Denver Public Schools mom Diana Kessel is happy with the school her child attends: the “little and mighty” Palmer Elementary School in the city’s Hale neighborhood.
She likes the teachers, the extracurricular activities and after-school enrichment, and especially the small-school culture that comes from having about 200 students enrolled.
“We got the Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award, so that shows we’re doing something right,” Kessel joked.
Kessel initially wasn’t concerned about Palmer’s closure when the DPS Board of Education approved a school closure and consolidation policy in June, but her concerns have grown.
Palmer was among the schools that Superintendent Alex Marrero recommended closing in 2022, and Kessel is concerned about a short timeline and insufficient community involvement this time around.
Kessel was one of more than 100 parents and community members who gathered at South High School Tuesday evening for the first of six community meetings hosted by Denver Public Schools on school closures and consolidation.
District officials told attendees they would not discuss “specific schools or strategies to deal with declining enrollment,” but Marrero will make recommendations to the Board of Education on November 7.
Fewer students are attending Denver schools because fewer people are having children and more people are moving out of Denver by the time their children are ready for school, district leaders said Tuesday. The school district expects enrollment to decline by roughly 9% between now and 2028, or 6,338 fewer children.
“We don’t have enough students to fill our buildings, and that is the harsh reality,” Marrero told attendees Tuesday.
“We need to right-size our district, simply put. We cannot continue to run an organization as we do now,” Marrero later added.
Denver Public Schools doesn’t expect declining enrollment to stop anytime soon, said Andrew Huber, executive director of enrollment and campus planning.
“There were 2,400 fewer babies born (in Denver) last year than in 2002, and the state says we can expect that to continue into the 2030s,” Huber said.
Enrollment in Denver Public Schools reached an all-time high in 2019 with 93,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade, Marrero said. According to the Colorado Department of Education, there were 88,235 PreK-12 students in the district last year.
“You can say that we now have more facilities with significantly fewer scientists,” Marrero said Tuesday.
District leaders showed a video comparing a school with fewer students to a school with a full enrollment, highlighting the fewer supports, extracurricular activities and options for students at the under-enrolled school.
Administrators also highlighted the framework for the school closure process, including “values statements, equity protections and essential data” before attendees began small group discussions.
Kessel said she was disappointed by what she learned at the meeting, including how little time board members will have to hear from parents and community members between the time Marrero makes his recommendations and the time they vote.
“There needs to be real community involvement in something that can really impact children and their futures,” she said. “I guess that means more time.”
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