One boy wrote an essay in which he misspelled "stupid" as "stoopid" at the new Manual High School on Friday, and one girl carried around a worn copy of Charlotte Bronte's classic, Jane Eyre.

Teachers huddling after school worried about how to squelch public displays of affection in the hallway and how to ensure students don't separate themselves by race in the classroom.

And staff in the main office struggled with a computer system that Denver Public Schools, despite all the hoopla around the reopening of this historic school, was unable to have working properly on the first day of classes.

Welcome to a typical day in an urban high school, albeit one that is attempting to reshape itself and, possibly, similar schools across the country.

Because while the nation - or at least "Good Morning America" - is watching, the reform of Manual is less quick and concrete than thoughtful and organic.

On Friday, the end of week one of the return of students to this campus at 28th and Franklin in north Denver, the edges of the reform were beginning to gel.

"I feel like there's a lot of potential for the progress that needs to happen," geography teacher Nicole Frazier said during a staff meeting at day's end. "They are all buying in. They're not all doing their homework, but they're all working in class."

And then Frazier and most of the teachers climbed into each other's vans and took off to Horizon High School in Thornton to cheer their kids in Manual's first football scrimmage of the season.

Theory and reality

Fears voiced by some neighborhood residents that the new Manual would be serving a select group of students - code words, in this case, for white or affluent - have proven unfounded.

Virtually all 180 students are from the surrounding neighborhoods and reflect their ethnic and economic diversity. Many have family ties to the old Manual, often a parent or a grandparent who recalls the glory days of the former academic and athletic powerhouse.

"My grandfather went here, and my grandmother," said Linelle, who's black.

Her new friend Dani, who's Hispanic, piped in with, "My grandfather went here, too."

Students' academic ability is all over the map, said Principal Rob Stein, with "a large group" performing below grade level. "The student population we have now is pretty similar to populations in the old Manual."

DPS school board members voted in February 2006 to close Manual for a year, citing dismal achievement and dwindling enrollment.

The reputation of the 113-year-old school had prospered when mandatory busing for integration forced a truly diverse mix of students into the school. But a return to neighborhood schools in the late '90s changed that population almost overnight.

By fall 2005, more than half the students living in Manual's attendance area were choosing to go elsewhere.

Stein, who graduated from Manual in 1978, is a product of the school's glory days. He went on to earn a master's from Stanford and a doctorate in education from Harvard.

And while much recent publicity has focused on Stein's six years as head of the private Graland Country Day School in Denver, he has worked in urban schools, including coaching a former principal at Manual.

Friday, he took over a class for a football coach who had to leave early. His reading, a treatise on rethinking high schools, sat on his laptop as he taught.

"Teaching is so much harder than being a school principal," he said when it was over. "I'm tired."

The mighty, mighty 'Bolts

Stein's plan for the new Manual combines theory and practice, drawing on what research says are best instructional practices and lessons learned from 25 years in education in private and public schools.

Then it's remixed by teacher and student input. Stein surveyed both groups this past week.

Friday, as they did every day this first week, Manual teachers met for a "faculty huddle" after school to talk about what was working and what was not.

Nearly all said they believe their focus in the first week on creating a school community is paying off.

Students gather in a circle three mornings a week to talk about what's going on. They also begin and end the day with the same teacher, in small groups of 15, where they work on team-building.

And teachers themselves feel they're tightly knit.

"In my opinion, we're arm in arm," said English teacher Teresa Martinez, who taught 12 years at a DPS middle school before coming to Manual. "I'm really excited about the team."

Monday begins more structure at the school, including enforcement of the "business casual" dress code.

"I don't think they can be in school if they're not in uniform," Stein told teachers on Friday.

Something is clearly working at Manual. Consider that, in a student survey, nearly as many kids said "everything" is working as said they wanted to change the dress code.

And Friday morning, something of the mythical Manual Thunderbolt spirit again filled the school foyer. Michael Simmons, a teacher and alum, led the circle of students in a raucous cheer for their new football team. "Everywhere we go," he sang as he danced around the group, "People wanna know who we are . . .

"We are the Thunderbolts," the students sang back, "the mighty, mighty Thunderbolts."

Elements of reform

Some key pieces of the plan at the new Manual High School

• Curriculum: Teachers are using the DPS curriculum in core subjects, including Cognitive Tutor in math and the College Board's Springboard program in literacy.

• Students: Enrollment is limited to 180 ninth-graders this year; another grade will be added each year until Manual serves grades 9 through 12.

• Dress code: Business casual, meaning shirts with collars and slacks, no shorts or jeans; on school spirit days students will be allowed to wear jeans if they wear Manual tops.

• After school: A class called Overtime runs for 90 minutes at the end of the school day. Athletes are required to attend to do homework before practice begins at 5 p.m. Other students can go for help.

mitchelln@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5245

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