Denver school closures: DPS looks to enrollment zones to make closures equitable

Educators huddled outside Schmitt Elementary School's auditorium Tuesday evening as parents, many with children in tow, began arriving.

"Hola!" kindergarten teacher Leira Coronado said as Denver Public Schools safety officers ushered families through a metal detector and checked their bags.

The district had placed extra security at the southwest Denver school's front doors ahead of a Board of Education meeting. But Coronado and her colleagues warmly directed parents and children to the cafeteria, where Schmitt administrators had organized a dinner of tamales, beans, rice, pizza and cookies before the meeting.

The parents had come to urge elected board members to not close Schmitt, one of 10 schools included in the consolidation plan announced by DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero earlier this month in response to declining enrollment across Colorado's largest district.

The board is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to close seven schools; Marrero doesn't need approval to reduce the number of grades served by the other three schools.

But within his closure plan, Marrero has specifically pointed to what happens if Schmitt closes as presenting an "exciting" opportunity for students.

That's because the superintendent's plans for the school represent his answer to a question that has long weighed on board members as they've wrestled with the decision before them: How do you close schools equitably when schools with low enrollment — and therefore less funding and resources — predominately serve students of color?

Marrero's answer lies in what he plans to offer to Schmitt's students. If the school closes at the end of the academic year, DPS will create a new enrollment zone in southwest Denver, guaranteeing Schmitt's former students a seat at one of three larger schools: Godsman, McKinley-Thatcher and Asbury elementaries.

Schmitt's closure could further integrate McKinley-Thatcher and Asbury's student bodies. Demographically, Godsman looks similar to Schmitt, with both schools predominately enrolling students of color and children from low-income families.

At Schmitt, 93% of the 182 children enrolled during the 2023-24 academic year were students of color and 75% came from low-income families and qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, state data shows.

But at McKinley-Thatcher and Asbury, the student population is whiter and more affluent. At both schools, roughly a third of the pupils are students of color. About a third of McKinley-Thatcher's 276 students and 23% of Asbury's 280 pupils qualified for free or reduced-priced lunches.

The two schools aren't just larger, but also higher-performing academically, with McKinley-Thatcher named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2021 for narrowing achievement gaps for students of color.

"It really keeps what we say we are as a district," Marrero said of the plan.

His reasoning: A small school like Schmitt can't provide students with the same kind of educational experience that Asbury and McKinley-Thatcher can. That's because small schools receive less in per-pupil state funding, meaning they have less money to spend on academics, extracurriculars and mental health supports, according to district officials.

DPS is also putting equity at the forefront of the district's school consolidation plan by eliminating a barrier — transportation — that in the past might have prevented Schmitt families from choosing to send their kids to Asbury or McKinley-Thatcher, Marrero said.

"That to me is what makes this so exciting," Marrero said.

Students of color most likely affected by closures, restructuring

The superintendent's consolidation plan primarily affects schools that enroll a majority of students of color , just as Marrero's proposal did two years ago when he first asked the board to close schools.

Seventy-five percent of the 88,235 children enrolled in DPS schools during the 2023-24 academic year were students of color, according to state data.

But seven of the schools on the superintendent's list — including Schmitt — enroll a higher percentage of students of color than DPS does overall, according to data from the Colorado Department of Education.

The Denver Post reviewed data from the 2023-24 academic year because that represents the most recent enrollment numbers available. The enrollment data comes from the state's October count last year, which is used to determine how much money schools receive.

The superintendent's plan largely affects students from low-income families. At eight of the schools on Marrero's list, more than half of the students qualified for free or reduced-cost lunches last year, according to state data.

"That's really, really problematic," said Elsa Banuelos-Lindsay, executive director of Movimiento Poder , which advocates for racial justice in DPS schools and has criticized the district's consolidation plan.

When the school board rejected Marrero's proposal to close schools two years ago, directors heavily criticized the district for rushing the vote and not providing enough opportunities for community engagement.

But DPS's history of closing schools because of low academic performance also loomed over the board two years ago. Several current board members, including President Carrie Olson and Xóchitl "Sochi" Gaytán, experienced previous closures either as educators or parents, and it was the impetus behind their decision to seek office.

Previous school closures, including that of Manual High School in 2006 , have been called racist by former students because they disenfranchised Black and Latino students. A study by the University of Colorado 10 year later found the dropout rate among Manual students increased after their school closed.

But declining enrollment can also lead to another inequity that board members are reckoning with. Small schools that primarily enroll students of color and children from low-income families also receive less funding, and therefore, less educational resources than larger and more affluent schools.

"Is it equitable to do something or is it equitable to do nothing?" asked Michelle Quattlebaum, who voted against Marrero's previous attempt to shutter schools. "As a board member...I've been asked to shift through this."

A new school closure plan

One thing that's clear is that Marrero's consolidation plan does not look the same as it did two years ago.

Unlike last time, board members spent every day this week meeting with staff, students and parents at the 10 schools that could close or be restructured. In the past, the only way for families and employees to weigh in on potential school closures was at the board's monthly public comment session in downtown Denver, Quattlebaum said.

"I believe that the recommendation had a level of creativity to it," Quattlebaum said of Marrero's current proposal. "Is it the right one? I don't know."

This time, Marrero has also leaned in on school choice with his consolidation plan, which, if approved by the board, would expand or create new enrollment zones. Two years ago, the superintendent's plan designated moving students from each closing school go to as specific neighborhood school.

But this time, four elementary schools on the list with either join new or existing enrollment zones. DCIS Baker, which would be restructured, would also join an enrollment zone.

Parents already can pick any school in DPS to send their child to if there is space. But by creating and expanding enrollment zones, Marrero is guaranteeing children from a school that closes a seat at, and transportation to, one of several schools within their zone.

The superintendent has said his goal with the new zones is also to potentially save schools that could face closure in the future because of falling enrollment.

"This new enrollment zone change — it really changed the game for protecting those three neighborhood public schools in that zone and allowing for more of those resources to stay in that building that those (Schmitt) kids haven't had access in years," Gaytán said of Marrero's plan.

As with Schmitt, three of the other four elementary schools recommended for closure enroll a majority of students of color and children from low-income families.

But most of those schools' students would be guaranteed seats at schools that are largely demographically similar to the student populations at Columbian, Castro and IAD Harrington.

(At the fourth school, Palmer Elementary, children of color make up 48% of the student population and just over a third come from low-income families, state data showed.)

Students at Columbian, in northwest Denver, would join a new enrollment zone that includes Edison Elementary and Centennial: A School for Expeditionary Learning, which are more than twice the size of the school and enroll a majority of white and affluent students.

"We're not providing quality learning environments to our children at Schmitt, at Castro, at Kunsmiller, at all these schools with similar declining enrollment," Gaytán said. "Black and brown children deserve the best. Like any other child, they deserve to have quality learning environments and that only comes with the money."

"Why do our kids have to get bussed out?"

But on Tuesday, Schmitt parents and staff addressing the seven-member board pushed back on DPS leaders' narrative that small schools lack resources and aren't able to adequately serve children.

Schmitt has a full-time psychologist and social worker. The school also has a bilingual paraprofessional — or teacher aide — in every classroom, according to staff members who spoke to The Post.

"I feel like we provide what the district says we don't provide," Coronado said.

(DPS said the district is giving Schmitt $437,000 in budget assistance this year.)

Parent Norma Chavez said her daughter, who is in fourth grade, struggled academically before coming to Schmitt. The now-9-year-old wasn't able to write her name correctly and was reading at a kindergarten level as a second-grader.

But at Schmitt, Chavez's daughter has quickly made gains academically and is now reading at a third-grade level.

"For me, the school closing is causing me frustration because I know that everything she gained in a year she can lose in a week," Chavez said in Spanish.

Parents and staff also said they valued the diversity that the student population offers at Schmitt. The school, they said, is a place where eight languages are spoken, where families new to the country found a home, and where teachers, like Coronado, send their own children.

"Why do our kids have to get bussed out?" Miriam Valdovinos, a parent and professor of social work at the University of Denver, said in an interview.

Valdovinos's neighborhood school is Asbury, but she chose to send her 4-year-old son to preschool at Schmitt because the former school didn't offer a program for his age group.

But, Valdovinos said, that diversity can disappear if Schmitt closes and her son goes to another school — such as Asbury.

"It also means potentially my child is the only kid of color in his classroom," Valdovinos said, adding, "When we are having those conversations about equity it has to be deeper than financial resources."

Denver Post reporter Jessica Alvarado Gamez contributed to this story.