LITTLETON — Parents of students at a school scheduled to be closed next year are considering strategies to keep it open.
Ames Elementary School is one of two schools slated to be shuttered after the Littleton school board decided enrollment was too low.
The announcement stunned parents. The school had made significant gains on statewide tests to place it among the top elementary schools in the district.
The other school to be closed is Whitman Elementary.
Parents at Ames said they would like to open a charter school in the same building for the 2009-10 school year. Diane Leiker, spokeswoman for Littleton Public Schools, said the deadline has passed to submit an application.
“Our board policy is that it has to be filed by Oct. 1 of the preceding year,” Leiker said.
She said the district soon will begin discussions about what to do with Ames. One option put forth by a task force is to use the building for an alternative school for at-risk kids.
That isn’t stopping parents such as Catherine McBride. Despite the missed deadline, parents might still submit a charter-school application to the school board. If it is turned down, it would allow them to appeal to the Colorado Department of Education, she said.
“There are a lot of parents behind it,” McBride said. “What we would prefer to do is keep a school at Ames. Ames is such a key school for the community.”
McBride said she also can secure commitments from dozens parents outside Ames, which is less than half full this year, who would send their children to the school in 2009-10.
“We could attract 200 students to the district so easily. We’ve already found them,” she said. “I know we can put 200 more students there by the next school year.”
She and other parents are in the process of getting those commitments in writing and presenting them to the school board.
The board has remained firm in its desire to re-purpose the two schools. Board president Bob Colwell did not return a phone call for comment.
As a last resort, parents could still go the legal route. They have retained a lawyer to help them fight to keep the school open.
“I just think they haven’t looked at the long-term ramifications of the decisions they are making,” McBride said. “It slaps us in the face how completely wrong it is to close this school.”
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
