A parents group suing Denver Public Schools over its planned closure and restructuring of 10 schools is asking a judge to overturn the school board’s vote and halt the process while the lawsuit against Colorado’s largest district moves forward.
Mamás de DPS LLC filed a motion in Denver District Court on Wednesday seeking a preliminary injunction that, if approved by the judge overseeing the lawsuit, would allow students to keep attending the schools that DPS plans to shutter or reduce the number of grades at following the end of the current academic year.
The parents group asked for the injunction “because DPS has moved so quickly to close these schools (that) students and their families and their communities are facing harm that cannot be fixed at the end of the case,” said attorney Lisi Owen, who is representing the group.
Mamás de DPS asked the court to allow students to continue attending the schools slated for consolidation even when the next academic year begins in late summer, and that DPS be required to offer all educational programs currently available at the schools.
“Mamás seeks an order directing (Superintendent Alex) Marrero and the Board to comply with their own policies before closing any schools and reversing the November 21 school
closure vote,” the group’s request for an injunction states. “With this motion, they request preliminary relief of the same nature, as well as an injunction prohibiting DPS from closing the schools identified in the November 2024 school closure process pending resolution of this matter.”
DPS spokesman Scott Pribble declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Mamás de DPS sprang up a month after the DPS Board of Education voted in November to close seven schools and restructure another three so that they serve fewer students and has filed a lawsuit in December to prevent the consolidation plans.
The lawsuit argued that Marrero and district officials used flawed data and inadequate research in making their decision to close schools. The suit also said Marrero didn’t adequately engage the community in the decision.
While the lawsuit seeks to stop the school closures, it also criticized DPS’s use of school choice and the presence of charter schools in the system.
K-12 public school enrollment has fallen across Colorado as fewer babies are born, including in Denver. But the number of students attending DPS increased 2.5% in the fall to 90,450 pupils, in large part due to an unexpected wave of immigrants that arrived in Denver in recent years. DPS enrolled 92,112 students at the peak five years ago.
The school board voted to close schools because declining enrollment has led DPS to lose tens of millions of dollars annually in per-pupil funding. The closures are expected to save the district $6.6 million.
DPS plans to close five elementary schools — Castro, Columbian, Palmer, Schmitt and International Academy of Denver at Harrington — as well as West Middle School and the Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design, a high school.
Another three schools — DCIS Baker 6-12, Dora Moore ECE-8 School and Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy — will be restructured so that they serve fewer grades.
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