Denver Public Schools aims to repurpose six school buildings after permanent closures

Denver Public Schools is looking at what to do with some vacant school buildings. Due to declining enrollment and subsequent budget issues, the district closed or restructured 10 of its schools last year. Six buildings are now vacant, and there could be more in the near future.  

Rather than sell or let the buildings sit, they're coming up with different ways to keep and repurpose them. 

Tuesday was moving day at the former International Academy of Denver at Harrington. The school was part of a group that permanently closed at the end of the 2024-2025 school year.

"We heard really clearly from community that that one thing that they didn't want was a was a vacant building sitting in the middle of their neighborhood," Andrew Huber, DPS's executive director of enrollment and campus planning. 

Now the French American School of Denver, a charter school, is among the building's new tenants. 

"They pay a facility use fee per student, but kind of based on the number of students that they have enrolled to the district for operation of those facilities, so that we're covering our costs," Huber said.

The new partnership will also allow the school to save money, costing them less than renting their previous facility.

Multiple community service providers will also move in, creating a multi-tenant model that benefits the community -- one DPS hopes to use for its five additional vacant school buildings.

"I think our preference has been not to entertain the sale of our of our facilities," said Huber. "It's my job to think about how do I put the person who's doing my job in 30,40, 50 years in a position to succeed, and the reality is that the cost of buying back or reacquiring school buildings would be substantially more than than we think that we could sell them for."

Huber says each community these buildings are in has different needs, and partnerships for each will likely look different as well. 

"We know that there are a lot of parts of Denver, Northside included, that are in dire need of additional seats for infants and toddlers in particular, but also additional preschool seats, and exploring with the city what it looks like to repurpose the facility to be able to serve those age groups."

DPS also plans to turn Columbian Elementary into an early childhood education and workforce development site in partnership with the city of Denver.