DENVER — Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero unveiled a list of seven recommended school closures and three "grade level restructures" during a public meeting Thursday evening.
"This has been an incredibly daunting task for the obvious reasons," said Marrero.
The decision comes as the district is burdened by a downward trend in enrollment. While enrollment is up 2% within DPS this year due to an increase in immigrant students, as reported by Chalkbeat Colorado, the district has said it expects to lose 6,000 students – around 8% – by 2028.
DPS said it would consider enrollment as well as a host of other criteria when recommending schools for closure, including the number of students who live in each school's area and choose to attend other district schools, the types of available classes and the condition of the building.
On Thursday, Marrero recommended closing five elementary schools — Columbian Elementary, Castro Elementary, Schmitt Elementary, International Academy of Denver at Harrington and Palmer Elementary — and two secondary schools — West Middle School and Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design.
The superintendent also recommended restructuring grade levels at three schools — Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy, Dora Moore ECE-8 School and DCIS Baker 6-12. Under the proposal, DPS would remove grades 1 - 5 from Kunsmiller, grades 6 - 8 from Dora Moore and grades 9 - 12 from DCIS Baker.
According to the DPS presentation, the grade level restructure does not need to be approved by the DPS Board of Education.
DPS estimates that the closures and restructures will save the district roughly $29.9 million.
The DPS Board of Education will hold a final vote on school closures on Nov. 21. Public comment sessions will be held at each school on the list in the two weeks leading up to that vote.
Denver7 talked with several parents and community members who expressed negative feelings toward the proposal.
"The emotional trauma that these kids will endure is unbearable for me as a mom," said Diana Kessel, a Palmer Elementary School parent.
"I’m worried that we haven’t done a good job of looking at alternatives for this process, which is key because we’re going to impact so many neighborhoods unnecessarily," said Mike DeGuire, a former DPS principal.
Thursday’s recommendation comes two days after voters backed a $975 million bond measure aimed at renovations, safety improvements and the addition of air conditioning to more than two dozen schools throughout the district.
Denver7 asked DPS what would happen to any portion of those funds that were allocated for schools that ended up on the chopping block. A district spokesperson said improvements to those buildings would still be made since DPS has no plans to sell them.
A civilian oversight committee will look at how the bond money is being used.
Marrero recommendedclosing or consolidating 10 schools in October 2022. Only three of those schools—Denver Discovery School, Fairview Elementary, and Mathematics, Science, and Leadership Academy—ultimately closed at the end of the 2022-2023 school year.
Education
As DPS recommends closures, other districts already know the pain
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