Jefferson County parents weigh in on possibility of elementary schools closing

Jefferson County Schools Monday night began meetings for parents to weigh in on its list of 16 elementary schools on a list to be closed due to declining enrollments as organized opposition is mounting.

"It's an important thing to have a connected community and I don't think that kind of thing has been looked as enough as they're dividing communities as they're sending people outside of their own neighborhood," said Kristine Rhome, the mother of a 1st-grader at Wilmore Davis Elementary.

"The vote is happening very quickly, with very little community involvement," says a website, saveourschoolsjeffco.org, that has been created to oppose the plan.

The school board will vote the list of schools up or down on Nov. 10. This week, the district is holding meetings billed as "listening sessions" to get input, starting with meetings at Wheat Ridge High School Monday night.

"We're just unfortunately out of options when it comes to where we are financially also our declining enrollment," said Lisa Relou, chief of strategy and communications for the district.

Jefferson County Schools released the list in August, using a criterion of enrollment, building use and whether there was another elementary school feeding into the same upper-grade schools.

"I'm not the type of person to really start complaining about something unless I see that there are better options and solutions, and here I am complaining very loudly," Rhome said.

Yard signs have sprung up in the neighborhood. Among the big concerns, is that minority students are affected by the closures in greater proportion than other students.

"There's a lot of very richly diverse people in our community that are feeling very, very run over by this," Rhome said.

"It does feel like we've been pushed around That our voice doesn't matter," said Esmeralda Franco the mother of a 5-year-old at Vivian Elementary. "It does hurt my feelings because you know I can't change my culture, I can't change that I'm Hispanic… I feel like they didn't consider the diversity that we have a Vivian."

"All I can say is that we are trying to provide the best education for our students and especially our students that need it the most. And the best way that we can figure out to do that, is to better resource the experience our students and consolidating schools will help us do that," said Relou.

It's not the only issue Franco has with the closing of Vivian.

Her daughter is in a wheelchair and has hearing loss due to a genetic disorder. Franco, who says she is low-income, visited the school where her daughter would transfer.

"They didn't have a ramp for a wheelchair. They were showing us the school and I was just kind of like, freaking out."

She did not feel the school was ready to take children like her daughter.

"It is very hard having kids who are special needs and finding a school that meets all the needs that my child needs. It's really hard to see it close," she said, of Vivian Elementary.