Tears fell down the faces of Montbello High students in the early morning hours Friday after the Denver school board voted 4-3 to approve a plan to reconfigure their school and its feeder schools.
Students have said they’ll walk out of school Monday morning to protest the vote that came after more than five hours of public comment and an hour of sometimes contentious debate.
The plan goes into effect next school year and will ultimately affect about 5,000 students and 400 teachers.
Ford Elementary will be replaced with the Denver Center for International Studies and Oakland Elementary by SOAR II charter school.
Noel Middle School will be phased out and replaced by KIPP charter and a grade 6-12 arts school. Staff at McGlone and Green Valley elementaries will be replaced. And Montbello High’s current program will be phased out.
Incoming Montbello freshmen will go into three smaller schools: a college prep academy, a high-tech early college or a Denver Center for International Studies school.
“We are trying to fundamentally change the opportunities and outcomes for students in that region, to make sure every student has a great school in their neighborhood,” Superintendent Tom Boasberg said.
The board voted 4-3 to support the turnaround package for five schools and 5-2 to support the change at Ford.
Board members Andrea Merida and Jeannie Kaplan proposed amendments to exclude each of the six schools from the turnaround plans but each amendment was voted down.
Rumors circulated Friday that a recall effort is forming to oust board President Nate Easley Jr., who is a Montbello alumnus and voted for the change.
“If I’m recalled, so be it,” Easley said before casting what would be the swing vote in support of the turnaround. “I’m going to vote my conviction.”
To get a recall on to the ballot for Easley’s seat, about 5,400 signatures would have to be gathered from registered voters in his district.
Also, a community group on Thursday sent out an e-mail saying Easley should step down because his job with the Denver Scholarship Foundation is a conflict of interest.
“I don’t have any more conflict than anyone else on the board,” Easley said. “They are going to try to find anything they can to throw at me.”
Union leaders on Friday sent a message of support to teachers at affected schools.
“I am writing an e-mail thanking them for standing up for their schools and all the hard work they did on their plans,” said Carolyn Crowder, director of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association.
Other changes were approved at the meeting: Denver School of Science & Technology will co-locate into Cole Arts & Sciences Academy; University Prep charter will occupy the former Crofton school building; West Denver Preparatory charter school will move from the Emerson Street school to North High School; and Manny Martinez Middle School won’t accept sixth-graders as it begins to phase out.
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com
