These are nervous times for many in Denver Public Schools. Denver parents recently got a first look at some of the criteria that may be used to help close some neighborhood schools.
DPS can’t continue down its current path of losing students while keeping open half-empty schools. It’s financial suicide.
About 30,000 of the classroom seats in DPS are empty. And some 8,000 students have left DPS in the past four years, costing the district millions. The exodus also has contributed to dismal School Accountability Reports and Colorado Student Assessment Program scores.
The draft of the criteria was broad enough that it didn’t pinpoint certain schools, and the citizens group studying the possibility of closing schools says they don’t want to be that specific. Five community meetings will be held in May to discuss the criteria. (For more information, check out www.aplusdenver.org.)
Here’s some of what was revealed:
Schools rated academically low by the state for more than two years, and schools less than 70 percent full, should be considered for realignment, reprogramming or closure.
Schools with new special academic programs should normally not be considered for change or closure until the success of new programs can be measured.
Students affected by any proposed change should have the option of attending a higher-performing program or school. (That’s an essential selling point for DPS, but could be tricky to implement.)
For DPS, it can’t be as simple as filling schools.
“Students are not leaving the district because there’s a financial crisis,” said Ricardo Martinez, co-director of Padres Unidos and a member of the A+ Denver panel’s finances and facilities subcommittee. “The reason students are leaving is because of bad academics. If we consolidate two schools with miserable educations, we have one school with a miserable education. Our discussion has to be about how we’re going to improve the schools.”
Superintendent Michael Bennet’s challenge is to convince families who will be losing their neighborhood school that their children will benefit by attending improved schools elsewhere. It won’t be easy.
DPS needs to be as transparent as possible in this process. If it’s inevitable schools are going to close, the students, parents and staff at those schools deserve to know as soon as possible.
It’s like ripping off a Band-Aid. It’s going to be painful either way. Do it quickly.
