Metro Denver school districts canceled classes and adjusted schedules on Friday due to anticipated staffing shortages during a nationwide general strike as part of ICE Out protests.
Aurora Public Schools and Commerce City-based Adams 14 canceled all classes.
Denver Public Schools officials said some schools will adjust operations as follows:
- Students will face two-hour delays due to staffing shortages at George Washington High School, North High School, South High School, East High School, Joe Shoemaker Elementary, and McMeen Elementary
- All MI and AN Center programs, and Early Childhood Education programs, will be canceled, DPS officials said in an announcement Friday morning. However, staff who did not previously report an absence should go to their schools, along with central office staff, officials said.
DPS officials said all other schools will have a normal schedule.
In Aurora, all public schools and Pickens Technical College will be closed because district officials anticipate “a higher than anticipated number of staff absences,” officials .
Adams 14 Superintendent Karla Loría that the district expected “a high number of student and staff absences” on Friday, which will become a “teacher and staff work day” with no classes.
Boulder Valley School District officials announced school buildings would be open, but that “without warning, nearly a quarter of our teachers submitted leave.” This will affect many schools in the district, officials said Friday morning.
“While we learned about the protest earlier this week, we did not anticipate this impact.” The Colorado Education Association and the Boulder Valley Education Association notified teachers that Friday was not “an authorized day of action,” district offcials said in a statement Friday morning. “We understand the burden that a school closure places on our families, especially with such short notice for our parents and guardians that must go to work.”
Metro schools officials made the announcements ahead of Friday’s nationwide ICE Out protests and general strike following the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and the federal government’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota.
Beyond schools, more than dozen Denver-area restaurants will be closed on Friday. Owners of other restaurants said they would donate a percentage of their profits to local immigrant rights organizations.
“We always seek to keep schools open to provide critical learning, social-emotional support, mental health resources, and healthy meals for our students,” Aurora Public School officials said in a statement. “However, after closely monitoring the number of staff absences across the district for tomorrow, we have determined that APS will not have enough staffing capacity to safely operate schools.”
