Melanie Asmar

Melanie Asmar covers Denver Public Schools. Asmar previously worked as a reporter for Westword newspaper in Denver and for a daily newspaper in her native New Hampshire. She joined Chalkbeat Colorado in 2015.

Kindergartener Semaj Leyba ,6, plays one of her school’s trombones that is used to teach students during instrumental music class at Cheltenham Elementary on Feb. 22, 2024. Semaj stands for a portrait on the playground at Cheltenham Elementary. Following the closure of Fairview Elementary last year due to declining enrollment, students were reassigned to Cheltenham, resulting in a consolidation that brought extra funding and staff to the latter for the initial year. This consolidation has led to an expansion of "specials" including library, art, dance, P.E., choral music, and instrumental music, a significant increase from the two specials offered at Cheltenham and Fairview last year. However, impending budget cuts next year may impact the availability of these specials at Cheltenham Elementary. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

“More kids, more joy”: What happened when two small Denver elementary schools merged

March 3, 2024 at 12:33 p.m.

The one-year-only staffing bump is because Cheltenham was on the receiving end of a controversial school consolidation. In the face of declining enrollment, the Denver school board voted last spring...

Leiker, left, and Jesus, right, work on math with teacher Isabelle King at Valdez Elementary late last month. The fourth graders are among the more than 3,200 migrant students who have enrolled in Denver Public Schools this year. (Photo by Melanie Asmar/Chalkbeat)

A day at Denver’s Valdez Elementary with 2 newly arrived migrant students

February 19, 2024 at 8:03 a.m.

Valdez, also known as Escuela Valdez, has a longstanding dual language program. It’s also right up the street from a city-run shelter inside a Quality Inn, which Principal Jessica Buckley...

Wyatt Academy, an elementary charter school in Denver, will likely close this spring. (Screenshot via Google Maps)

5 members resign after board rejects plan to close Denver’s Wyatt Academy charter school

February 14, 2024 at 9:01 a.m.

Following the presentation of a plan by Wyatt Academy’s principal to keep the school open, the Denver charter school’s board of directors rejected a proposal Tuesday to close it.

Wyatt Academy charter school in Denver likely to close at end of school year

February 7, 2024 at 6:11 p.m.

The likely closure of Wyatt follows a pattern of single-site charter schools shutting their doors in Denver Public Schools, once one of the most charter-friendly districts in the nation.

DENVER, CO - MAY 17: Jose Gonzalez, fourth from left, smiles as he and his classmates put their tassels from left to right after officially graduating during commencement ceremonies for seniors of William Smith High School at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts at DU on May 17, 2023 in Denver, Colorado. This year's class had a 100% graduation rate and was the largest graduating class ever for the school. William Smith is an Aurora public school. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

For Colorado’s class of 2023, the graduation rate was up and the dropout rate was down

January 10, 2024 at 12:19 p.m.

Colorado’s graduation rate ticked slightly up for the class of 2023, continuing a long-running trend of rising graduation rates except for a brief dip during the pandemic.

John Youngquist high fives Marlene de la Rosa during their joint DPS school board race watch party at The Bar at Plaza 38 on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

At $2.2 million, the 2023 Denver school board election is second-most expensive in recent history

December 15, 2023 at 8:10 a.m.

This year's total surpasses spending in the last board election in 2021 and nearly ties the all-time record of $2.3 million spent in 2019.

Director Carrie Olson speaks during a Denver Public Schools board meeting at DPS headquarters in Denver on Monday, April 17, 2023. The board elected Olson to a second stint as president on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz / The Denver Post)

Carrie Olson elected to second stint as president of Denver school board

December 1, 2023 at 11:46 a.m.

Former teacher Carrie Olson's election, by secret ballot, puts an experienced leader at the helm of a school board that had a reputation for dysfunction and infighting.

Colleen O'Brien, the executive director of the Northeast Denver Innovation Zone, addresses the Denver school board during the public comment portion of its meeting Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. (Screengrab of DPS board meeting via Chalkbeat Colorado)

Denver Public Schools bars administrator amid McAuliffe seclusion room investigation

November 28, 2023 at 10:25 a.m.

As part of the ongoing fallout from an investigation into the use of a seclusion room at McAuliffe International School, Denver Public Schools has barred an administrator responsible for overseeing...

Denver Public SchoolÕs new superintendent Alex ...

Denver school board gives Superintendent Alex Marrero an $8,000 bonus with his second evaluation

November 28, 2023 at 10:25 a.m.

Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero met just over 80% of his goals last school year, a record that earned him an $8,235 bonus, equal to 2.5% of his annual...

Books are ready for students in Denise Saiz's third-grade classroom at Castro Elementary, a small bilingual school in the Denver Public School system, on August 24, 2022 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

Denver Public Schools pledged to pay tutoring vendors based on their results. Did it work?

November 28, 2023 at 10:25 a.m.

Two outside companies that Denver Public Schools hired to tutor students in an effort to make up for lost learning fell short of some targets that could have earned the...

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