February 2012

Greening Our Schools

Thank you for that generous introduction, Tom [Boasberg]. You're doing a great job, and Denver is lucky to have you as their leader, promoting the green movement here. I want to thank as well my green schools team leaders at the Department, John McGrath and Andrea Falken, who are here with me today.

Teachers Get R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Today, we are formally launching Project RESPECT.

RESPECT is an acronym that stands for Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence and Collaborative Teaching. I've always believed that in education, we simply don't have enough acronyms yet—we needed one more!

All kidding aside, let me break down what RESPECT is all about:

Fighting the Wrong Education Battles

I was pleased to hear that today's event in the Askwith lecture series was sold-out. But I hope that no one here today is under the impression that they are going to hear from Lady Gaga. I'm the warm-up act—she is later this month.