One by one, students approached the lectern at a meeting of Denver’s school board Monday evening. They ranged from high school seniors to first-graders. Some were so small they needed a stool to reach the microphone.
But despite their age and height differences, the students had the same message for the seven-member board: Don’t close or restructure our schools.
“The school board says it cares about student voices, so prove it and listen to ours,” said 17-year-old Kennah Phoenix Davis, a senior at DCIS Baker 6-12. “Our school is not something to be merged. Merging our school would destroy it.”
As DPS’s elected Board of Education prepares to vote Thursday on whether to permanently close seven schools, children and teens have been among the chorus of voices speaking out against Superintendent Alex Marrero’s consolidation plan, which would restructure three additional schools to serve fewer students.
Marrero recommended the board close the schools at the end of this academic year in response to declining enrollment.
The schools that could close are Castro, Columbian, Palmer and Schmitt elementaries; International Academy of Denver at Harrington; West Middle School; and the Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design.
The superintendent needs the board’s approval to close those schools, but not to restructure the other three schools. Marrero proposed restructuring DCIS Baker, Dora Moore ECE-8 and Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy so that they serve fewer grades.
But his plans for those three schools are reliant on the other schools closing. For example, if West Middle closes, then, under Marrero’s plan, students would have a seat at other schools in the West Middle School Enrollment Zone, including DCIS Baker.
Students said during the board meeting and in interviews with The Denver Post that they spent the past week or so in meetings learning about the district’s consolidation plan.
They delved into the DPS’s budget sheets, where they discovered the district has tens of millions of dollars in reserves, which has made them question why Colorado’s largest district needs to close schools to balance its billion-dollar budget if there’s money stored away. They’ve read case studies about how school closures can increase drop-out rates.
In doing their research, the students also sought solutions to the problem DPS faces. The district has too many schools for the number of students it teaches and enrollment is expected to fall further as birth rates drop and gentrification makes living in the city too expensive.
Students at DCIS Baker proposed merging their school with the Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design, which Marrero recommended closing.
The Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design is small, which makes it a safe space for students who might not feel like they fit in somewhere else, and DCIS Baker has created a culture that accepts students from different backgrounds, said Camila Kunrath, a senior at DCIS Baker.
“By breaking us apart you really lose what the school is,” said Kunrath, 17, of the district’s plans for her school.
Students from schools including DCIS Baker, West Middle School and the Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design led walkouts Friday and Monday, marching to DPS headquarters in downtown Denver in protest of the potential closures or restructuring.
The first five speakers at the school board’s meeting Monday were all students. Nayeli Fenton-Ortiz, a senior at DCIS Baker, was the first person to address the board and Marrero.
The 17-year-old called out the inequities of the superintendent’s plan, which would disproportionately affect students of color. Ortiz also pointed out that most of the schools also serve a majority of students who qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch, meaning they come from lower-income families.
“The proposed actions taken towards DCIS high school and West Middle are — to me — a reflection of how the DPS vision and priority has shifted,” Fenton-Ortiz told the board. “It offers a glimpse into a system in which students and staff from already marginalized communities are disregarded in favor of saving money.”
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Seniors like Davis and Fenton-Ortiz were speaking out about the closures even though they won’t be affected by them because “we care,” Davis said.
An 8-year-old named Quinn Somers who attends Palmer Elementary was also among the first speakers Monday evening.
Palmer is facing potentially closure for the second time in two years. The school, along with Columbian, Schmitt and International Academy, were on Marrero’s list of schools to close in 2022. The school board was reluctant to take action at the time and only shuttered three schools — Fairview Elementary, Denver Discovery and Mathematics and Science Leadership Academy — leaving others like Palmer open, for now.
The third-grader told the school board that she has attended Palmer since preschool. All of Quinn’s friends also attend Palmer, she said.
“Please don’t make me go to another school without friends for fourth and fifth grade,” Quinn said.
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