Colorado faculty, parents, students join "walk-in" at McAuliffe International Middle School

Faculty, parents and students joined a "walk-in" at McAuliffe International Middle School in Denver on Tuesday morning. The largest middle school in Denver Public Schools has been the subject of demonstrations and protests in recent months following the firing of its principal, Kurt Dennis. 

On Tuesday, dozens of people gathered outside the school before classes began with signs, some of them read, "We heart our innovation school," "Denver Deserves Better!" and "Top performing middle school- Worst performing superintendent & board."

"We are here because our staff and our innovation status is under attack," said teacher Logan Keeney. "We desperately want to save what we've created because we believe in the extraordinary work we do here."

They are calling for the school board to stop making changes to the school and are concerned the board will take away the school's status as an innovation school. Some claim the potential for stripping away the innovation status was fabricated and without a credible third-party investigation. 

Innovation schools have more autonomy in how they manage time, money and academic programs for students. Many parents and educators see innovation status as a great benefit to students, as it gives them a different learning experience. 

They are asking for protection from the DPS board and DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero. 

"It's my understanding that the district is planning on firing multiple educators for doing things they were told to do by the district," said Keeney. 

Tuesday's walk-in follows several demonstrations at the school, including one that happened before school started after Dennis was fired. 

Denver Public Schools released this statement to CBS News Colorado, "Denver Public Schools supports the rights of our staff and our students to protest in a safe and respectful manner, but we are disappointed that their protest impacted enrichment and zero-hour time for their students." 

After Dennis was fired, McAuliffe Assistant Principal Micah Klaver was promoted to interim principal. A month later, a whistleblower tipped off the school district and police about the use of "de-escalation rooms." Klaver was placed on leave when the investigation into the rooms began. Since then, Northfield High School Principal Amy Bringedahl has served as McAuliffe's interim principal.

"He is suspended, yes, and he's anticipating being fired this week," said Klaver's mother Kriste Klaver. "This is such an injustice. It just blows my mind."

Klaver's mother joined the walk-in on Tuesday to stand against what she calls unfair and heartless actions by DPS, "The board needs to spend and the district needs to spend time supporting their teachers instead of investigating them."  

In September, Dennis filed a lawsuit against DPS that alleges that his firing was in retaliation for him blowing the whistle on a policy that called for unarmed school staff to conduct pat-downs on students. The lawsuit states that the school serves more students of color than any other middle school in DPS and that the students thrive there academically. 

DPS leadership said that Dennis was fired because he violated student confidentiality when he told a media outlet that his staff was asked by DPS to pat down a student facing an attempted murder charge. Dennis denies that claim. 

The lawsuit alleges that DPS denied Dennis his First Amendment right to free speech and denied due process; and that school board members did make defamatory statements by accusing him of being racist. 

An internal investigation by DPS found no evidence of racial discrimination in the use of seclusion or de-escalation rooms at McAuliffe. The investigation did find that Dennis violated district policy of leaving students in the room without supervision and the door closed.  

Denver Public Schools announced that it is changing its discipline policy after shootings at East High School earlier this spring prompted questions about how the district manages students with offenses such as weapons violations.