In an effort to cushion current students through a major high school reform effort, Denver Public School leaders vowed Monday to assign an adult to each of the 250 eighth-graders slated to go to Manual High School next year to help them make sound academic decisions.
Officials also said they would like to give current Manual students early college access.
“This, to me, is what seems so hard,” said Superintendent Michael Bennet, referring to the students currently attending the school. “We feel like we can put together an array of services and support for students who would otherwise be at Manual, … but I don’t think it’s a perfect solution.”
The district’s recommendations to revamp academically depressed Manual call for compressing the building – currently three small schools on three separate floors – into one school for 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders this fall.
For the 2007-08 school year, Bennet hopes to start a new “premier” school with just ninth-graders.
District leaders hope this will boost enrollment and academic achievement. Fifty-four percent of the students within Manual’s boundary areas went to other schools this year, and Manual’s performance on the Colorado Student Assessment Program tests is the lowest in the city, according to DPS statistics.
A small group of emotional Manual students and supporters told board members at a public hearing Monday that they deserve a stronger voice as district leaders mull the reform. The board will probably vote on the proposals Thursday.
“I want to be included in this,” said Araceli Lerma, a junior. “I want the school to be better for me now, not just for the future.”
Candi CdeBaca told board members it would be a mistake not to include students in another school reform – Manual’s second in five years. In 2001, the building was broken up into three small schools in hopes of boosting student achievement.
“That was tumultuous enough,” said CdeBaca, a 2004 graduate who attends the University of Denver. “No one asked the students what was good for them. … And it didn’t work.”
Though Manual students have the choice of five schools to attend next year, the proposal calls for making West High the “neighborhood school” for ninth-graders.
That concerned several board members, including Jeannie Kaplan.
“It’s not a very high-performing school either,” she said. “I’m worried these kids are not going to a significantly better environment.”
Bennet said he’s checking on whether the area can be an open-enrollment zone, which would give students a choice of a handful of schools and provide transportation, but designate no “neighborhood school.”
Staff writer Allison Sherry can be reached at 303-820-1377 or asherry@denverpost.com.
What’s next
There will be a community meeting to discuss the proposed changes to Manual High School at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Manual Educational Complex, 1700 E. 28th Ave.
The Denver Public Schools Board of Education will probably vote on the proposals at its regular meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday at the DPS Administration Building, 900 Grant St.
