Denver School Board promises to support students, staff after decision to close 3 schools
The school board for Denver Public Schools voted on Thursday to close these three schools: Denver Discovery, Mathematics and Science Leadership Academy and Fairview Elementary School.
The reason: declining enrollment which is hurting districts all over Colorado.
At the school board meeting, emotions ran high for parents, community members and school leaders.
Parents who were emotional at this school board meeting expressed their frustration with this decision adding they feel this isn't fair to them or their kids who have built long-term connections with this school.
It was an emotional DPS meeting on Thursday afternoon.
Auon'tai Anderson, Vice President of the Denver School Board shared that this was a hard decision, "I just hope that wherever this goes, we have a commitment to those students to let them know that we have their back and will continue to support them."
As leaders voted to close three schools at the end of the school year, students at the schools slated for closure will be given priority to a school of their choice.
Students at Denver Discovery will have a choice to go to their preferred choice in the district. Students at MSLA will go to Valverde for the next school year and will have guaranteed enrollment. Staff will also have guaranteed roles at Valverde. Students at Fairview Elementary school will merge with Cheltenham for the next school year. Transportation is guaranteed for any student within the Fairview area to Cheltenham.
The Sun Valley youth director spoke out for parents around the Fairview community.
"It's just devastating to know that an entire decade of planning around a community was built around the school including units that were going to be placed by the school," said Sun Valley Youth Director Kris Rollerson.
Those plans include 264 housing units expected to be available to Fairview Elementary families in the coming weeks.
The Denver Housing Authority is projecting at least 242-484 kids under the age of 18 to be in the community when that construction is complete.
In the meantime, community members are hurting.
"There's just a lot of disconnect happening and I feel like our community was already ripped apart by moving people all over the city and those trying to come back and regroup...and build those relationships...this is just another way to try to keep us disconnected," said Rollerson.
But the hope is the developed plans will encourage leaders to reopen schools like Fairview Elementary after the 2023-2024 school year.
"We are a resilient neighborhood and we will pivot and we will figure it out and will support the families in whatever that looks like and the teachers," said Rollerson.
