“Teachers are reporting increased participation and attention from students and a dramatic increase in endurance,” said principal Nikki Westfall. “Our families are happier too. They are reporting much less stressful mornings.”

The in-class breakfast model is not new to the state, or even the metro area, but Colorado is trying to expand it through the No Kid Hungry campaign, which includes an awards program for schools that serve breakfast to more kids.

At Clayton, breakfast participation in 2011 reached about 90 percent of students, with an average of 405 breakfasts served daily, up from about 91 breakfasts served per day in April 2010.

That increase earned the school a Gold award in the Colorado School Breakfast Challenge.

The award, which came with a $5,000 gift, was presented by Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia on Tuesday.

Besides knowing more kids have had breakfast, and using anecdotal data to monitor classroom behaviors, Clayton officials compared data from August through December in 2010 and 2011 and found that student tardies dropped by 15 percent. Discipline referrals dropped by 50 percent.

Officials working throughout the state as consultants to help schools find grants and change their breakfast programs have noticed similar results.

“When schools move to a universal breakfast program, we have seen it removes the stigmas associated with eating breakfast. School nurse visits and behavioral problems drop,” said Kathy Underhill, executive director of Hunger Free Colorado, one of the organizations supporting the No Kid Hungry project.

Underhill said programs also are trying to serve healthier foods.

At Clayton, kids get a piece of fruit, a carton of milk and an entree such as a nutrition bar or cereal bar.

Westfall said she plans to use the award money to develop health-and-wellness classes that can be tied to the breakfast program. Some of the funds will also be used to purchase additional insulated food bags and carts so that when the school expands by a grade level next year, those kids could also eat breakfast in class.

The program’s startup cost came from about $6,000 in grants, a sum managers say is an investment that pays off in real dollars and in student outcomes.

“I’m a big believer that if we’re serious about ed reform, we will have to look at making sure children are fed,” Underhill said. “It’s not an either/or. If you have not eaten, your mind is not there in the classroom.”

Yesenia Robles

Investigations completed by the Colorado Department of Human Services since 2007 indicate that social workers in 18 counties repeatedly failed to complete basic functions — such as interviews or follow-ups on assessments — in 43 cases where a child later died from abuse or neglect.

In 40 percent of those deaths — 17 children — county social workers failed to start or did not accept an assessment after a referral warranted an investigation for abuse or neglect.

The state department opens an investigation whenever a child’s death is a result of abuse or neglect and there was contact with the county child welfare system during the two years before the child’s death, said spokeswoman Liz McDonough.

Before 2011, an investigation was opened if a child entered the system five years before the death.

Human Services’ latest investigation will be into the death of 3-year-old Caleb Pacheco, whose body was found tucked underneath a Sterling mobile home last week. His mother, Juanita Kinzie, 24, is in custody and faces one count of first-degree murder in her son’s death.

In 2011, 21 child-fatality reports were launched in Colorado. Two have been completed. Reports become public after they are finished and if they show policy violations or concerns. The Denver Post obtained all 43 public reports completed in the past five years.

Most of the reports included multiple referrals and assessments.

According to The Post’s findings:

One of the reports was on 7-year-old Chandler Grafner, who was starved by his foster parents, Jon Phillips and Sarah Berry, in 2007.

In December, a federal judge ruled that the Denver social workers who were involved with his case were not immune from a lawsuit filed by the boy’s relatives. Phillips was sentenced to life in Chandler’s death and Berry to 48 years.

Caleb’s family members say they last saw the boy in January 2011. During the year he was missing, the boy’s family said they called social services in three counties more than 70 times.

Human Services cannot release details about Caleb’s case or confirm whether his family contacted county departments because the investigation into the boy’s death is ongoing, and a Logan County judge issued a gag order in the case, McDonough said.

Dr. Kim Bundy-Fazioli, an associate professor at Colorado State University’s School of Social Work, said the family’s claims about unanswered calls for help are a concern.

“When families aren’t making progress, there is a lot of chaos, and it can be overwhelming for case workers and service providers,” Bundy-Fazioli said.

“You never know who to interview or who to trust, but it’s not an excuse not to intervene.”

Bundy-Fazioli also was concerned about decreased funding for county programs and increased caseloads for overwhelmed social workers, who often have to make judgment calls on high-priority cases and investigations.

Each of Colorado’s 64 county departments are being asked to do more with less, said Becky Miller Updike, ombudsman with the Office of Colorado’s Child Protection. Often, families in the most dire situations are also more transient, making it harder to track children through school systems and other county departments.

“We have to cut back dollars from our counties every year, causing us to ask them to do more with less,” Miller Updike said.

Jordan Steffen

It’s confusing. Kind like all the conflicting studies about coffee – or red wine. (I know how I choose to interpret them…)

Does healthy school food make a difference? Or doesn’t it?

Should we just keep healthy food on the lunch tray (read all about the Obama administration’s changes to subsidized school meals announced this week) and not worry about vending machines?

These are potentially costly tweaks to our state’s cafeteria and vending machine food to make at a time when there are so many other competing needs in our classrooms.

My daughter, a fourth-grader in a Boulder Valley school, won’t touch the food at school, even though our very own “renegade lunch lady” Ann Cooper has transformed the nutritional quality of lunches in our school district.

Still, a sizable number of children do eat food at school. And despite the image of Colorado as a fitness paradise, 14.2 percent of our children and adolescents are technically obese, meaning they have a much higher risk for a range of diseases that will shorten their lives.

For some of our children, school provides a primary source of nourishment each day.

Why school food matters

The food our children eat – or even simply look at – at school does have an impact.

Face it. School isn’t just about academics – it’s about helping young people make good choices. Recycling is good. Tossing trash in the street is bad. Smoking is really nasty. Not smoking equates to nice, healthy pink lungs. Being respectful to others is good. Being a bully gets you sent to the principal. You get the drift.

With all the research now in hand, it’s hard to argue that Coca Cola or French fries have any place at school. And, in many cases, Colorado schools have already banished these nutritionally negligent foods.

Whether we need a new state law to limit trans fats, including foods made with margarine or vegetable shortening, should be debated. In light of the new, watered down school food guidelines announced this week, Colorado should step up to do more.

You may recall that Congress – bowing to industry pressure – failed to approve the revised school food rules as they were originally drafted. The original revisions would have limited the amount of potatoes consumed in school lunch (Tater Tots, anyone?) and not counted tomato paste on pizza as a vegetable. As it stands, kids in some districts will still be able to mack down on Fries at every meal. Yet a key question remains: Who will be the designated trans fat cop? If food cooked with margarine is discovered, does the school cook get time in French fry jail?

Regardless of what happens on the federal or state level, schools and districts should embrace these changes on their own, working closely with parents and students in their own communities.

Kids are shaped by what they see. Isn’t it better that they see popcorn, granola bars or fruit in a vending machine vs. potato chips and candy?

The evidence is certainly clear. The consumption of trans fats increases the risk of coronary heart disease by raising levels of LDL cholesterol and lowering levels of “good” HDL cholesterol. We don’t want that for our kids.

Why we can ignore the Penn State study

So, I don’t choose to give that much weight to a recent Penn State study, which found that the percentage of children who had access to candy, soda and chips at school jumped dramatically between fifth and eighth grades yet didn’t translate into extra pounds.

Interestingly, the New York Daily News reported that the percentage of students in the survey who were overweight or obese actually declined between fifth and eighth grades.

The surprised researcher concluded that how kids eat outside and at home has a much greater impact than their exposure to high-fat or sugary snacks in school.

This, of course, makes total sense. But are we better off reinforcing unhealthy eating habits at school, or showing young people there are different – and better – ways to eat?

I’ll argue the latter.

Find more news and information on healthy schools in Colorado and beyond here.

EdNews Parent editor Julie Poppen is a former daily newspaper journalist who has covered a multitude of school issues in Fort Collins, Boulder and Denver. She is also the mother of a fourth grader in Boulder Valley and regular, though not always perfectly proficient, classroom volunteer. Read her weekly blog Confessions of a Partially Proficient Parent.

Needing an outlet for my feelings, I posted the following on my Facebook page immediately after I heard the news:

“I don’t care about winning streaks, national titles, or hollow sound bites. That members of the Penn State administration barely raised their hands when faced with eye-witness actions of a pedophile who was one of their own shows that those individuals have no heart. That Joe Paterno didn’t act to better protect and defend an innocent child who was raped in his ‘house’ proves that he has no soul.”

I was mad.

But now that time has passed and I’ve reflected on the matter, I feel something much more complex.

In that moment, my sentiment was genuine, fueled by real indignation coming straight from the heart. Any parent knows that the passion nourished by this organ is three-dimensional, and beats more ferociously than anything else.

But in pointing my finger at Joe Paterno, I could have just as easily been looking in the mirror at myself.

About two years ago, I was at the grocery store rushing to pick something up that my daughter, Grace, needed the next day at school. It was late, and I was both preoccupied and annoyed. Like most moms, I was running behind a never-ending to-do list that seemed to square itself and multiply whenever I wasn’t looking. Snow swirled outside, it was an unusually frigid Colorado night, and a humid chill was biting, snapping, and pushing people indoors. All I wanted to do was get what I needed, check out, and go home.

Turning down the frozen food aisle, I came upon a young boy, about my son’s age, and an old man. The man was huge, well over six feet tall, unshaven, wearing dirty old jeans, suspenders, and an untucked, long-sleeved shirt.

The boy? Small. Cowering. A little disheveled as he gazed up at the old man while simultaneously trying to avert his eyes.

He reached for a frozen pizza, and the old man smacked it out of his hand, mocked his sagging posture, and demanded, “What do you think I am, an ATM?”

The boy looked down at his feet and didn’t say a word.

In that moment, I knew something was wrong.

I slowed down and watched them, easing up close and trying to make myself known. The old man realized I was there, looked at me, made eye contact, and didn’t smile. I didn’t smile back.

And then he grabbed the boy by the shoulder, threw me a backwards glare, and dragged him toward the door.

I felt a mixture of emotions then…anger, confusion, pain, sadness…but the one that overwhelmed me at the time and now makes me feel ashamed?

Fear.

That old man scared me, and in a split second I used fear to assess and rationalize what I was about to not do…my husband, Scot, was out of town, the kids were home alone, and the storm outside was getting worse. The old man was probably the little boy’s grandfather, unemployed, and having a bad day.

Except my gut told me that wasn’t the case.

While I tried to convince myself I was overreacting so I could get on with my life, my conscience argued the other side. Strenuously.

But I didn’t listen.

In an instant, I made a decision that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

I turned my head. I closed my eyes. I walked away.

That little boy needed help, and I didn’t extend my hand.

For the last two years, my dreams have been filled with that child’s face. He’s calling out to me, screaming my name, and I’m searching frantically, straining to see through the dark and place the location of his voice so that I can pull him toward me and wrap him in my arms.

But I’m never able to find him, and when I wake up and can’t get back to sleep, I see him hovering two inches above me, eyes wide and afraid. And then he’s gone.

After the Sandusky allegations came to light, the dreams got worse, and the little boy’s face became fused with my son’s: at a football camp, trapped in a bathroom, confused and alone, running down a grocery aisle from someone who’s supposed to be a hero but is instead inflicting cruel and unimaginable pain.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but when I wrote the Facebook post about Joe Paterno, I was also writing about myself.

I’d give anything to have that moment in the grocery store back, to actually listen to my sixth sense instead of brushing it aside. To have made a different choice.

But it’s gone.

Mothers make mistakes. Famous coaches make mistakes. We all make mistakes. Unfortunately, we often have no idea in the moment how big those mistakes can become.

Everything matters. The little voice inside your head that won’t shut up? Listen to it. The guy sitting on your shoulder who you’d just as soon leave? Hear him out.

Joe Paterno’s problem wasn’t rooted in the actual commitment of a crime. His mistake was ignoring the voice that must have plagued him in his dreams, or two inches above his face when he couldn’t sleep at night.

Left alone, the voice of indecision becomes that of regret, and it doesn’t go away.

I will forever be haunted by that innocent child in the grocery store, wondering where he is, and at the same time, who I failed to be. I think, in the twilight of his life, that Joe Paterno must have been haunted too. What at first seemed like a glancing blow likely turned into a fatal wound.

Doctors can try to treat cancer, but they can’t diagnose a broken heart.

If you would like to give a voice to an innocent child, please go to Casa for Children or to the Tennyson Center for Children. Photo

Guest blogger Stacie is a married mother of three animated (as in cartoonish) children living in the sunny suburbs of Denver. When she’s not blogging at Gemini Girl in a Random World, she stalks people in her ginormous SUV who text while driving. So if you’re gonna be on I-25 anytime soon, look out.

She’s a first-generation high school student. English is her second language. And she’s a mom.

But she’s not making excuses.

This May, she will graduate on time — with honors. In the fall, she’ll enroll at the University of Denver with the hope of becoming a physician’s assistant.

“I’m going to open doors for myself, my son and my younger siblings,” said Molinar, a gregarious 17-year-old who credits an array of advisers, teachers and school programs for leading her to those doors.

And it’s why Lincoln, which increased its graduation rate by about 12 percentage points to 63.5 percent in 2011, was the backdrop Friday as Denver Public Schools touted significant gains in on-time graduation rates last year.

“Our absolute commitment is that every student in DPS, regardless of where they live, what language they speak . . . that every student will wear that cap and gown and cross the graduation stage,” said DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg.

Denver School of the Arts recorded the highest graduation rate at 97.5 percent; West High School had the lowest at 53 percent.

By the most basic bottom-line measure, the district outperformed the statewide average for growth rates. But even with the growth at DPS, its overall graduation levels still lag far behind the statewide average, according to data released by the Colorado Department of Education.

DPS rates increased by 4.3 percentage points — to 56.1 percent — whereas the statewide average increased 1.5 points to 73.9 percent.

The data compare on-time graduation rates between the school years 2009-10 and 2010-11.

Beginning in 2009-10, Colorado changed the method it used to calculate graduation rates. Unlike previous years — where students who took longer than four years to graduate were factored into the calculations — the rates are now based on a formula that defines “on time” as only students who graduate from high school four years after entering ninth grade.

Among the larger districts, Greeley-Evans School District 6 saw a 7.6 percentage-point gain in its graduation rate, bringing it to 71.8 percent. Graduation at Adams 12 Five Star Schools increased by 3.6 percentage points to 65.3 percent from 61.7 percent.

But all districts did not see increases.

For example, the Charter School Institute — based out of Denver — saw drastic declines in on-time graduation rates. In 2010, 46 percent of its students graduated on time, yet in 2011, that number decreased to 34.3 percent.

Interim executive director Ethan Hemming said a school closure and two new online high schools that focus on over-age, under-credited students less likely to graduate in four years are to blame for the drop.

“We take seriously graduation rates, but at the same time, we work with each school to set relevant goals and monitor their progress,” Hemming said.

At Lincoln, programs such as the Freshmen Academy, which houses ninth-graders away from the rest of the school and allows teachers to build and foster relationships with students, have helped to bolster on-time graduation rates. AVID, a college-prep program at the school, is another. It consists of a rigorous course of study and the use of college students as role models.

Sixty percent of DPS students who graduated in May 2010 enrolled in college within the first year after graduation, according to the district.

“We’ll continue with these same programs,” said Lincoln principal Josefina Petit-Higa. “We keep tabs on the kids as much as we can. We can’t let them fall through the cracks.”

Kurtis Lee

“Changing the school start date is not going to be the solution for the heat, we all know that,” said board member Anne Rowe. “What it did do, I think, is set the stage for a much larger discussion around the school year, with regards to how that works in the best interest for students. That is a robust discussion.”

Superintendent Tom Boasberg was asked to commit to presenting the board with a plan for issuing heat days, which would work in the same way as snow days, by the board’s March meeting.

The calendar option approved in a 6-1 vote will have students starting school on Aug. 27 and ending June 4. That calendar would see a later winter break — from Monday, Dec. 24, returning to class Jan. 8 — and would shrink no-contact days, when teachers evaluate assessment data, to three days in the year.

During a discussion Thursday prior to the vote, board members considered various amendments to the calendars and weighed issues of sport schedules, test-preparation time and day care as they would be affected by the calendar changes.

Board member Andrea Merida, who voted against the calendar, attempted first to introduce an amendment to allow schools without air conditioning to choose their own start dates anytime up to Labor Day. That amendment failed with only Merida approving it.

In a public-comment session before the vote, four student representatives of the district’s student board of education talked about their preference for a calendar year to start Aug. 23.

The student board members conducted a poll at various high schools asking students about their preferences.

According to their poll, 75 percent of students wanted to start Aug. 23, compared with 11 percent who would have liked school to start after Labor Day.

A heat wave that coincided with the beginning of this school year in mid-August left students and teachers dealing with 90-degree heat in classrooms without air conditioning.

At least three incidents of heat-

related illness were reported in the first week of school.

Parents had gathered and delivered more than 3,000 signatures asking DPS to start the school year after Labor Day.

DPS then created a task force of parents and teachers to design and distribute a survey that was available online for nearly three weeks in November.

Respondents were almost evenly split among three options: no changes, starting in the fourth week of August, and starting in the first week of September.

In other board action, three new schools received innovation status for their opening this fall. Also, Trevista ECE-8 was approved to begin a turnaround — in which a new principal will be hired, staff will have to reapply for their jobs, and the school will get additional federal funds and flexibilities to design a program for improvement.

Yesenia Robles

At this point, I’d gone part time at my job. To be honest, it sucked. I loved my job. I loved my team, the challenges, the intellectual curiosity, the energy…everything. The decision to go part-time was a joint decision between my boss and myself. Once he settled into his job (he was hired a few months after me) we began to realize there was a ton of overlap in our responsibilities. Plus, there was the whole Z thing, which completely distracted me from performing my best at my job and took the passion out of me. Even when I was there, I wasn’t really there. So, instead of waiting for them to let me go, I proactively went to him and we decided on a transition plan. I went part-time for 6 weeks to finish up some projects and then I was done. Again, it wasn’t ideal….none of this was for me…but it was the right thing to do.

Soon after I left, we went to Florida for a little vacation. It was a blast. The kids had a wonderful time playing on the beach and in the sun. It was SO great to be on a relaxing vacation. J and I kept commenting on how much we all needed it. Z even seemed to be thriving even though it was a new environment, lots of people, etc. I guess running all day on the beach can wear even the most sensory seeking kiddo.

When we came home, Z had his final screening (ADOS). The psychologist called me later that afternoon to tell me the results. The ADOS scores on two fronts: communication (pragmatic) and reciprocal social interaction. The cutoff for communication is 5, Z scored 5. The cutoff for reciprocal social interaction is 6, Z scored 8. In order to receive a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, the aggregate score needs to be above a score of 12. Z had an aggregate score of 13.

Next step was to have an IEP meting with the school district. I won’t bore you with ALL the details of that 4+ hr meeting. We discussed his strengths. He’s extremely intelligent. He scored above average or advanced on all cognitive rating scales. His motor skills were great. His communication was very good…except for the pragmatic kind (the give and take in conversations). We discussed his challenges. He’s not truly social. He wants to be but doesn’t know how to be. And, if he does play with another kid, he has to control everything or he loses it or walks away. He has intermittent eye contact. He takes inappropriate risks. He has his own agenda and has a tough time doing things if he doesn’t want to. He has difficulty following instructions….unless it’s something he wants to do. He has difficulty with transitions….unless it’s something he wants to do.

The bottom line was Z exhibited “behaviors consistent with the diagnosis of high functioning autism” and qualified for a half day Developmental Delay IEP with related services of 30 minutes of speech therapy once a month. Right….what the heck does that mean? It meant that the county saw that there was enough of a concern in his behavior that they wanted to put him in a special ed class with other kids that had some sort of developmental delay. Chances were, all the kids would be like Z…high functioning but not quite ready for mainstream.

And that’s when the real work began. Now that we had the diagnosis, we wanted to know what else was out there. What other private services/schools/options did we have? Was his school assignment and teacher assignment the right one? Did we want to accept what the public school system had offered us? We thought so….but…we wanted to research all our options. Did we want him to be in a class with all kids with developmental delays? Wouldn’t it challenge him more and help him more if there were some kids that were typically developing?

I started doing research on area preschools that had a lean towards kids with developmental delays. First stop was a 45-minute drive from our house, but who cared, right? If this was the right place for Z, I’d do it. Let me say that for the kids this school caters to, it’s a fabulous facility. It was also for much lower functioning kids. I called J practically in tears and said, “How can they say Z’s got the same label as these kids?!” As I mentioned before, it’s a good thing Z’s so complex….he’s not slam dunk autistic. He’s extremely high functioning. And extremely intelligent. Both of which are strengths that can easily be built upon in the right setting.

My next stop was also 45 minutes away but a much different school. And, I fell in love. It was a full-day inclusion school. The staff was amazing. The kids looked like they were having a great time. Exactly what I wanted. And they even had a classroom for younger kids so maybe S & Z could go to school together?

Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one who loved the school; the waitlist was a mile long.

After that, there were countless emails/phone calls/internet searches learning about other school options in the area. None of them were *quite* right. Then, Z’s speech therapist informed me that there was a preschool that was 10 minutes away from us that was founded on an inclusion basis. It was perfect! Z could go there 5 days a week, S could go 2 days (giving me a MUCH needed break) and we’d still have time for additional therapy in the afternoons.

All set, right?!?

Until…..

Stay tuned for our next installment from guest blogger Rebecca. She lives in Denver where she spends her days wrangling two kids, a dog and a husband, working part time and enjoying Colorado as much as possible. She even manages to eek out some time to write in her blog, MBA Mommy where she talks about, you guessed it, wrangling 2 kids, a dog and a husband, working part-time and enjoying Colorado as much as possible! Photo

What are the pros and cons of humidifiers?
Humidifiers can help add moisture to dry living spaces, which can be uncomfortable for children. However, “white dust,” a substance left behind by ultrasonic (or “cool mist”) humidifiers, has been linked to inhalation lung damage in children. This is according to a study by Robin Deterding, MD, professor of pediatrics and Director of the Breathing Institute at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

What does “white dust” do?
“The white dust minerals are small enough to be inhaled and deposited into lungs, and they can cause problems in children,” Dr. Deterding said. “If you see the dust, people who are in the room with the humidifier are inhaling it.”

What are the dos and don’ts of using humidifiers?
Humidifiers aren’t all bad. Take these precautions when deciding to place one in your home:
• Clean your humidifier daily to avoid mineral buildup and growth of microorganisms.
• Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for proper cleaning and usage.
• Test-run your humidifier and look for white dust before placing it in your child’s room.
• Don’t use it in a closed room, and instead leave a door or window open.
• Don’t use tap water, which contains minerals that can be emitted as white dust. Use distilled water instead.

What’s the best humidifier to buy?
Check with your pediatrician to see which kind of humidifier or vaporizer they recommend. Dr. Deterding suggests warm vaporizers, but be sure to put it in a place where kids will not be in danger of burning themselves from the steam.

Learn more about Children’s Colorado.

The U.S. Attorney’s office today sent letters to 23 dispensaries located within 1,000 feet of a school. The dispensaries were told they have 45 days to close or face criminal prosecution and forfeiture of property.

“When the voters of Colorado passed the limited medical marijuana amendment in 2000, they could not have anticipated that their vote would be used to justify large marijuana stores located within blocks of our schools,” Colorado U.S. Attorney John Walsh said in a statement announcing the crackdown.

Colorado law specifies that dispensaries must be at least 1,000 feet from schools but also allows local governments to shrink that distance or grandfather in existing dispensaries.

The 1,000-foot buffer is also significant because it triggers enhanced penalties under federal law.

Federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents are working to identify other dispensaries within 1,000 feet of schools.

The U.S. Justice Department has previously said it would not target people operating in compliance with state medical-marijuana law. It then clarified that policy over the summer to state the exemption doesn’t apply to dispensaries and their owners.

The letters sent out today are sharply worded and leave little room for confusion.

“The dispensary is operating in violation of federal law, and the Department of Justice has the authority to enforce the federal law where appropriate even when such activities may be permitted under state law,” the letter reads. “Persons and entitities who operate or facilitate the operation of such dispensaries are subject to criminal prosecution and civil enforcement actions under federal law.”

U.S. attorneys in California had previously sent such letters to dispensaries in that state. But federal prosecutors in Colorado had held off, leading to speculation that Colorado’s rigorous medical-marijuana business regulations would keep the federal government at bay.

Colorado has about 700 dispensaries, according to the most recent count of businesses that had an active license application pending with state regulators.

John Ingold