Reinstate Principal Dawkins at Denver's Manual High School NOW

On Friday, March 2nd, 2018 less than three months shy of graduating four of the highest performing cohorts of youth in recent history from Manual High School, Principal Dawkins abruptly resigned from Denver Public Schools under false allegations of a "hostile work environment." Principal Dawkins has since released a letter explaining WHY he resigned revealing that DPS requested that he not return to his campus because he was being investigated.

If you know Principal Dawkins, you know that "hostile" is the furthest descriptor from the actual type of environment he created at Manual over the last four years. After years of instability and neglect, Principal Dawkins put his entire life on hold to come into Manual and pour pure love and power into our youth and community. He has a 90% positive rating in recent assessments from stakeholders in the building and he is overwhelmingly loved by those in the community who have worked alongside him.

Staff within Manual have since released their own letters to the community revealing a clear attempt by certain staff from within to sabotage Principal Dawkins and usurp power for personal gain. Sign the petition and demand that Manual's students come first, and that DPS investigate this outrageous effort to remove an effective leader.

Letters explained that after dealing with a year filled with student deaths, racism, and gun violence--new members of Manual's administrative team in partnership with a few other key individuals essentially staged a coup during Principal Dawkins' absence. Whether this coup was retaliation or political retribution for other issues or simply an inability for staff to be held accountable is under investigation. However, the other members of Manual's staff remain in the building without a full and fair investigation.

Considering the impact of this loss on a community that has repeatedly been abused by DPS, we are demanding that DPS comply with the following requests:

1. To ensure a full and fair investigation (which has already been compromised by not suspending others involved), DPS must suspend ALL parties alleged in any of the recent letters regarding Mr. Dawkins' abrupt and uncharacteristic resignation.

2. Upon completion of the investigation, DPS must reinstate Principal Dawkins and terminate anyone who was willfully involved in falsely accusing and undermining Mr. Dawkins' principalship.

3. DPS must review the Manual Innovation Plan and related protocols and determine who else was in violation of the explicit autonomy provided to community stakeholders. If anyone violated the protocols, DPS must also appropriately address violations.

4. We also demand that DPS guarantee that nobody who has come forward to expose this malicious attempt to destroy community is retailiated against. We demand that Principal Dawkins retain full authority over all hiring/renewal of contracts in his school and that he too recieves an apology from DPS for failing to protect one of the most transformational leaders in the district.