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WEEK OF JULY 25, 2024
VOLUME 97 | ISSUE 34
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From jobs to careers: Training program helps people find futures in trade work
DPS school board moves bond proposal forward, and more BY ERICH JEGIER SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
The Denver Public Schools Board of Education concluded a busy academic year with its June 13 meeting. The board met at the Emily Griffith Campus in downtown Denver to discuss several important topics. New school closure policy
Jorge Ramirez sands down a piece of cut plywood in the Master’s Apprentice woodwork workshop on June 6.
The Master’s Apprentice helps its students obtain and retain employment in their chosen field BY NATALIE KERR SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
Two months ago, Jorge Ramirez was working a dead-end retail job that he had no passion for. Today, as a graduate of The Master’s Apprentice, he is a certified electrician and beginning an apprenticeship at an electrical company that he sees as the first step in his lifelong career.
“For me, I was like, if I’m going into this, I’ve gotta put in 100% and hopefully, I get what they’re saying that I can get, which was the job — and I did,” Ramirez said. The Master’s Apprentice is a Denver-based nonprofit that graduates hundreds of people each year with the skills to become carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers and more from its six-week program. Last year, the program graduated 225 students and boasts an average of about 40% of them finding employment soon after graduation. The program’s success was rewarded in March with a $930,000 grant from the Lowes Foundation to increase its capacity. During the program, students at-
PHOTOS BY NATALIE KERR
tend classes and visit job sites to find their desired field and learn the necessary skills to enter it. Students are paid up to $100 each week, and a $250 Tool & Book Scholarship upon completion to help offload the time they take off from work to attend. Other financial assistance is available as well. The program isn’t just about finding employment, but retaining it, said co-founder Luis Villarreal. Through mentorship and practical education, the students learn financial literacy, social skills, a strong work ethic, how to write a resume and other professional skills they will use throughout their careers.
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The board unanimously passed Executive Limitation 18, giving the superintendent guardrails for proposing school consolidations and closures. Such a policy was deemed necessary due to the financial impacts of declining district enrollment. The policy requires that any proposal made by the superintendent “equitably distributes the effects of changing demographics across the district, maximizes student resources and opportunities, and follows state statutes for closure based on governance type.” The board had been discussing and refining Executive Limitation 18 for more than a year, and the June meeting offered one last opportunity to discuss and vote on amendments. Notably, the board voted 4-3 that test scores and school performance ratings should not be used as a sole condition for school consolidations or closures, but can be used as part of a larger set of considerations. Updated discipline matrix
The board reviewed DPS’s updated discipline matrix, a staff guideline for determining disciplinary action in response to student behavioral issues.
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