fining Suncor more than $300,000 for alleged violations of toxic chemical regulations during a 2019 release from the Commerce City refinery. Suncor has also been under heavy pressure from Colorado regulators over air pollution and water quality violations, while air and water quality permits are under review at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The Regional Air Quality Council, a multicounty research and advisory body focused on the ozone problem, welcomed the $600,000 in clean electric lawn equipment as a boost to its recommendations for reducing ozone from dirty-burning small engines. The council has urged the statewide Air Quality Control Commission to ban the sale of gas-powered lawn equipment in the metro area in coming years. Small engines are a small but measurable portion of the ninecounty ozone violation problem, and considered by air experts to be a relatively easy pollution
SEE RATINGS, P6
SEE SUNCOR, P3
Adams 14 moved out of turnaround to earn a priority improvement rating, same rating as in 2019. BY YESENIA ROBLES CHALKBEAT COLORADO
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LOCAL OBITUARIES LEGALS CLASSIFIED
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Adams 14 leaders are hoping to stop efforts to reorganize the district and point to improved state ratings as evidence they’re on the right path. A reorganization committee that was formed in November following state orders, submitted a recommendation earlier this month asking the state to stop reorganization, calling the process “unproven, time-consuming, and resource-intensive.” Reorganization would hurt the community, the committee argued in its 40-page report. This year, the Adams 14 district improved from the lowest rating of turnaround, to the second-lowest of priority improvement on the state’s annual ratings. Priority improvement is the same rating the district had in 2019, and four other years in the last decade during which the state gave the district consecutive low ratings. Superintendent Karla Loría highlighted the improvements on state tests and in performance ratings compared to last year at a recent
press conference. Loría pointed to the improvements as evidence the district is on the right track, and that they don’t need state intervention. “We still have a lot of work to do, but we are heading in the right direction,” Loría said. “We just need to be given the opportunity.” Based on the state’s accountability law, the priority improvement rating isn’t enough to release the district from state intervention. But Loría said she’s confident that, with more time, the changes she’s implementing will lead to better results than the district has seen under previous improvement plans in the last decade. Adams 14 has had one of the two lowest ratings for more than 10 years. State law requires the state intervene and order certain changes after five years in a row of low ratings. Adams 14 was one of the first districts in the state to reach that mark, and to remain with low ratings after various state-ordered improvement plans. Current district leaders point to turnover, state pressures, and biased
BRIEFS: PAGE 2 | OBITUARIES: PAGE 4 | CLASSIFIEDS: PAGE 12 | LEGAL: PAGE 14
PHOTO BY ERICA MELTZER / CHALKBEAT
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CITY COUNCIL BALLOT SET Candidates prepare for Nov. 7 election P3