Board News
November 4, 2005
Board Approves West Denver Preparatory Charter School
The Denver Board of Education on Thursday approved the opening of West Denver Preparatory Charter School in southwest Denver for the 2006-2007 school year. The vote was six to one in favor of the new school; Board vice president Lucia Guzman dissented.
The charter school proposal was one of three submitted to the school district for consideration. Proposals from the CP Charter School and the Global Village Academy Charter School were denied.
West Denver Preparatory Charter School's mission is to prepare students in grades six through eight for educational success from middle school through college. To be located in the Westwood neighborhood, the school would open for 100 students in sixth grade next school year and expand to serve nearly 300 students over the following two years. The school would provide a demanding education of high standards, structure and accountability.
The West Denver Preparatory three-year charter was approved pending conditions such as:
Secure by Feb. 28 a location in southwest Denver.
Establish by Feb. 28 an enrollment process that ensures the school is open to all students and a recruitment plan to attract and enroll a diverse student population of which at least 30 percent qualifying for free or reduced-price meals.
Develop benchmarks for implementation by March 1 for: the specific content and materials for courses, instructional guides and assessments explicitly aligned to district and state standards; a more clearly defined structured English immersion program; and a detailed description of the professional development to help all teachers meet the needs of diverse learners, particularly English language learners.
Provide the district by March 1 with written enrollment commitments from at least 75 students for the 2006-2007 school year.
Rev. Guzman said that among her reasons for voting to deny the West Denver Preparatory charter was that nearby middle schools are under-enrolled and the school's plan for educating English language learners was insufficient.
The CP Charter School proposal was denied in part because although the proposed curricula have been effective with the general student population, there is little research-based evidence that such programs have proven to be effective with student populations that have a large percentage of students with a range of special needs, Cerebral Palsy in particular.
The Global Village Academy charter was denied in part because there is inadequate evidence that the proposed educational program (a combination of the International Baccalaureate Organization program and language immersion programs in Farsi, Mandarin and Spanish) is research-based and proven to be effective.
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