DPS shrinks school closure plan, raising more questions from communities

Five Denver public schools have been pulled from the district's closure plan, for now, while five others remain.

Superintendent Alex Marrero has now labeled Denver Discovery School, Schmitt and Fairview Elementary, International Academy of Denver at Harrington and Math and Science Leadership Academy as priorities to close. 

"It's absolutely been a roller coaster and it's been happening very quick," Amy Bergner said.

Bergner teaches 5th grade at Schmitt Elementary, one of the schools still being considered for closure.

While she says she couldn't be happier for the communities that have been sparred at this time, her school, which she says is made up of roughly 95% of students of color, was at a disadvantage.

"It feels like because those families didn't feel like they could speak out continually underrepresented groups, marginalized groups because they couldn't speak out, they didn't get a voice," Bergner said.

According to Scott Pribble, a spokesperson for Denver Public Schools, the decision on which schools to remove from the closure list came down to money.

"Those schools are the top 5 schools that need the most amount of support financially from the district in order to sustain their educational activities," he said.

Outspoken school board member, Auon'tai Anderson, tweeted his thoughts on the shift saying, "I'll be candid the votes weren't there to close schools."

Bergner says the last-minute change raises doubt about the process altogether.

"This is way bigger than just a small school... it's public education and how do we fix it," she said.

The district also sent an email to families saying if their school is no longer on the closure list, they are longer eligible to speak during public comment when asked about why they were limiting that access.

When CBS News Colorado asked about the letter a spokesperson said it was a miscommunication and their goal was to try and remove parents off the list who no longer wanted to speak. 

They are expecting hours of public comment on that vote now set for Nov. 17.