DENVER (KDVR) — Denver Public Schools Board of Education voted to close three schools in a meeting Thursday morning.
The DPS Board of Education has considered closing or consolidating schools over the past year. Denver Discovery, Mathematics and Science Leadership Academy and Fairview Elementary were all on the agenda for discussion during the work session on Thursday.
These schools have been categorized as having critically low enrollment.
The board voted on the following decisions:
- Close Denver Discovery School at the end of the 2022-2023 school year. Support current families with securing a preferred school in the district and support all school-based staff with securing a position in the district as detailed in the staffing MOUs.
- Merge MSLA into Valverde for the 2023-2024 school year. Guarantee enrollment at Valverde for MSLA students. Guarantee all school-based staff at MSLA a role at Valverde as detailed in the staffing MOUs.
- Merge Fairview into Cheltenham for the 2023-2024 school year. Guarantee enrollment at Cheltenham for Fairview students. Guarantee all school-based staff at Fairview a role at Cheltenham as detailed in the staffing MOUs. Expand the Cheltenham boundary to include the Fairview boundary and guarantee transportation to any student within the current Fairview boundary to Cheltenham as the boundary is outside the Cheltenham walk zone.
Students at any of these schools would be given priority for school choice.
District officials sent FOX31 a statement before the meeting on the closures:
The decision that the Denver Public Schools Board of Education will make will be based on the number of current students as well as the capacity of the consolidating schools. Based on our projections, there is enough capacity to manage the future students at nearby schools. That being said, the district will continue to monitor enrollment annually to determine if a school is ever needed to reopen based on enrollment.
Denver Public Schools
DPS would spend April through August supporting teachers and staff by helping them to relocate to a guaranteed position within the district and helping families transition to different schools.
The meeting was open to the public.
Declining Enrollment
About 15 schools in total are categorized as having low enrollment, but three are critically low.
District officials are projecting a drop in 3,000 more students over the next five years.
The DPS superintendent is attributing low birth rates and high cost of living within the city as a reason for the low enrollment.
