While the future and direction of Brighton Collegiate High School remain unknown, two board members are more than a little disappointed in the actions and directions taken by the new leadership of the now-former board of directors.

    Thursday night, the board voted to dissolve the management of BCHS and turn the keys over to Brighton School District 27J. But Ken Mitchell and Lollie Sandoval refused to sign the document to pass the torch of the troubled school over to the school district. Both said they had high hopes for putting the troubles behind them and moving forward.

    “The future? That will be up to 27J now,” Sandoval said. “It would be my hopes that they keep the elite programs the way it is and give the opportunity to all high school students in 27J.”

    With a capacity of 425 students and an enrollment of maybe 240, there are desks available to fill – perhaps a minor solution to an ongoing problem that 27J has with overcrowding.

    “The majority of our students choose to go there. A lot got there because parents wanted them to have the smaller class sizes and more one-on-one time with teachers. And the college course work,” Sandoval said. “And yes, there are a lot of kids we do get because they didn’t fit in the other public schools.”

    In the next month, representatives of the school and district will work out the details of the transition – focusing on the bond repayment structure first. Exactly what those details are was not shared with Sandoval and Mitchell.

    “Whatever happened, they kept it close to the vest. Ursula (Sagehorn) and David (Gill) didn’t share hardly any information with us at all,” Sandoval said of the legal negotiations that began hours before the board’s resignation action last week. ”I do not know what the bond holders said to Russ (Caldwell). I was not privileged to that information.

    “I would not blame anything on 27J. It was all in the bonding and how the bonding works.” Sandoval continued. “This is all new ground on how to handle this. This is the first situation like this in the state. I haven’t read of this happening anywhere else.”

     Regardless of the transition, Sandoval and Mitchell both feel they have gotten black eyes to their reputations after working so long and so hard in the public arena.

    “In the last 90 days, things have gotten worse,” Mitchell said. “And I wasn’t a strong enough salesman to convince other board members on the direction to take.”

    In fact, the opposite occurred when the newer members of the board called for Mitchell’s resignation as president of the BCHS board.

    “I wanted to avoid litigation and mediation. It just didn’t work,” Mitchell said, referring to the latest incident between a teacher and a student – the fourth in three years.

    “We had a bad experience with those four people. That would be damaging to any organization,” Mitchell said.

    Mitchell said he would take his “fair share” of the blame – adding every board member should.

    “But (Rod) Blunck’s got a handle on managing his schools. Every time I went to him with a problem or proposal, he had a solution. Every time he said OK.

    “I’m disappointed in myself,” Mitchell continued. “I don’t know what the hell we could have done differently in the last five years. But my legacy, I’ve worked hard for 34 years in public government, and that’s what kinda bothers me. I always tried to do the right thing. But I got to be an old man, and these people are beating up on me.”

    Sandoval had similar woes. After being recognized by former President Bill Clinton for parent involvement in community education; working closely with Sen. Ken Salazar to develop a method of closing the achievement gap in education and multiple Colorado Department of Education projects; and 14 years on the 27J board, she says her work will all be forgotten and replaced with the BCHS troubled history.

    “I’m worried about that. And I ask, ‘What was it I didn’t do?’ I know exactly how Ken feels. I’m very embarrassed. But I know I did the best I could and I need to move on,” Sandoval said.

    She added the students and staff should do the same.

    “It’s a good school,” Sandoval said. “Don’t let this get you down.”

    Sandoval went on to say that leadership by the ill-informed brought about the recent downfall and relinquishing of the school.

    “I was asked to get on this board after the (former teacher Carrie) McCandless thing. I was part of the group to hopefully lead in the right way,” she said. “But the trouble with these boards is they are usually formed by parents, who are the best advocates for their child’s education but do not know how to run schools.

    “The balance just didn’t happen. Parents’ voices are important. But you have to have experience. And if you have a group on the board who is not willing to learn, it’s like any authority or commission – it’s a full-time job,” she added. “You really have to study and know what’s going on. You really have to study and know what’s going on. You have to know it all and be willing to learn it.”

    Apparently the negotiated steps made by legal counsel prior to the resignation Thursday were never brought to the table.

    “Things we were going to be voting on didn’t happen,” Sandoval said. “That’s not how you run a board. It’s not being efficient and taking responsibility up front. I was there through the whole process, from Terry’s (Gogerty) beginnings. It’s sad to see what has happened to it. This dream that the founding fathers had. I’m not going to say it failed. It just didn’t work.

    But she said the writing was on the wall “after the (Ralph) Kelly incident.” And mistakes made through the first, second and third issues were repeated this time. A board member was involved –“several board members” Sandoval said.

    “And to me, yes, in my eyes, this is the same issue that got (David) Mundy (Sr.) in trouble,” she said. “Things should have been reported immediately.”