Local News

Jeffco Public Schools’ Citizens Budget Academy teaches volunteers the ABC’s of running the largest school district in Colorado.

The academy is a series of six classes that started in early September, taught by district leadership. About 75 citizens learn about every aspect of the district in the hope that they can come up with viable solutions to budget problems. Their feedback will help structure Jeffco Public Schools’ 2012-13 and 2013-14 budgets.

By Emile Hallez

Staff Writer

A Jeffco Public Schools panel is working to draft a new compensation plan for teachers, and the Board of Education instructed it on Sept. 15 to initially dream big and spare no expense.

A new pay-for-performance compensation structure will eventually need to be implemented to make the district compliant with Senate Bill 191, legislation passed last year that ties teacher evaluations to student performance.

Whether they were in Colorado or New York on Sept. 11, 2001, people came to Red Rocks on Sunday to walk the stairs and remember the first-responders, friends and family who died on that tragic day.

Approximately 3,000 firefighters and community members from 22 states participated in the Colorado 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. People climbed the amphitheater’s stairs nine times to commemorate the 110 flights that New York City firefighters climbed to try to save the occupants of the World Trade Center.

The dotted lines dividing the 1.4-mile path around Johnson Reservoir in Clement Park have been repainted three times since 1996, thanks to the Osieczanek family’s Eagle Scout progeny.

Since Kevin and Cindy Osieczanek’s son Aric started Cub Scouts in 1989, the proud parents have since seen graduations of all five of their sons — and even a son-in-law — as Eagle Scouts.