October 1, 2020
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JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
GoldenTranscript.net
VOLUME 154 | ISSUE 43
City council considering two proposals to lease Astor House Foothills Art Center and Golden Civic Foundation pitching different concepts BY PAUL ALBANI-BURGIO PALBANIBURGIO@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
The Golden City Council has received two proposals for organizations that want to lease the historic Astor House in downtown Golden from the city and is now soliciting resident feedback as it moves forward with considering them. The first of the two proposals was submitted by the Foothills Art Center and calls for the house to be renovated into a new community arts facility that would allow FAC to expand on its gallery offerings and resources for local community artists. FAC’s proposal calls for the first floor of the house to be renovated into a flexible gallery and gathering space. There would also be a small kid’s corner space and the existing kitchen area would be maintained for cooking classes and other culinary programs as well as use by caterers during SEE ASTOR, P5
Some schools using state-rejected programs BY ANN SCHIMKE SENIOR REPORTER AND COMMUNITY EDITOR, CHALKBEAT COLORADO
the employee. After the suspects collected the money in the register, they physically shoved the employee at gun point into a back room and then robbed the employee of personal belongings. According to police, suspects took a box of Twix bars, two cartons of cigars and $72.51 in cash and change.
Parents have asked. Community groups have asked. Media outlets have asked. For two years, none have gotten a clear answer about the primary curriculums Jeffco’s 90 elementary and K-8 schools use to teach children how to read. District leaders told Chalkbeat that each school has the autonomy to select its own reading curriculum, but officials don’t track what schools have chosen. A partial list compiled by Chalkbeat shows a patchwork quilt of reading curriculum in the 84,000-student district — with some schools using high-quality programs that have earned state approval and many others using programs the state has soundly rejected. More than half of Colorado thirdgraders can’t read well, and the coronavirus pandemic will likely make matters worse. Experts say low-quality curriculum is part of the problem. But Colorado parents and the public often don’t know what their local schools use to teach reading. Last winter, Chalkbeat filed public records requests to find out what K-3 reading curriculums Colorado’s 30 largest school districts use in their schools. Some districts initially said they’d charge for the information and others provided messy out-ofdate lists.
SEE ROBBERY, P3
SEE SCHOOLS, P8
A rendering of how the park behind the Astor House would look under the Golden Civic Foundation proposal. COURTESY IMAGE
Police searching for suspects after Circle K clerk held at gunpoint Three suspects sought in Sept. 15 robbery BY PAUL ALBANI-BURGIO PALBANIBURGIO@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Golden Police are looking for help from the public to help identify three suspects who robbed a Golden con-
Jeffco’s patchwork of reading curriculum uneven
venience store and held a store clerk hostage at gunpoint. The incident happened at about 2:20 a.m. on Sept. 15, when three masked suspects entered the Circle K at 17691 West Colfax Ave. According to surveillance video footage, one suspect went behind the counter and held a gun to an employee’s neck while the other two stood at the counter with their guns pointed at
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 12 | LIFE: PAGE 14 | SPORTS: PAGE 18
TALKING TURNS
Performers turn to podcasts to grow their audience P14