District 11 plans external management partner to pull Mitchell High School off state watch list

Superintendent Gall told the Colorado Springs School District 11 board on April 16 that the district will ask the State Board of Education to allow Mitchell High School to remain an innovation school while bringing in an external academic management partner to drive instructional improvement.

The move, Gall said, is intended to avoid closing Mitchell or immediately converting it to a charter or other governance model. “I do not think it is healthy for our community to recommend the closure of Mitchell High School,” Gall said during the presentation. He and district staff said the district will seek approval from the state board at its May hearing and expects a formal order within weeks if the state concurs.

The nut graf: Mitchell is on the state clock after multiple years of priority-improvement ratings. District leaders argued the school has stabilized in safety and some academics but needs intensive, on‑the‑ground instructional coaching and consistency of strategy across the district to accelerate student achievement.

District leaders said the academic partner would be the same organization that already supports other D11 turnaround efforts (referred to in the meeting as Instructional Empowerment). Area Superintendent Gollbach and Mitchell Principal George Smith described recent gains — including reading improvements and higher attendance — while acknowledging math remains a lagging indicator.

Sherry (district administration) said the request to the state will not eliminate Mitchell's innovation status but will “couple the innovation plan with the academic external manager partner, so that the innovations can support the instructional work that needs to occur at Mitchell.” She said the partner will provide frequent on-site coaching for school leaders and teachers and will help create short-cycle data use in professional learning communities.

Principal George Smith told the board Mitchell’s attendance has risen to about 88 percent and that school leaders are targeting 90+ percent in coming years. He said the school’s top discipline referrals are for cell phones and tardies and that unsafe behaviors are in the single digits for the comprehensive high school of about 700 students.

Board members asked for clarity on several data items — for example whether the discipline chart counted distinct students or incidents. District staff confirmed the chart showed distinct students and agreed to provide a follow-up breakdown of repeated incidents and the causes of out‑of‑school suspensions.

Several board members pressed district staff on the root causes: high mobility, students arriving to ninth grade below grade level, and staffing variability. District leaders said their school comprehensive needs assessment (SCNA) reinforced state review panel findings and recommended targeted classroom rigor and coaching.

Gall said the district has applied for “EZ grama dollars” to fund the external partner and expects the funding application to be supported, and that if the state approves the recommended path the district anticipates two school years (2025–26 and 2026–27) to move Mitchell off the clock. “We will have the '25–'26 and '26–'27 school years to move Mitchell fully off the clock,” a district official said.

Ending: The board was briefed for information only; no board action was required at the April 16 meeting. District staff will present the formal plan to the state board on May 14, after which the state board will vote; the district said it will report back to the D11 board on the state decision and the timing of any state order.