Boulder Valley School District heads to court over school consolidation, closure plan
The Boulder Valley School District went to court on Thursday over its school consolidation and closure plan. On Thursday morning, a judge listened to the lawsuit filed by parents over the recently adopted plan.
Last month, BVSD's Board of Education approved a plan to close some schools and consolidate others. The plan that adopts the following changes passed with a 5-2 vote:
- Douglass Elementary School (Boulder) will close.
- The Community Montessori building in Boulder will close and the program will be moved to the current High Peaks location.
- High Peaks (Boulder) will be moved to the Douglass building.
- Mesa Elementary School (Boulder) will be closed and it will merge with Bear Creek Elementary School.
- Flatirons Elementary School (Boulder) will close and its attendance will be divided between Whittier and Foothills schools.
- In Louisville and Superior, Monarch K-8 will transition to a middle school and Eldorado K-8 will transition to an elementary school.
- Birch Elementary School (Broomfield) will close and merge its students with Kohl Elementary School.
The district said it was making the moves in response to declining enrollment, which they say is hurting resources across schools.
A group of parents filed a lawsuit, claiming they didn't feel there was enough transparency about the decision to close some schools. Some claim it was done in secret, violating the Colorado Open Meetings Act.
One parent said that while the board can make the final decision, the process should have been more transparent.
"What we expected to have happened is to have broad community engagement as what was advertised in spring, and then we all engaged in as much as we could, and then affected communities have the opportunity to understand the changes that would be made to their schools," said Katharine Rosenthal, a parent of a student at Flatiron Elementary.
Superintendent Rob Anderson said all meetings concerning the consolidation and closure plan were open to the public. He said the decision to close schools has not been taken lightly and that he realizes the significant impact it will have on schools.
"We were confident in our process, the transparency of our process, and the engagement that we did on the front end to help that the board ultimately approved on Sept. 22 and we look forward to the judge's ruling," said Anderson.
Affected students are expected to have priority enrollment into new schools this fall, as BVSD finalizes plans for dual language programs, preschools and bus routes.
Thursday's hearing lasted about two hours. The judge said she is going to take the information under advisement and won't make a decision for at least two weeks.
