2014 Single-Topic News or Feature for Print/Online (Small Staff) Finalist: Chalkbeat Colorado Staff

“A Promise Unfulfilled at Manual High School”

Manual High School, once closed for low performance, struggles to find academic footing after a brief renaissance

Comments from the Judges:

“This Chalkbeat series took an insightful look into the backwards slide of Manual High School, which was once held up as a model of reform in Denver. The stories provide solid answers about what happened to turn the school into a failure again. The story also had a strong impact, leading to the replacement of the school’s principal and opening up a conversation about the school’s shortcomings.”

“Colorado’s Manual High School cannot stand to be helped any more. A series of educational reforms has left the school in worse shape than it started, burned through lots of tax dollars and, worse, compromised the futures of the students who attended. Chalkbeat reporters Nicholas Garcia and Kate Schimel untangle the history of change and the school, document the results of inconsistent policy and describe an utterly frustrating legacy of bureaucratic mismanagement.”