The principal of a prestigious private school in Denver has agreed to take the helm at troubled Manual High School when it reopens this fall.

Robert Stein will leave Graland Country Day School in the Hilltop neighborhood at the end of this school year after six years as principal. It's not as far a step as it might seem for a man with degrees from Stanford and Harvard: Manual High, in north-central Denver, is his alma mater.

"We tapped one of the state's best school leaders to direct Manual into a new era of excellence," Superintendent Michael Bennet said Monday.

"The Manual students and community will have the quality leadership they deserve. Rob's vision, instructional knowledge, integrity and passion for student success will be instrumental in creating a premier high school at Manual."

Stein has just a few short months to get the school ready to open.

"Yesterday," he answered, when asked when he thought he'd need to start filling teaching and staff positions at Manual, which closed one year ago because of low enrollment and poor academic performance.

Denver Public Schools' Board of Education voted to close Manual a year ago, triggering anger and resentment from students, teachers and residents who complained the move was unfair and targeted poor minority students.

Bennet, who defended the closing, saying that the school was underperforming and needed a complete overhaul, said that Stein has a big test in front of him. "I think the greatest challenge is restoring confidence in a community that, for a very long time, hasn't had a high school that served them terribly well," Bennet said Monday.

"And when you've been through a series of changes like Manual has been through . . . that's a long, unhappy history that we hope to correct."

Nationwide search

Stein, walking the quiet hallways of Manual - empty except for a man buffing wax on the floor near rows of blue lockers - said he will conduct nationwide and local searches for qualified teachers, who need to be in place by July 1. Manual will open in August with just a freshman class.

The 46-year-old, who studied anthropology and Spanish literature at a small college in Vermont before getting a master's degree at Stanford University and a doctorate at Harvard University, said he was taking "a huge" pay cut to become principal at Manual. He wouldn't say how big the cut was, but he'll be earning $113,000 a year as Manual's top administrator.

"I felt this calling to come back to public education," Stein said. "I feel a personal responsibility to get it right here."

He acknowledged that part of the draw is that he's a Manual graduate himself. He also lives about two miles from the campus and jogs in City Park - often passing by the school.

Sense of urgency

When Manual closed last year, only 20 percent of the 475 freshmen who entered in 2001 graduated four years later. More than 50 percent of the students who live near Manual chose to attend other schools.

It's a contrast to where Stein is coming from - an exclusive private school where parents pay more than $16,000 to send their children.

Jorge Merida, who helped lead the Manual Community Council, said he was excited with the decision to bring Stein on board. Merida said he has come a long way from being angry about the way DPS handled the closing of Manual - a decision he called "callous, mean and hasty."

But he said Stein's hiring showed two things: that DPS was willing to listen to and to include the community in the decision and that the pool of candidates was impressive.

District officials said there were about 70 applicants for the job. It was narrowed to three finalists a few weeks ago.

The district had hoped to fill the job about a month ago, but Bennet said they wanted to take the time to make the right hire. When asked when Stein would begin work, Bennet also underscored the sense of urgency.

"Today," Bennet said.

Two schools, private and public

Robert Stein is leaving Graland Country Day, an exclusive private school, to lead the newly redesigned Manual High, a public school with a long history in Denver.

Graland Country Day School

• Address: 30 Birch St., in the Hilltop neighborhood near Colorado Boulevard and East Alameda Avenue

• Grades: K-9

• Enrollment: 638

• History: Founded in 1924

• Tuition: $15,070-$16,680 per year; 15 percent of students receive financial aid.

• Achievement: Honored by National Merit Program; all students graduate to independent boarding or public high schools; nearly half of graduates attend competitive colleges and universities.

• Demographic: Current student information is not on the school's Web site. A 2004 item on the Web site said enrollment included "20 percent students of color."

Manual High School

• Address: 1700 E. 28th Ave., in the Cole neighborhood near East 31st Avenue and York Street

• Grades: Will open in the fall with ninth grade only, then add one grade each year after that

• Enrollment: 558 when the school closed last year

• History: Opened in 1894

• Tuition: Free

• Achievement: Two of the three former Manual academies ranked at the bottom in student performance among all Denver neighborhood high schools in 2005-06. The third, Leadership Academy, ranked seventh.

• Demographic: The Manual student body was 75 percent Hispanic and 23 percent black, with more than 65 percent eligible for federal lunch help, an indicator of poverty.

SOURCE: www.graland.org; Rocky Mountain News archives

Robert Stein

Age: 46

Education: Bachelor's degree from Middlebury College in Vermont; master's from Stanford University; doctorate in education from Harvard University.

Milestone: In 2001, he became the first Denver native to head Graland Country Day School.

Family: Married with two children, ages 11 and 7; both are enrolled in public schools.

Manual salary: $113,000

Boss: Reports directly to DPS Superintendent Michael Bennet.

monterod@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5236

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