Denver Public Schools wants more help with the design of the new Manual High School.
Rather than working with a single firm or consultant, the Manual High School Advisory Committee will interview another dozen consultants today who, if selected, will work in different roles in the process to revamp the troubled school, administrators said Wednesday.
“These are bite-size (jobs) that we’re putting them into,” said Cynthia Gallegos, a Manual committee member.
This is a small step backward for the Manual committee, headed by school board member Theresa Peña and City Councilwoman Elbra Wedgeworth.
Committee members originally selected the Community College of Denver and the American Institutes of Research to run the entire process of revamping the troubled northeast Denver high school.
But negotiations ended last week after DPS was dissatisfied with the pair’s plan in leading the community involvement piece, said Pastor Vernon Jones Jr., a Manual committee member.
DPS and the Manual committee members hope to be aggressive in reaching out to the community on what the school should look like, Wedgeworth said.
This could include community meetings, surveys and even door-to-door visits to people in the neighborhood.
“We want them (the residents) to be honest,” Wedgeworth told Manual committee and school board members.
The 11 to 12 firms being interviewed today by the Manual committee will vie for jobs in communications, community engagement and project management. It’s possible that five firms will each get a different job.
Peña said that this could be more effective because it is hard to find a single firm to adequately address all areas of school reform.
DPS board members decided in February to close Manual for a year and redesign it after years of students’ low test scores and dwindling enrollment.
Wedgeworth said she hoped the Manual design process could be a model for future high school reform in DPS.
“We’re trying to save our schools,” she said, noting that other groups trying to help academically hurting schools should watch this process. “Maybe these are some things you want to think about now.”
Staff writer Allison Sherry can be reached at 303-820-1377 or asherry@denverpost.com.
