Board members voted to extend the school’s existing contract, which was set to expire on Monday, until August. And the board signaled its intent to approve, come August, a one-year probationary contract with the school.
The new contract, however, will be chock full of conditions that the school must meet if it’s to continue to operate, including an entirely new administrative staff, an entirely new governing board, a tough new personnel policy and tighter accounting policies.
“We want this school to succeed,” said board member Kevin Patterson. “That community and those students deserve every advantage we can provide them.”
“The ripple effect had we not found a solution to the problems there is not something we’d want to deal with,” he said.
The charter school in northeast Denver has been plagued by a series of missteps, including allegations of financial mismanagement, inadequate personnel screening that led to the hiring of criminals, and declining student achievement.
Yet for all the negative publicity, many students and parents continued to express confidence in the school and in founding principal Carolyn Jones. The school, which serves a predominantly poor, minority population that has struggled in other academic settings, has a lower dropout rate than neighboring Montbello High School.
“Lost in some of the publicity has been the overwhelming good that is found there, which is improved student achievement,” said board member Bruce Hoyt. “I look forward to seeing that progress made.”
Board members could have chosen to revoke the school’s contract, which would effectively have closed it down. But they say they have confidence that the newly appointed head of school, Oscar Joseph, will provide the stability needed to bring the school back from the brink. Joseph was formerly associated vice president at the University of Colorado at Denver.
“I’m in the boat now. I’m the captain of the ship,” Joseph said as he emerged from the school board meeting, a copy of the resolution the gave new life to the school in his hand. “The things outlined in this resolution, I’m going to be taking all this into account.”
Joseph said one of the first things he will do is to call a community meeting in Montbello on Monday to outline the next steps for the school. He said that details about the time and location for the meeting will be posted on the school's website,
Among the conditions the school board is building in to the year-long probationary contract with CCI:
* CCI must desmontrate significant improvement in student performance and financial performance.
*The school’s governing board must be reconstituted, and all board members must complete a training conducted by the Colorado League of Charter Schools by the time classes resume in the fall.
*The school’s governing must replace all members of the previous administration by Aug. 1. District superintendent Michael Bennet said later that Jones will remain at the school, but not in a management role.
*The school and the CCI Montessori Child Development Center – a child care center at the heart of the school’s fiscal controversy – must be severed from each other, with separate finances, staffing and management systems.
* Joseph must implement a new personnel policy, thoroughly review all current staff records and qualifications, subject all employees to criminal background checks and submit all prospective hires to the new governing board for approval.
* A new Chief Financial Officer for the school must development a new financial reporting and control system.
“We all have our passions,” said Joseph, responding to a question why he would take on such a massive challenge as CCI. “Being an educator, you see these types of challenges, and you just want to get involved. It’s humbling, to feel I could come into this and bring a sense of peace to that building.”
Board approves new charter schools
The Denver School Board on Thursday gave outright approval to two proposed new charter schools and agreed to reconsider at a later date two proposed innovation schools.
The board had no qualms at all about approve a proposal to expand the West Denver Preparatory Charter School for grades six through eight. The existing school in southwest Denver has drawn extremely positive reviews since it opened a year ago, with its students showing significant improvements in achievement test scores. School officials proposed opening a second campus, also serving grades six through eight, and eventually to build a high school that would open in the fall of 2012.
Board members were less certain about a proposal from Envision Schools to build two academies, each serving 705 students in grades six through 12, with the first opening in 2009.
Board members were enthralled by the success Envision Schools have had in California, and excited by the prospect of similar success in Denver. But they worried about giving approval for a second school before seeing whether the first one fared well.
“It’s a highly promising school and I’m confident of its success,” said board member Bruce Hoyt. “But I imagine previous boards have been confident of the success of every new charter school.” He said of the 19 charter schools currently operating within DPS, a handful have failed to live up to expectations.
“Keeping in mind the difficulty of closing an unsuccessful charter school, I think we want to make sure this school captures the magic we think it holds before we approve a second school.”
But in the end, Envision’s stellar reputation won over a majority of board members. The board voted 4-3 to grant approval for Envision to open both schools.
“I think our kids deserve this choice sooner rather than later,” said board member Theresa Pena, who voted in favor of the approvals.
Also gaining preliminary favor were proposals for two new innovative schools, STEM Leadership Academy, run by the Denver Classroom Teachers Association. The school would provide instruction in science, technology, engineering and mathematics for students from early childhood through eighth grade; and the Denver Language School, which would provide immersion for students up to grade six in Spanish and Chinese.
The board took no action on the latter two proposals to give organizers more time to identify principals, provide more detail on curricula and fill in a few other blanks.
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