Jeffco Public Schools held the first of four public community forums today to get feedback from parents about the efficiency and effectiveness of their schools.
The state’s largest school district wants to reduce costs because the district is facing slashing its budget by nearly $40 million over the next three years.
“Reducing is more severe here because we’re in a larger system,” said Cindy Stevenson, Jeffco superintendent. In 2008,voters in Jefferson County voted against an education bond and mill levy.
The Jeffco Facilities Usage Committee began meeting in March to examine operations of the district’s 154 schools, which may include the restructuring of buildings, school closures, boundry changes and transportation costs.
The usage committee, made up of 30 Jeffco staff and community leaders, is welcoming feedback on six evaluation criteria including: academic achievement, building condition, capacity utilization (the highest number of students the school can accommodate), choice (the percentage of students who attend the school by choice or have chosen another school within the district), current enrollment and enrollment trends.
After the committee gets September community feedback they will use the criteria to figure out which schools are the most inefficient. The committee will then examine those schools against available data to understand more about a specific school and its usage and make recommendations.
Another round of public forums will be held in November, with final recommendations to be made to the Board of Education in January.
Saturday’s meeting in Golden was attended by a group of parents who would like information about the proposed changes to be clear, concise and easy to understand.
“I grew up here where lots of schools get closed without much information,” said Pam Bates, whose two children attend Jeffco Public Schools. “We need to have a voice because we pay taxes.”
For more information see the Facilities Usage Committee Interim Report at plan design const/facilities usage/index.html.
The public is invited to attend the following meetings:
Monday, Sept.14 at Jefferson High School, 2305 Pierce St. in Edgewater from 6-7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept.16 at Chatfield High School from 6-7:30 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 21 at Arvada West High School from 6-7:30 p.m.
Annette Espinoza: 303-954-1655 or aespinoza@denverpost.com
