Denver Public Schools is poised to spend $800,000 on a security vestibule at East High School — a project parents and teachers oppose in a historic building the district no longer owns.

A vestibule is a small entryway or enclosed space used to control access and improve security.

The district’s flagship campus is among more than 30 school properties for which the district has transferred ownership to a Colorado nonprofit corporation called Denver School Facilities Leasing Corp., according to a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the financial scheme.

As previously reported by The Denver Gazette, DPS has quietly taken on hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term debt through the controversial financing tactic that sidesteps the state’s constitutional ban on assuming debt without public approval.

Denver Public Schools quietly racks up millions in off-the-books debt

State law permits school districts to use so-called “lease-purchase agreements” without voter approval — but only if the payments come from general or capital reserve funds and are subject to annual appropriation. Public records show at least some of the lease payments tied to COPs appear to have been made from a fund with bond proceeds, raising questions about compliance with state and federal law.

Earlier this month, East Principal Terita Walker hosted a town hall with parents and DPS staff to discuss the vestibule project. Nearly 100 students, staff and parents turned out for the May 21 meeting to raise concerns about preserving the building’s historic character, criticizing the district for failing to consult with preservation officials before moving forward with the project.

“We’re disappointed in the district allocating money for things like this, rather than our education,” said Jack Burns, a junior at East.

They also remained skeptical about the vestibule’s effectiveness, which is intended to control foot traffic through a single-entry point — a challenge at a campus with roughly 2,500 students and first-floor windows often left open because of the heat.

“There’s not anything you can build that can make you safe,” said Abby Forsberg, a sophomore at East who serves on the student council.

Denver Public Schools Chief of Climate and Safety Greg Cazzell said the pushback is legitimate, adding that school culture will have to play a big role in keeping students safe.

That means limiting access points.

“It’s about safety and who is coming into the building,” Cazzell said.

It’s unclear what this means for the first floor classrooms when the mercury rises.

After a troubled student at East shot and wounded two administrators two years ago, security has been a top-of-mind issue, prompting a revamp of the district’s safety plan and protocols.

East is one of 17 campuses with a proposed vestibule, according to the district. More than two dozen have already been completed.

Officials see the installation as a “critical component” of the district’s safety strategy to reduce the risk of unauthorized individuals gaining access to the school.

While the money for the vestibule is not coming out of the nearly $1 billion bond voters passed — on the promise that every school would receive something — in November, East is expected to receive $8.8 million for a variety of projects from the 2024 bond. These projects include $17,820 for softball bullpens, a $100,000 weight training room “refresh” and $1.2 million for classroom tech.

Despite years of chipping away at a long list of schools without air conditioning with bond money, students on 29 campuses attend class in facilities with no cooling system in rooms that can reach a stifling 90 degrees.

The district’s interim solution is to create “heat days,” in which students are sent home early.

The $975 million bond approved in November also included $240 million to equip those 29 schools with air conditioning.

But East isn’t one of them.

The reason?

East received portable “classroom cooling” units in the 2016 bond, which were installed in 2018, according to the district.

“As East is a landmark designated building, they were able to cool 74 of the 86 classrooms, or 86% of classrooms,” Stephanie Eastland, a district spokesperson, said in an email.

The vestibule is being paid from 2020 bond premium dollars, which was approved by the bond oversight committee, Eastland said. Approval by the bond oversight committee is necessary to ensure projects comport with voters’ wishes. This suggests the vestibule was not originally part of the 2020 bond voters approved.

A bond premium happens when investors pay more than the value of a bond — usually because of a higher interest rate than what’s available on the market. The extra money — the premium — goes to the issuer, in this case DPS, at the time of sale.

East can trace its history back to Denver’s first school, a one-room schoolhouse with 13 students called The Union School in 1859 that had a leaky, mud roof near the corner of 12th and Black. Designed in an architectural style known as “Jacobean” — associated with the American colonial period — the high school was built in 1925 for $1.4 million as part of a citywide beautification effort to modernize public buildings.

The Denver City Council designated East a historic landmark in 1991.