Denver Public Schools superintendent revises school closure plan

Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero sent an update Thursday night to the Denver Public Schools community indicating he is revising school closure plans to prioritize shuttering five schools at the end of the 2022-2023 school year rather than the original ten.

Marrero's memo to families points out that in order keep under-enrolled schools operating and delivering basic services to kids it is necessary to subsidize the schools, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars that he suggested could be better spent hiring more faculty.  Keeping the ten schools open is costing nearly $5 million in budget assistance, or the equivalent of 50 full-time teachers.

So he'll ask the Board of Education next week to approve the closure of the five schools receiving the most budget assistance.

These are Denver Discovery School, Schmitt, Fairview, International Academy of Denver at Harrington and Math and Science Leadership Academy.

The district will continue to listen to feedback on the other five schools on the original closure proposal: Colfax, Columbian, Eagleton, Palmer and Whittier.

See an excerpt from the memo below and the full memo here: Letter from Dr. Marrero: Update on Declining Enrollment | Denver Public Schools (dpsk12.org)

Throughout this two-year process, the district remained committed to engaging with impacted school communities -- not only to gather feedback, but also to share information on how the unification efforts will benefit all students. As such, I will be modifying the unification recommendation, prioritizing five schools that have received the largest budget assistance.

The five schools to be considered for unification are Denver Discovery School, Schmitt Elementary, Fairview Elementary, International Academy of Denver at Harrington and Math and Science Leadership Academy. The other five schools are still under consideration and will continue to be supported as we more closely engage with those respective communities. As an example, Fairview Elementary would continue to be an educational asset in the community. Although Fairview would no longer serve as a school, it would still remain a community fixture as an Early Childhood Center in support of the Sun Valley redevelopment.