Here's how Denver can make closing schools less painful
Sadly, some Denver Public Schools must be closed.
We take no joy in shuttering beloved neighborhood elementary schools. It can mean upheaval for students, parents, teachers and staff, but students benefit enough from the economies of scale of a full school with full funding that we can see no other way forward for a district with declining student populations.
Superintendent Alex Marrero announced this week that he would release the list of schools slated for closure at the next Board of Education's work session on Nov. 7.
Marrero and the board plan to hold several meetings at each of the closing schools between Nov. 7 and when the board is scheduled to vote to close schools on Nov. 21 at 4:30 p.m.
Parents, teachers and principals can give their public comments on the proposal on Nov. 18, giving people just 10 days after they get the proposed school closure list to organize for the special public hearing.
Marrero should release the draft proposal on Monday, Nov. 4 so Denverites have time to reach out to their board members ahead of the Nov. 7 working group. Board members will ask better questions, consider more alternative suggestions and in general make the kind of detailed changes that will make any plan much better during the work session.
Because we know schools must close, we hope those facing displacement will focus on how to minimize the impact to their family, school and work-life.
There are many things the district can do such as polling parents about their preferred consolidation location – where should their new home school be?
As we've said before, the district should give students being displaced a priority preference during the school choice lottery that opens in January. Parents of kids from closing schools who select a school other than their neighborhood schools – for the next two school years – should have better odds of getting an empty seat in the school of their choice.
The district's most popular schools often fill up quickly with students who are guaranteed admission because they live in the school's zone, leaving only a handful of seats available for the lottery in each grade. Offering displaced students first dibs at those seats is a small way to offset the closure's impact.
The problem with that solution is transportation. Not every parent is able to drive a long distance to a school of choice, and the district does not offer transportation unless a student is zoned to a particular school.
One solution could be Marrero's idea of using school closures as an opportunity to create more and bigger enrollment zones. Enrollment zones, like the one in Central Park and Park Hill, use one big zone for multiple elementary schools. Parents rank the schools in the zone in order of preference and the lottery does its best to seat kids in their first or second choice. These large zones — as opposed to smaller neighborhood zones for a single school — could help create equity and break down racial and socio-economic segregation in this district. And the district provides transportation in the zone.
If implemented correctly this fall, the district can right-size schools. Students will have more opportunities in schools that can provide, art, music, physical education, social-emotional learning, reading tutors, social workers, and all the other wonderful programs offered in schools that are full of students and have full funding.
The future is bright for Denver Public Schools — home to some of the best-performing schools in the state. These closures are unfortunate, but if done correctly students will be able to thrive in new schools and it could set the course for better zoning and transportation.
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