Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet has decided against closing two under-enrolled northwest schools in favor of a broader community conversation about what the urban district should look like in the future, he said over the weekend.
DPS senior administrators warned principals and school- board members over the winter break that they were strongly considering shutting down Del Pueblo Elementary and Horace Mann Middle School today, which is the first day back for teachers. Students start school Tuesday.
The two schools are low-performing and losing students. Horace Mann, for example, had 663 students in 2000 and 292 this school year. Del Pueblo had 277 students in 2000 and 154 this year.
But after a harried week, and weekend, of back and forth at the district’s administration building at 900 Grant St., when e-mails were already circulating around the community about the closings, leaders decided to hold off on the decision because they wanted to let a newly appointed “citizens committee” study the issue.
The committee, headed by former Denver Mayors Federico Peña and Wellington Webb, Qwest chief executive Dick Notebaert and prominent philanthropist Anne Bye Rowe, is expected to make recommendations about school closings and other district changes this year.
Bennet said he wanted to give the committee – which has about 100 members and is composed of business leaders, elected officials and community advocates – the opportunity to study the tough decisions independently.
“I’m very interested to know what they think,” he said. “It’s going to be tremendous to have an outside group give us some feedback.”
Bennet said closing Del Pueblo and Horace Mann “might not make sense in the broader context” of the committee’s work. He said he didn’t anticipate recommending any school closings this spring.
Closing schools saves money – about $350,000 a year for an elementary school and $700,000 a year for a secondary school.
DPS leaders have warned that closings are coming because the district has lost so many students. About 8,500 fewer students are attending traditional schools today than in 2002. More than a dozen DPS schools, including Del Pueblo and Mann, are less than half full.
Ann Franco, an 11-year teacher at Del Pueblo Elementary, was prepared for the news. But she said over the weekend that she was glad the “backroom meeting scenario” where administrators secretly decide what is going to happen without community input didn’t pan out.
“I think they felt the heat on them. I think they felt some strong community leaders lighting the fires,” said Franco, who teaches first- and second-graders at the school. “I’m happy that they’re going to talk to the community, but I hope they listen to the community.”
Kim Ursetta, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, said she thinks the community conversations will be “vital” to creating good schools.
“If we don’t have the support of parents and teachers, we won’t be successful in creating good schools,” she said.
December and January have been busy months in DPS, as administrators work to carry out Bennet’s ambitious reform agenda. Last month, teachers at North High were told that they would have to reapply for their jobs at the end of the school year. Bennet, who had to tell them via e-mail because of the blizzard, meets with those teachers today.
Also this week, community meetings are planned at a handful of low-performing schools, including Horace Mann Middle, Del Pueblo Elementary, Johnson Elementary and Mitchell Elementary. Board members also will meet Thursday to hear about several schools’ “beacon” proposals, which are school-initiated reform efforts.
“I don’t think we have the luxury of doing one thing at a time,” Bennet said.
Staff writer Allison Sherry can be reached at 303-954-1377 or asherry@denverpost.com.
About the schools
Denver Public Schools officials have reconsidered closing two low-performing, under-enrolled schools today. The schools in question:
Horace Mann Middle School
4130 Navajo St.
Current enrollment: 292
Enrollment in 2000: 663
Del Pueblo Elementary School
750 Galapago St.
Current enrollment: 154
Enrollment in 2000: 277
