The Boulder Valley school board on Tuesday rejected an application for a new charter school for gifted students, agreeing with a staff finding that the application was incomplete and failed to show how the school would follow through on its goals.

School board members said the application has made them aware that the Boulder Valley School District can do better in meeting the needs of "gifted and exceptionally motivated students," and they plan to review the services now offered for them.

"I think they might have identified that we are not doing as good as we can to meet the needs of students," said board member Helayne Jones. "But I do not support this as the solution."

The board voted 6-0 -- with new board member Jennie Belval abstaining because she's involved in the district's talented and gifted program -- to reject the charter application for the Boulder Valley Academy for Gifted and Exceptionally Motivated Students.

"But perhaps we need to take a more careful look at the needs of a small but very significant group of students that deserve our attention," said board President Ken Roberge.

It was the first charter application the district had received in four years. The school would have been the sixth charter in the district, if approved.

Two charter review teams, one made up of Boulder Valley directors and another made up of parents and teachers, reviewed the application and recommended board members reject it partly because it was incomplete and failed to meet "minimum standards."

"We found the applicant intends to focus on gifted and talented students, yet they have not identified a program or approach that is specifically identified to ensure the achievement of gifted students," said Deirdre Pilch, the district's assistant superintendent of school leadership for middle and high schools.

"Also," Pilch said, "the governance plan provided by the applicant is unclear and cumbersome."

The review team had further concerns that the proposed charter appeared to be a conversion from a recently closed private school in Boulder for gifted students, which is against the law.

Richard Keck, a supporter of the charter school, told school board members Tuesday that the idea that the proposed academy is a spinoff of the Rocky Mountain School for the Gifted is far from the truth.

"Nothing could be more incorrect than the allegation that this is a conversion," he said. "There is no economic transfer of any sort occurring."

Keck challenged the school board to open a school that would better meet the needs of some of its most gifted students.

"We need more change and innovation in our system to make it better," he said. "I urge you to take some risks."

Lee Beckstrom, a member of the steering committee for the proposed school and former teacher at Rocky Mountain School for the Gifted, said the board's rejection indicates it is not thinking about what is best for the children.

Linda Shoemaker, former president of the Boulder Valley school board, spoke Tuesday against the charter application.

"There are lots of students in the Boulder Valley School District who are gifted and exceptionally motivated, and they deserve the best education they can possibly receive," Shoemaker said. "I think everyone can be served within the existing Boulder Valley schools."