Enrollment figures, the amount of space used in buildings and the number of neighborhood families that sent their kids elsewhere all played into Superintendent Alex Marrero’s decision about which Denver schools should be closed or restructured.
Marrero presented his consolidation plan, which would permanently close or restructure grade levels at 10 schools at the end of this academic year, to Denver Public Schools’ Board of Education during its meeting Thursday evening.
“This is also a difficult time for us,” board President Carrie Olson said during the meeting. “None of us want to close schools.”
READ MORE:Denver Public Schools sets public meetings at each of 10 schools up for closure or restructuring
The school board will vote whether to close seven schools on Nov. 21; Marrero doesn’t need the board’s approval to restructure the other three schools.
The superintendent packaged the consolidation as a larger part of DPS’s efforts to respond to falling enrollment and prevent what he has called a “a full-blown crisis.” The district is losing tens of millions of dollars a year in state funding as fewer children enroll in Denver schools.
The criteria Marrero used to make his recommendation to the board included whether schools had buildings that were using 65% or less of their capacity and had enrollment levels believed to be sustainable, and whether a majority of families living in a school’s boundaries were choosing to send their children to that school, according to the superintendent’s presentation to the board.
Marrero’s plan relies heavily on using new or expanded enrollment zones, or boundaries that include multiple schools families can choose from rather than a single neighborhood school.
Here’s why DPS recommends closing or restructuring each of the 10 schools on Marrero’s list:
Castro Elementary
DPS officials proposed closing Castro, 845 S. Lowell Blvd., because the school is only using about 39% of its building capacity and has low enrollment, with 237 students. Many families — 41 students total — living in Castro’s boundary send their children to other schools in the district. By comparison, only nine students “choice in,” meaning their parents decided to send them to Castro despite not living in the school’s boundary.
If Castro closes, its students will have a seat at either Knapp Elementary or CMS Community School.
Castro has a TNLI — Transitional Native Language Instruction — program for Spanish-speaking students. Knapp is also part of the TNLI program and CMS Community is a dual-language school, according to the district’s presentation.
Columbian Elementary
Marrero has recommended Columbian, at 2925 W. 40th St., close because the school is only using about 38% of its building capacity. The school, which has 143 total pupils, only has 20 kindergarteners enrolled, which DPS says is not a full class size.
More families living in Columbian’s boundary choose for their children to attend school elsewhere in the district compared to the number of families that “choice in.”
If Columbian closes, then students will be guaranteed a seat and transportation to a school in a new enrollment zone that DPS would create in northwest Denver. The other schools included in the new zone are Beach Court Elementary, Centennial: A School for Expeditionary Learning, Edison Elementary and Trevista at Horace Mann.
Columbian’s special education program would move to Trevista.
Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design
The Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design, a high school, at 840 E. 14th Ave., would close under Marrero’s plan because it only enrolls 60 students, including just 13 in ninth grade.
DPS said that not only is 60 students “not sustainable,” but high school enrollment in the area is expected to decline further. The Denver School of Innovation is also only using about 16% of its building capacity, which is the lowest building utilization rate among the district’s high schools, according to the presentation.
The Denver School of Innovation does not have a boundary, meaning all students who attend the school chose go there. For this reason, if the school closes, students are guaranteed a seat at their neighborhood school or a one of several schools if they live in an enrollment zone.
International Academy of Denver at Harrington
Marrero recommended closing International Academy of Denver at Harrington, at 2401 E. 37th Ave. The elementary school has 122 total students, but only 18 kindergarteners. DPS officials said the latter figure is not enough for a full kindergarten class.
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The school is also only using 22% of its building capacity.
Like others on the list, IAD at Harrington has more families living in the school boundary that are choosing other schools for their children then families coming in.
If IAD at Harrington closes, students would have an guaranteed seat and transportation to a school in the Greater Five Points/Central Enrollment Zone. Under the plan, the enrollment zone would also be expanded to include Swansea Elementary, Garden Place Academy, Wyatt Academy,Columbine Elementary, Cole Arts and Science Academy, Whittier ECE-8 School and University Prep — Arapahoe Street.
IAD at Harrington’s special education program would move to Garden Place Academy. Spanish speaking students who receive TINLI services could still receive bilingual programming at several schools in the zone, including Cole, Garden Place and Swansea.
Palmer Elementary
Palmer Elementary, at 995 Grape St., has been recommended for closure; it enrolls 150 students, including 31 kindergarteners.
Palmer is using 43% of the school’s building capacity and 61 of the students living in its boundary attend school elsewhere, according to the district. By comparison, only 12 students attend Palmer despite living outside of the school’s boundary.
If Palmer closes, DPS would create a new enrollment zone called Central East Elementary School Zone. Palmer students would be guaranteed a seat and transportation to Teller Elementary, Steck Elementary, Carson Elementary, Montclair School of Academics and Enrichment, Lowry Elementary or Denver Green School Southeast.
Schmitt Elementary
DPS officials proposed closing Schmitt Elementary, at 1820 S. Vallejo St. The school enrolls 127 pupils, including 21 kindergarteners. DPS said that with 21 kindergarteners, Schmitt doesn’t have enough for a full class.
The school is also only using 33% of its building capacity and 42 children who live in the Schmitt’s boundary attend school elsewhere.
If Schmitt closes, DPS would create a new enrollment zone called the Southwest Central Elementary Zone. Schmitt students would be guaranteed a seat and transportation to any school in the zone, which will include Godsman Elementary, McKinley-Thatcher Elementary and Asbury Elementary.
West Middle School
Marrero recommended West Middle School, at 951 Elati St., close because it enrolls 186 and is using 60% of its building capacity.
The superintendent proposed closing West Middle because it’s located about half a mile from DCIS Baker 6-12, another school on the list that would be restructured into middle school under the plan. As enrollment is declining, DPS officials said there only needs to be one middle school and one high school — West High School — in the area, according to the district’s presentation.
If West Middle closes, students will be guaranteed a seat and transportation to a school in the West Middle School Enrollment Zone, which DCIS Baker would join. Other schools in the zone include Compass Academy, DSST: College View Middle School, Kepner Beacon Middle School, Kipp Sunshine Peak Academy and Rocky Mountain Prep Westwood.
Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy is also in the zone, but Marrero has proposed restructuring that school so it serves fewer grades.
West Middle students who receive TNLI services will be able to access similar bilingual services at other schools in the zone, including DCIS Baker, according to the presentation.
DCIS Baker 6-12
The superintendent recommended DCIS Baker 6-12, 574 W. Sixth Ave., become a middle school and no longer teach high-schoolers.
DCIS Baker enrolls 144 middle schoolers and 210 high schoolers, and its building capacity is at 42%.
The district wants to restructure DCIS Baker because it is close to both West Middle and West High. With enrollment falling, including among secondary students, DPS feels it makes sense to only have one middle school and one high school in the area, according to the presentation.
Under the superintendent’s plan, the school would join the West Middle School Enrollment Zone, meaning DCIS Baker could absorb students from West Middle if that school permanently closes.
Students affected by the restructuring would have a seat at West High School, if they live in the school’s boundary. (DCIS Baker is a “choice only” school, meaning it doesn’t have a neighborhood boundary itself and its students have all chosen to go there.)
DCIS’s programming for high-schoolers would move to West High as would a special education program.
Dora Moore ECE-8 School
Under the district’s plan, Dora Moore ECE-8 School, at 846 Corona St, would no longer teach middle schoolers and just become an elementary school.
Dora Moore, a “choice only” school, enrolls 314 total students, but only 62 of the pupils are middle schoolers. The school is also only using 59% of its building capacity.
Marrero is proposing to make Dora Moore an ECE-5 school because middle school enrollment is falling in the area and is expected to keep falling. There’s also another school — Morey Middle School — less than a mile away, according to the presentation.
Dora Moore students affected by the changes will be guaranteed a seat at their neighborhood school or at multiple schools if they live in an enrollment zone. Dora Moore is located in Morey’s boundary, meaning students would have a seat at that school, according to the presentation.
Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy
Marrero recommended eliminating elementary grades at Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy and have the school just serve grades 6 to 12. Kunsmiller, at 2250 S Quitman St., enrolls 128 students and uses 39% of the school’s building capacity.
DPS wants to restructure Kunsmiller, another “choice only” school, because elementary school enrollment is declining and the school didn’t have a kindergarten class this academic year, according to the presentation.
Students affected by the restructuring would be guaranteed a seat at their neighborhood school or one in an enrollment zone that they live in.
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