Community leaders question possible DPS closure, point to data

Denver Public Schools (DPS) will decide on Nov. 17 which schools to close by the end of the year. The community surrounding Fairview Elementary, one on the list of 10 the district is considering, says the data doesn't add up. While low enrollment is an issue for many schools, for Fairview Elementary, the community says next year's enrollment numbers? They're going to be big.

"It just doesn't make sense to me because it's like, you guys are building all of these apartments and just everything around here, but there are not enough kids to go to the school?" Summer Patterson questioned.

Patterson lives in Denver's Sun Valley neighborhood. From her apartment on Decatur, she can see her daughter walk to school at Fairview Elementary, and during lunch, she can walk to the playground to see her playing outside.

"This is why I moved to this community," she said.

Last year, Fairview Elementary had just 174 students enrolled according to district data, but when Patterson learned DPS was predicting the same dreary numbers, she couldn't understand why. Surrounding her apartment is the construction of more affordable housing. Hundreds of units are expected to be occupied this spring.

The local youth center, which supports most of the children at Fairview, had the same reaction.

"It's really baffling to see that there's a conversation, that there's a projection that there would be a decrease in kids when we know that 350 units is about, give or take, 800 kids in our community; so if we're increasing that to 1,000 units when it's all said and done, like how in the world is it gonna decrease? It should increase," said Kris Rollerson, Executive Director of the Sun Valley Youth Center.

The center has been directly involved with plans for the Sun Valley Redevelopment, a Denver Housing Authority (DHA) project. While the plans have hit some delays, construction is shoring up and the final units are expected to be ready for families by the spring.

Rollerson says for the Sun Valley community, the community school is a critical part of making Denver equitable. She says Fairview Elementary is a need not only when you look at the projected number of kids in the neighborhood, but when you consider nearly all current students at Fairview qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch, (subsidized meals)- 95% according to data.

"A blessing out of this would be that we could get a K through 8 out of the deal so that our kids could have a consistent education all the way through 8th grade," said Rollerson.

CBS4 reached out to Denver Public Schools but has yet to hear back.

The school board will hear a presentation on the recommendations Nov. 3. A vote is scheduled for Nov. 17.