Monday Churn: Still busy

What’s churning:

Prom has come and gone, graduations are in full swing and the end of the school year is near for many – but there’s still plenty of activity education-wise today:
Gov. John Hickenlooper will travel to Arvada High School to sign Senate Bill 11-133. The 5:10 p.m. ceremony will include sponsors Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Westminster, Linda Newell, D-Littleton, and Rep. B.J. Nikkel, R-Loveland, as well as members of Padres y Jovenes Unidos.

The bill creates a legislature task force to study school discipline methods, including referral of students to police. Padres has been active in campaigning against what it sees as inappropriate discipline on over-reliance on police referrals.

U.S. Department of Education Assistant Secretary Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana will visit Lake International School in Denver and Fulton Elementary School in Aurora today to meet with students and school leaders. According to the press release, “Meléndez de Santa Ana will underscore the importance of turning around low-performing schools” and talk about how the federal government is supporting districts and schools in their school turnarounds.

Meléndez de Santa Ana is in town to keynote Tuesday’s conference on school improvement grant, or SIG, recipients, which she’s slated to do at 8:30 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency in the Denver Tech Center. The conference is the last of four regional meetings that began in April to support state and local education agencies, as well as schools, in their efforts to successfully turn around persistently low-performing schools. The others have been in Los Angeles, the District of Columbia and Chicago.

Also today,  the Colorado School of Mines trustees meet at 9:15 a.m. in the Coors Board room on campus in Golden. The board will vote on tuition and fees for 2011-12. The administration is recommending a 9 percent increase for resident undergraduates and graduate students, 5 percent for non-resident students and a 1.6 percent inflation increase in mandatory student fees. Agenda.

What’s on tap:

TUESDAY

The State Council for Educator Effectiveness meets from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Colorado Talking Book Library, 180 Sheridan Blvd. Agenda.

The Aurora school board meets at 6 p.m. in Educational Services Center, 1085 Peoria St. Agenda.

The Boulder Valley school board convenes at 6 p.m. at the Education Center, 6500 E. Arapahoe Drive. Agenda

WEDNESDAY

The state Capitol Construction Assistance Board meets from 1 to 3:30 p.m. at the Department of Education, 201 E. Colfax Ave. The agenda includes a rule-making hearing and initial discussion of 2011-12 grant applications. Those will be considered in detail and ranked at meetings June 27-30. Agenda.

The St. Vrain Valley board meets at 6:30 p.m. at the Educational Services Center, 395 South Pratt Parkway, Longmont.

The Adams 12-Five Star school board meets at 7 p.m. at the Educational Support Center, 1500 E. 128th Ave. in Thornton.

THURSDAY

Michelle Rhee, former D.C. schools chancellor and founder of Students First, is in Denver to speak at the ACE Scholarships annual luncheon, where former Gov. Bill Owens and current Gov. John Hickenlooper also are scheduled to talk. It’s at noon at the Denver Marriott City Center. Among its initiatives, ACE, which was founded in 2000 by oilman Alex Cranberg, awards scholarships to low-income families to help their children attend private schools.

Good reads from elsewhere:

Gates’ influence: The Microsoft founder has stepped up his education reform advocacy efforts, including “financing educators to pose alternatives to union orthodoxies.” New York Times.