Mitchell High School is a D11 high school that appears in the current D11 investigation as the strongest non-charter alternative-governance mechanism: a school-of-innovation renewal paired with a partial external management partner pathway.
Turnaround Year 6.Innovation and External Management Partner.$200,000 annual D11 budget.The June 4, 2025 D11 minutes say Mitchell's innovation plan includes continuing the existing innovation model and establishing a partial external management partnership. The minutes also say the plan was approved by the Colorado State Board of Education on May 15, 2025 and that D11 extended the designation through 2027-2028.
The Mitchell Pathway Plan says D11 recognizes that innovation alone is unlikely to produce the urgent results needed and proposes a merger of two pathways: academic external management and continuation of the innovation plan. It identifies Instructional Empowerment as the chosen external manager / partner for Mitchell High School and assigns Instructional Empowerment roles in student agency, teacher coaching, rigor walks, and instructional planning.
The MHS Innovation Plan gives the University of Chicago Network for College Success a separate partner role, including budget and management-partner lines. This should be treated as an external-management and technical-assistance layer until procurement and contract records clarify status, scope, and timing.
The Promise packet layer predates the 2025 external-management pathway but matters to Mitchell's turnaround / support chronology. D11's May 2023 board records show Mitchell Promise as a scholarship opportunity for D11's highest-poverty high school, structured as a 50 percent match with PPSC and a D11 / PPSC MOU. The MOU says Pell and Colorado aid are used first, Promise funds pay remaining balances, PPSC invoices D11 twice annually for D11's share, and PPSC develops philanthropic support through PPSC Foundation for the PPSC-side share. D11 later expanded the program to D11 Promise on November 29, 2023.
| source node | target node | tie type | mechanism | possible flow | evidence strength | claim limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D11 board | Mitchell High School | innovation-zone / school-of-innovation governance | June 4, 2025 renewal | authority, waivers, governance flexibility | direct | No hidden-control or intent finding |
| D11 board | Mitchell Promise / Mitchell High School | MLO-funded scholarship / pathway support | May 17, 2023 PIP 12 approval | college pathway, attendance / matriculation incentive, D11 MLO funds | direct | Not an external-management or charter mechanism by itself |
| PPSC | Mitchell Promise / Mitchell High School | MOU / implementation partner | D11 / PPSC MOU | advising, coaching, reporting, invoices, philanthropic support | direct | PPSC Foundation / Dakota / PPCF fiscal route remains unresolved |
| Mitchell High School / D11 | Instructional Empowerment | external management partner / consultant relationship | pathway plan | instructional model, coaching, turnaround support | direct for plan | Contract, payment, procurement, and deliverables missing |
| Mitchell High School / D11 | University of Chicago Network for College Success | external management / partnership / budget relationship | innovation plan | data, freshman-success systems, technical assistance | direct for plan | Current contractual status unresolved |