Efforts to discourage families in far northeast Denver from filling out choice applications as a way to protest turnaround plans appear to have been ineffective, as 92 percent of families with students entering middle or high schools made new school selections.
The choice application form allowed Denver Public School students entering sixth or ninth grade next year to pick a new school which will open as part of the turnaround plan approved in November.
Of 1,500 forms that were turned in, 85 percent had one of the new schools in far north east Denver as the first choice, according to a release from the district.
The second round for collection of the choice forms will begin in March and last through the beginning of May, but will be more limited on a space basis.
Among the changes in the turnaround plan approved in November, Rachel B. Noel Middle School will be phased out and replaced with a 6-12 arts program and will add a charter school.
Montbello High School will be phased out to make room for three new programs: a college prep academy, a high-tech early college and a 6-12 Denver Center for International Studies.
Students at phase-out schools entering seventh or eighth grade next year will stay at their current school until they move to high school.
Students entering 10th, 11th or 12th grade will stay in their current school until graduation.
DPS will host a community meeting at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday March 5 at the Evie Dennis Campus in Green Valley Ranch to provide an update on the choice process and introduce families to some of the school principals who will lead the new schools.
