Plans for Manual and Kepner on the table as DPS discusses turnaround strategy

After a year of adjustment and debate, Denver Public Schools has finalized its plans for Manual High School and Kepner Middle School, two of the schools it has identified as most in need of improvement.

Those plans and an update to the district’s overall turnaround strategy will be up for discussion at the district’s school board meeting tonight.

Several possibilities for Manual’s future, including a partnership with East High, one of the district’s highest-performing high schools, have been considered since last year. The school was the district’s lowest-scoring high school.

The newest plan for Manual would bring in a group of eight City Year volunteers into the school to focus on both academic achievement and school culture.

The district has also selected Manual to receive a grant to bring a bio-medical program, part of a Career and Technical Education pathway, to the school. A new assistant principal will lead that program.

Candidates to be the school’s new principal are already being recruited and interviews will happen in January.

At Kepner, the district has plans to place two new charter schools in the building next year while the current school program is phased out. The plan to house Compass Academy and Rocky Mountain Prep in the building raised concerns about the fate of the district’s program for English learners in the building.

The board will vote Thursday on a plan to place both Compass and Rocky Mountain Prep in the building temporarily, while also moving forward with plans to place Strive and district school Kepner Beacon in the building in 2016. The district’s agreement with Compass specifies that the school will come to an agreement with DPS about services for English language learners.

The district delayed plans to place Strive and the Kepner Beacon program, an expansion of a current school at Grant Beacon, to open next fall.

District officials will also discuss updates to its plans for all turnaround schools and schools it has identified as otherwise in need of support.

The district plans to expand support and funding for turnaround schools to five years instead of three years. As part of its Whole Child initiative, turnaround schools will receive mental health-focused staff and supports for the community. The district also plans to add an instructional expert at each of its turnaround schools.

Turnaround schools will also get an additional planning year, and the district said it would plan to find leaders and teachers for turnaround schools early on in the planning process.

Denver Public Montessori, Harrington Elementary School, Schmitt Elementary, Beach Court Elementary, Goldrick Elementary, Morey Middle, Abraham Lincoln High, Henry Middle, and Amesse Elementary were all flagged as being in need of some improvement (not necessarily for turnaround). The district will analyze each school to decide which are eligible for which services in the coming months.