A Brighton charter school is battling its temporary takeover by School District 27J and says it plans to take its fight to the State Board of Education.
The governing board of Brighton Collegiate High School tried to get a court injunction to stop the takeover, but an Adams County district judge Tuesday ruled the case was out of her jurisdiction.
The judge said the matter would be best handled by the state board .
At least one charter advocate says the ruling is flawed — opening the doors for any governmental takeover without due cause.
“This is a government agency saying, ‘We have the authority to go in, change the locks, throw people out and take over,’ ” said Jim Griffin, president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools. “Any level of authority that says, ‘We can bypass normal means in the name of emergency’ needs to produce something that warrants their drastic action.”
Brighton Collegiate High School has been in the news over past years, besieged by sex scandals involving teachers and students.
The recent controversy involves an alleged incident of “inappropriate conduct of a non-sexual nature” between a teacher and a student, according to the school. The teacher was fired Nov. 3, and police were notified.
Brighton police on Wednesday said their investigation has not been completed.
School District 27J officials say they tried to launch an investigation but were denied access to the school or its employees.
“When there is an incident at any school, the district needs to be able to get into that school and find out the pertinent facts about what happened,” said Todd Cordrey, 27J board president.
“In the case of Brighton Collegiate High School, we were denied access to finding out what happened. That is not acceptable.”
The school says it was a misunderstanding, that the school merely wanted its own attorney present when the district began its investigation.
“We had a student who was feeling uncomfortable, and (she) reported it,” said David Gill, Collegiate board vice president. “Our system worked. Everything we had in place worked. We headed something off that could have happened. Now we are being criticized for our system working.”
The 27J school board voted Nov. 10 to take over temporary management of the school out of concerns for the safety of the students.
“They have 12 teachers, and this is incident No. 4 in 40 months,” Cordrey said. “What is that ratio? What’s going on? That is what we want to know.”
The school’s governing board filed an injunction in district court, and the district officials left the premises.
But after Tuesday’s finding, district officials resumed temporary management of the school.
“Executive director of student achievement Isobel Stevenson will meet (principal Kirk) Salmela at the charter school,” said 27J Superintendent Rod Blunck. “She will have a presence at the school over the next few days. . . . We still have an investigation to complete. For the students, staff and classes, it is business as usual.”
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com
