Parents, lawmakers make last-ditch plea to school board to halt Denver closures

Hours before Denver Public Schools board members were scheduled to vote on whether to close and restructure 10 schools at the end of the school year, more than 20 parents and community organizers banded together to urge the district to rethink shuttering schools.

Their message to district leaders: If they plow forward with closing schools, they should be ready for legal action.

The parents and activists — along with State Rep. Tim Hernández, a Denver Democrat — assembled Thursday morning outside DPS’ central office building, where board members will vote on the fate of 10 schools later in the day. They were front and center during a press conference organized by the national organization Alliance for Educational Justice and Movimiento Poder, which describes itself as a grassroots advocacy organization composed of parents, young people and community members from Southwest Denver. One by one, parents from schools on the chopping block spoke out against Superintendent Alex Marrero’s proposal to shut down schools in response to declining enrollment.

“School closures hurt children, parents, staff and our communities,” Holly Lucas, a parent of a student at Kunsmiller Creative Art Academy, said during the press conference. “School closure is just another way for power to suppress marginalized communities, and we will not stand for it.”

As each parent spoke, others stood behind a banner reading “DPS is closing this school” with a larger-than-life paper mache statue of Marrero’s head in the backdrop.

Parents said the press conference was their last chance to publicly stand against a proposal Marrero presented to the board two weeks ago to close some DPS schools and scale back grades in others to help the district adjust as its student count continues to dwindle. 

Marrero suggested closing Columbian Elementary School, Castro Elementary School, Schmitt Elementary School, International Academy of Denver at Harrington, Palmer Elementary, West Middle School and Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design. Marrero also wants to limit Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy to a 6th-12th grade school, removing grades 1-5; change Dora Moore ECE-8 School to serve preschool through 5th grade, eliminating grades 6-8; and scale down Denver Center for International Studies to 6th-8th grades, cutting grades 9-12.

His proposal would eliminate 4,000 vacant seats from the district, which currently serves about 85,000 students — down from more than 92,100 kids during the 2019-20 school year. It would also save DPS an estimated $30 million at a time district officials project DPS will accrue $70 million less in annual revenue by 2028 than it did during the 2019-20 school year, its peak year of enrollment.

With a range of frustrations, parents and organizers called for the board to pause the school closure process. They questioned the district’s financial struggles in light of funds spent to benefit Marrero, including a more than $17,000 bonus and a $100,000 office renovation on top of his salary exceeding $300,000. They criticized the district for not giving communities affected by the closures enough opportunities to provide feedback. And they were left wanting more information about how DPS will reconfigure transportation for students forced to attend different schools after the district has had two years to iron out a plan to make adjustments in the district and find solutions other than closing schools.

“Dr. Marrero seems to only have one tool in his toolbox, a wrecking ball,” said Abraham Drucker, a parent of two kids at Palmer Elementary School. “He has returned to us two years later with a seemingly hastily constructed plan which only consists of closing schools and destroying neighborhoods.”

Drucker said he is frustrated that Marrero released his proposal right after the election and not long before Thanksgiving break — which offered little time for parents and students to organize and thoroughly respond.

Parents are also fed up over how much his proposal will cut into the education of many of the district’s most vulnerable students, including students of color, kids with disabilities and kids living in poverty. 

For example, seven schools on the list educated between 85% and 98% students of color last year, according to information from Movimiento Poder.

“A sham” of community engagement efforts

Parents’ criticisms and questions mirror those outlined in a letter penned to Marrero and school board members by a handful of Democratic lawmakers representing Denver.

The lawmakers, who gave their letter to district leaders Wednesday, highlighted concerns about school closures having outsized effects on low-income families and students of color and foreshadowed what they see as “devastating impacts” on kids and communities. Lawmakers worry about students being displaced and communities being robbed of critical before- and after-school programming, adult education classes, health clinics and other resources.

“Students may lose some of the most important relationships in their lives all at once,” the lawmakers write. “The loss of their school often represents the loss of a reliable, safe and stable place for children and youth.”

The lawmakers behind the letter are Hernández, State Sen. Robert Rodriguez, State Sen. Julie Gonzales, State Rep. Javier Mabrey, and Assistant Minority Leader Jennifer Bacon.

They also wrote that two weeks is insufficient for the district to hear from all impacted students, families, teachers, staff and community members.

“School closures have a dramatic impact on students, their families, and the entire DPS community — this is not something that can be rushed and that lacks community input, as has been the case with the DPS school closure process,” the letter stated.