Twenty-one-year-old Amelia Federico — a Beacon Grant Middle School alum — bit her nails Monday before the Denver Public Schools Board of Education voted to revoke the innovation status of the Beacon Network Schools Innovation Zone.

After more than an hour of discussion, the board appeared poised to table the recommendation by Superintendent Alex Marrero.

But with three members in support of tabling the motion and three against, Board Director Michelle Quattlebaum hesitated.

Quattlebaum — who would be the deciding vote — had an outstanding question about the innovation zone, but DPS General Counsel Aaron Thompson advised her she had missed her opportunity to ask it when the vote was called.

“I honestly don’t know,”  Quattlebaum told colleagues who had asked if she was ready to vote on tabling the measure.

Board Director Scott Esserman said something inaudible to Quattlebaum.

Then Board Vice President Auon'tai M. Anderson posed a hypothetical. Could the board vote down the motion to table Marrero’s recommendation and then take it up again once Quattlebaum’s question was answered, Anderson asked.

“The vote,” Thompson said, “can’t be reconsidered.”

And with that, Quattlebaum said she was ready to cast her vote. No, Quattlebaum said with her vote, she would not support tabling the recommendation to the next board meeting.

The measure failed, 4-3.

With the measure back under consideration, board members shared their concerns about what ending the zone designation would signal to the community and the district’s continued support to Grant and Kepner middle schools.

Board Director Carrie A. Olson, who taught at Kepner from 2000–2014, said she worried the board discussion was far removed from the lived experiences of the community.

“There are families who don’t understand all of what is happening here,” Olson said. “All they see, once again, is that Denver Public Schools is coming into their neighborhood and saying we know best.”

Olson added, “Denver Public Schools has not done right by the Westwood neighborhood over all these years.”

Board Director Scott Baldermann, whose child attends Grant Middle School, took issue with what he described as “self-dealing” by Alex Magaña for serving as both executive principal (as a DPS employee) and executive director of the Beacon Network, which answers to a separate board.

“This is what accountability looks like,” Baldermann said.

Magaña shook his head in disagreement throughout much of the discussion.

In a 5-2 vote — with Anderson and Olson objecting — the board revoked the innovation status of the Beacon Network Schools Innovation Zone.

Federico cried.

Passed in 2008 by the state legislature, the Innovation Schools Act creates a way for schools and districts to implement innovative practices by providing flexibility to meet student needs.

DPS has 50 innovation schools, which includes those run and managed by the district and those with an alternative governance, like the Beacon schools.

Marrero has promised to maintain the current funding level for next school year. DPS staff, though, said that that funding level will likely be cut in half in the subsequent year, as has traditionally been the case.

The board was also expected to weigh in on whether Anderson violated board policies for divulging issues discussed during an executive session on school safety last month in the wake of the East High shooting that injured two administrators.

But board members tabled the measure in favor of focusing on school security issues.

With Monday marking the first board meeting since the shooting at East, Marrero did not come prepared to provide a security update.

When pressed by the board, he said the district will likely add police officers to more campuses because of requests for more school resource officers. He declined to further elaborate, saying he would update the board on security measures with a memo.

While Marrero said he appreciated the community’s input and the sense of urgency, he also stressed the district’s safety plans would be directed by professionals.

“More than ever, this is for the experts to help us develop a plan,” Marrero said.