Denver’s school board Thursday will revisit a controversial vote on a turnaround strategy for a northwest Denver middle school that was narrowly approved last month.
Board vice president Arturo Jimenez, who represents northwest Denver, asked for a new vote on Lake Middle School.
The board voted 4-3 on Nov. 30 to approve changes for Lake Middle School, Denver’s lowest-performing middle school. The board, with two new members who didn’t vote in November, now will reconsider that plan.
Whether the measure passes may come down to board president Nate Easley Jr., who declined Tuesday to say how he would vote.
“You can safely say I am interested in the district moving forward,” Easley said. “I am confident that we are all in consensus about the destination of where we want to take the district, but it is the road map that we are disagreeing on.”
The changes for Lake approved last month would phase out the International Baccalaureate program over the next two years. Lake’s incoming sixth-graders would be part of a new IB program that would grow to a sixth-through-eighth- grade program.
Lake’s facility also would become a shared campus with West Denver Preparatory charter school that would begin with sixth- graders in the 2010-11 school year.
Jimenez, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, had voted no on the proposal.
Typically, parliamentary procedures forbid someone who voted in the minority from calling for reconsideration. But Easley said he wanted to respect the desire of Jimenez to have the vote again.
At the Nov. 30 meeting, Jimenez said he supported reforming Lake but wanted more community involvement.
“There has definitely been support for turnaround strategies,” Jimenez said at the meeting. “How we do that and what it looks like is really the issue.”
Board member Andrea Merida said she will support Jimenez’s motion to scrap the Lake reform.
“Again, it’s about keeping neighborhood schools stable,” Merida said. “Schools like West Denver Prep should be used as part of the tools for achievement. But we can’t use them as the entire solution. They are just part of the solution.”
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com
