January 7, 2005
Montbello High School
"In Our Collective Hearts"
– Superintendent Wartgow
Board of Education President Les Woodward called for a moment of silence at the beginning of this week’s meeting "for those who have suffered personal loss."On Tuesday, one student at Montbello High School lost his life during a fight with another student in the school cafeteria. The other student was arrested by police.
Superintendent Jerry Wartgow offered the district’s "heartfelt sympathy and condolences" to the families involved and urged "the greater Denver Public Schools community to take the entire Montbello High School community into our collective hearts and prayers, not only tonight but during the days and weeks to come."
Superintendent Wartgow praised the staff and Denver Police Department for their "instantaneous" response to the events.
"We have a strong faculty, strong leadership at Montbello High School, and many, many students and parents who are committed to helping us provide a quality educational experience," he said.
Superintendent Wartgow also called for a district-wide discussion about safety at every high school, including student focus groups to gather their perspective and ideas for improvements. The community forums will be scheduled immediately, he said.
"We want the community to come forward in all of our high schools and share with us their thoughts, their concerns, their suggestions. This incident happened at Montbello High School...(but) we are committed to making sure it doesn’t happen at any high school."
Superintendent Wartgow also said a program called "Weapons Watch" will be re-emphasized among students. Akin to "Crime Stoppers," the Denver Police Department program provides the ability for students to relay anonymously any knowledge they have of dangerous weapons and potentially receive a reward for doing so.
Superintendent Jerry Wartgow:
"From everything I’ve seen, from everything I’ve been told, from all indications on the security tape...the Montbello High School staff, including Denver Police Department School Resource Officers, did an extraordinary job of responding to this tragedy right from the start. The incident that led to this tragedy was extremely quick. It happened in less than one minute. The response by trained personnel, with CPR and First Aid, was instantaneous. Instantaneous. And that’s documented on the tape."
"The staff at Montbello should not be second-guessing themselves and nobody should think anything of them other than this: these were teachers, nurses, food service personnel, police officers and security officers who did their job in an extremely professional and sharp-thinking, quick-thinking manner and who did everything, I believe, that was humanly possible. They deserve our praise, not our criticism."
"It’s unfortunate that we try to move so quickly to find fault. We need to move past that and keep all the kids of Montbello – all of them – in our hearts tonight and for the future. This is a setback but we’ll get through it."
"We will figure out what happened, as best we can, how it happened, why it happened and I’m committed to do anything humanly possible to make sure it never happens again."
Board member Kevin Patterson:
"These kids need our support to get through this grief...They have been through a lot and we need to be there for them."
"We’ve got to make sure that we are listening...I’m encouraged by (the students’) attitude, by their positive nature. They are still looking for answers, of course, but they are trying to move through this grieving process because it’s very difficult at this young age."
"We’ve got to be sure that we understand that these children need us to hear them. We need to find ways to communicate with them, we need to find ways to engage them, we need to find ways to help them grow, help them move through, help them achieve everything that they can be."
"This is a high school issue. This is an issue not just in Denver, not just in Colorado, it’s across our nation. We have weapons in our schools. We need to have children tell us where they see them...Children know what is going on in our buildings, better than we do. But we have to make sure they feel comfortable telling us."
Five Northeast Denver Elementary Schools Expand To Eighth Grade
The Board of Education this week voted unanimously to convert five northeast Denver elementaries to K-8 schools beginning in 2005-2006.
Columbine, Gilpin, Harrington, Mitchell and Whittier elementary schools, which currently feed into Cole Middle School, will become K-8 schools over a three-year period.
The elementary schools will add sixth grade in 2005-2006 and an additional grade each year thereafter – except Whittier, which will add a seventh-grade class in the fall since it already offers a sixth grade.
"We are very excited about the K-8 process," said Whittier principal Jai Palmer. "We’re excited. We’re ready to go."
Harrington Elementary School would add only sixth grade until a plan is approved at a later date for increasing the capacity of the facility or if enrollment can be adjusted through other means so the existing facility can handle the grade-level expansion.
The decision comes on the heels of a recent resolution that reaffirmed the Board’s commitment to expanding academic options for families within Denver Public Schools. It also comes as Cole Middle School – which serves students who matriculate from the five elementary schools – is being converted to a charter school under the state law that governs school accountability.
Among the feedback Denver Public Schools gathered from staff, parents and community members through a series of community meetings and surveys, rationale for the expansion to K-8 schools includes:
Younger students benefit from having older role models; older students gain from serving as mentors.
Students go through one less transition; transitions can adversely affect academic achievement.
Students have more consistent relationships with adults and, as such, are less likely to exhibit unproductive or disruptive behavior.
Concerns were related to the academic program (versus a configuration change), facility capacity, effect on after-school programming and the safety of mixing of older and younger students.
"After-school programming, in addition to athletics, is a key part of the K-8 program at all schools," stated the plan submitted to the Board. "Such programming has had a significant impact on student achievement in the schools under consideration for conversion. The district recognizes their importance to DPS students and, as such, will work to insure that the integrity of these programs is not jeopardized with the introduction of middle grade students to these schools. All new K-8 schools will be expected to maintain or develop after-school programming based on community desires and available funds."
Addressing after-school athletics, the report stated, "Staff believes that new K-8 schools should participate in the middle school preparatory league or a dedicated league for K-8 students. Most existing K-8 schools initiated their participation in sixth grade; however principals at the five northeast schools have expressed interest in waiting one or two years. Regardless, funding sources will need to be considered carefully with respect to the conversions."
The five northeast Denver elementary schools’ expansion is part of a comprehensive, district-wide approach to broader use of the K-8 model. Staff is developing plans to convert district elementary schools in all parts of the city to K-8 schools based on facility capacity, parent and community interest, student achievement, and opportunities for reuse of middle school facilities.
Chief Academic Officer Sally Mentor Hay told the Board in November that the traditional middle school model is not being abandoned. "Our clear purpose and focus is to create strong middle schools and strong K-8 schools," she said. "Our interest is to give parents some very good choices."
A growing body of evidence supports the kindergarten through grade eight configuration (K-8) as a positive environment for high impacted middle grade students. Results indicate that on both a national and local level, K-8’s are generating improved academic and behavioral results among students.
Choice Enrollment Deadline For ‘05-06 Is January 31
Families interested in a school other than their neighborhood school may apply this month through the Choice process for a transfer to attend another neighborhood school – or to attend an elementary magnet school or other unique schools such as DPS Online or the Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning. (For school descriptions, see the 2005 enrollment guide from the "parents & students" link at http://www.dpsk12.org or call 720-423-3414 to request a copy.)
Choice enrollment forms are available at all schools. Completed forms for the 2005-2006 school year need to be returned by Monday, January 31 to any school for central processing.
After January 31, families will need to return Choice forms to the specific school or schools that interest them. These may be completed through Friday, August. 26.
January Meetings
The Board of Education has postponed its second regular meeting in January to the fourth instead of the usual third Thursday of the month. The rescheduled meeting will begin at 5 p.m. Thursday, January 27 in the first-floor Board Room at the DPS administration building, 900 Grant St.
The meeting to receive the final report from the Commission on Secondary School Reform will be Monday, January 31 (also at the DPS administration building).
Board Notes
In other action this week, the Board of Education:
Approved a contract for structured cabling at Carson, Cory, McKinley-Thatcher and Samuels elementary schools, Denison Montessori and Thomas Jefferson High School.
Approved a contract for Academy Sports Turf as the vendor of synthetic turf and track surface projects at Abraham Lincoln, East, Montbello and Thomas Jefferson high schools.