Education

Colorado Public Radio is looking for a few good tubas. Throughout March, CPR will be collecting used musical instruments to donate to school music programs throughout the state.

The purveyor of classical music is looking for any band or orchestral instrument, from violins and guitars to tubas and trombones, to refurbish and donate to elementary and high schools.

As fifth-grader Radhika Dave spelled out the final word to win the Columbine area spelling bee last Thursday, her mother, Aditi, gave an excited fist pump.

Throughout the competition, Aditi Dave, a native of India, had been checking her daughter’s words on her phone, typing the letters as her daughter spelled.

When her daughter finished a word, her mother would know whether or not she had spelled it correctly before the judges announced the verdict. She pumped her fist with each correct spelling.

Legislation that would overhaul the way Colorado’s public schools are funded was the main topic during a meeting of the Jeffco school board on Feb. 28.

The district’s lobbyist at the state legislature, Ed Bowditch, reported on a bill by state Sen. Mike Johnston, D-Denver, that is designed to allocate state funds more equitably among school districts.

“It’s really too early to fully talk about it because everything (with the bill) is just now taking shape,” Bowditch told the board.

A Jeffco school board member is questioning the board’s decision to nearly triple the value of a contract for a company doing construction at Westminster’s Standley Lake High School without requesting new bids.

Board member Laura Boggs says the contract change should warrant a new bid process, while board President Lesley Dahlkemper and district staff disagree, saying the district was within its legal rights to amend the contract.