DENVER – The principal of Mead High School has resigned a little more than two weeks after three students at the school posted pictures to social media of them reenacting the murder of George Floyd, with one of the students in blackface.
St. Vrain Valley School District Superintendent said in a letter to Mead High School families Monday that Principal Rachael Ayers had resigned after 12 years with the school. Her resignation was first reported by the Boulder Daily Camera.
“I want to thank her for her lengthy service to the Mead High community for the past 12 years as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal, and I wish Mrs. Ayers the very best in her future endeavors,” Superintendent Don Haddad, Ed.D., wrote in the letter.
Haddad said Dr. Brian Young, the principal of Frederick High School for the past five years, was appointed as Mead High School’s next principal.
After the photo involving the students made its rounds on social media in late May, which showed one student in blackface lying on the ground, another kneeling no that student’s neck and another on his back, Ayers sent a letter to families of the school saying it “did not reflect our school’s high standards of respect, character, and inclusivity.”
She said the school was investigating the photo and the students involved. Students organized a protest the next day calling for racism at the school to be stopped.
In the letter, Haddad did not share the reason for Ayers’s resignation. He praised Young, the incoming principal as a “transformational leader” focused on student achievement and “strengthening the school’s culture.”
Young also previously was the principal at Coal Ridge Middle School and was an assistant principal at Sunset Middle School. He has a Doctorate of Education from the University of Northern Colorado.
“As we welcome Dr. Young into the Maverick community, he will begin hosting student and community meetings to discuss advancing student success and achievement with a focus on a safe and inclusive school environment and culture for every student, teacher, staff, and community member,” Haddad said in the letter. “Please expect more information from Dr. Young regarding these upcoming meetings and other important information by the end of this month.”