A changing neighborhood and poor academic performance doomed Denver’s Del Pueblo Elementary, which has lost students for years and finally announced its closing Thursday.
Principal Dan Villescas said the school was in serious trouble in late July when he realized that only 80 students would attend and that he was short at least four teachers.
“It was painful,” Villescas told the school board Thursday.
Villescas in early August began to contact parents to tell them that school programs would be limited and that students and grades would be combined. He provided them with information about other schools to attend.
The school has catered mostly to low-income students, and its academic performance has kept enrollment down. The neighborhood around the school has seen a real estate boom of mostly young, childless professionals, according to residents.
Over the past few weeks, Villescas and his staff called, knocked on doors and eventually reached all but five students. Classes start next week.
The news that the school, at 750 Galapago St. south of downtown, would probably close devastated parents and students, he said.
“They cried in the houses; they cried in the street; they cried in our offices because that is their school,” Villescas said. “For a lot of our families, the most stable thing they have in their lives is that school. And we’re supplanting that … for the betterment of their education. But that’s all they know.”
Most students decided to go to nearby Greenlee K-8 or Fairmont Dual Language Immersion Academy. Others will attend Moore K-8, Knight Fundamental Academy or Valdez Elementary, he said.
The board took no action on Del Pueblo, but the school will not operate an academic program, district officials said. The school’s fate will be determined by the district’s school closure plan, which will be announced in October. The board votes on those recommendations in November.
DPS is considering closing schools because many are operating with too few students.
On Thursday, the board heard a presentation by A+ Denver, a citizen group led by former Denver Mayor Federico Peña that devised criteria for school closure.
The group urged the district to not drag out closures over multiple years – have a specific plan, present it clearly and do not delay, said Dawn Bookhardt, committee co-chairwoman.
“This has been a painful and difficult process,” she said. “The community has embraced this concept. Get it done in one fell-swoop and it’s over. If you do it in phases, I don’t think you will be as successful.”
Staff writer Jeremy P. Meyer can be reached at 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
