Speaking to the Denver school board a week ago, a mother offered what is likely to become a common complaint: Her daughter’s school was closed in what she believed was an unfair move by the district.
Superintendent Michael Bennet leaned toward the microphone and apologized for the decision about Del Pueblo Elementary.
“I’m sorry. We just found ourselves in a place where there weren’t enough students. I am terribly sorry.”
Monday, the district is to announce the closure of more schools in a move intended to improve student achievement and save money.
The number of schools on the list has been a tightly held secret within the administration.
It will be divulged in stages, including public meetings and possibly an automatic telephone call to affected households.
This “robo call” approach has already sparked concern from some members of the School Improvement and Accountability Council, a group of community leaders and parents that acts as a watchdog to the district.
“We were concerned that the customer would be the last to know. … Sometimes no one is home, they don’t check their messages,” said Dorolyn Griebenaw, a member of the council who said she was speaking independently. “Among the parents aware this is happening, there is a sense of anxiety.”
Early on, leaders from an independent school-closing panel said up to 40 schools could be closed next fall. This week Bennet deflated that number in an e-mail that said the actual number will be far less.
Nevertheless, the secrecy and anticipation over the closures have put many on edge.
“For a guy who works at a school that is right there on the top of the closure list, this scares me to death,” said Allen Potter, student adviser at Rishel Middle School in west Denver. “But that’s what motivates me, to be honest. I’ve got to save my school. This is a neighborhood school, a long-standing blue-collar school. If it closes, it’s tragic.”
Denver Public Schools has 31,000 empty classroom seats.
The plan is to close low-performing and under-enrolled schools and move those students to higher-performing buildings. Some school buildings will have new programs or “schools within schools.” And some could become contract schools, which are operated by an outside group on a contract with the district.
Bennet warned the City Council and the school board in April 2006 that the district’s financial straits made it necessary to reduce the number of half-empty school buildings.
A committee, composed of business and community leaders, was responsible for developing the closure criteria.
Those measures include things such as how many kids choose to leave the neighborhood school and performance on state tests.
Mike Kromrey, a committee member and executive director of Metro Organizations for People, said the number of schools slated to close probably fell because the committee pressed the district to move displaced kids to better schools.
“I know they heard that loud and clear. … I think that was an influence,” Kromrey said.
The school board will vote on the closures Nov. 19.
“When parents and students learn about the closures, what they should be focused on is, ‘Am I as a student going to get a better educational opportunity,”‘ said former Denver Mayor Federico Peña, who advises the district on reform efforts. “Or a parent should ask, ‘Is my child going to be involved in a better educational environment?’ If the district cannot demonstrate that, then this effort has failed.”
Marguerite Roza, a University of Washington professor, has studied closures across the country and found many recurrent problems.
Communities complain that they are not involved in the decision process, that closures are disproportionately along racial lines and that leadership unity sometimes splinters.
Often, closures affect careers of superintendents and school board members who impose them, said Roza, who has looked at Denver’s situation.
“There is no doubt (Bennet) has to close schools,” she said.
“The thing is, he is a finance guy. He gets the numbers. He is about getting this place back on good fiscal footing. That’s why he is facing the elephant in the room instead of ignoring it.”
Closure meetings
5:30-7:30 p.m. Monday, Turn Halle at the Tivoli Student Union, 900 Auraria Parkway.
5-6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Administration Building, 900 Grant St.
