Jefferson County families wait to learn which schools might close next year

Jefferson County families could know which schools the district would like to close or consolidate by the end of August.

The school board will move into that phase of the discussion at its meeting on Tuesday and will use findings from a comprehensive report of every elementary school in the district to help determine which schools are sustainable.

For the community it will mean the third round of closures in three years.

"It could be hard on families," Alica Maez said.

Maez and Austin Berry live in Lakewood, and while their daughter isn't quite ready for kindergarten, they were already considering their neighborhood school as an option.

"For convenience and for peace of mind, we are just ... right around the block, so it makes the most sense," Berry said.

Come next year, that might no longer be the case as Jefferson County is set to decide which schools to close or consolidate.

"Jeffco has enough seats for 96,000 students, and we serve 69,000," said Lisa Relou, Chief of Strategy and Communications for Jefferson County Public Schools. "So what that means is that our resources have been stretched incredibly thin."

Relou says the discussion started back in March and led to an intense look at each elementary school, including enrollment numbers now and, in the future, building utilization and a breakdown of the cost to educate each student at each individual school

"In some of our schools we don't have enough students for one grade level, so you see like a two, three split or a three, four," she said.

Low enrollment numbers, Relou says, are the result of changing demographics, declining birth rates, and even low housing stock.

While it's not something families like to hear, some say they do understand.

"It makes sense, Austin Berry said. "Financially, things are crazy right now for everybody, and with everything going on in the world It just doesn't make sense for some people it doesn't make sense for a lot of people."

If you would like to look at the data compiled for your school, you can visit the Jefferson County Public Schools website and see the FCB report. 

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