Denver Public Schools board members unanimously approve closure plan
Denver Public Schools board members have unanimously approved a plan to close eight schools and change five others, launching the district's largest closure plan in its history. "It is not the closure of the children, it is not the slamming of the door in the parents' faces ... it is really the opening of the door for these families and their children," said board member Reverend Lucia Guzman. "It is for them," she said. "For too many years, the children of the district have not been able to receive the quality of educational opportunity that they need and deserve." The plan, outlined Oct. 1 by Superintendent Michael Bennet, will funnel the $3.5 million annually in savings from the closures into schools with the displaced students and into the district's 10 lowest-performing schools as ranked by the state. It also will help seed a schools development office intended to foster innovative programs, with an initial emphasis on middle and high schools. About a dozen parents and students from one of the elementary school staged a small protest. But there was no time set aside for public comment, and they and others from the closed schools left quietly after the vote. School board president Theresa Pena agreed leaders "have not delivered on that promise" of a better education for all Denver students. But she and other board members said the closure proposal begins to do so. "I want to thank you for holding us accountable," she told parents. "Please don't lose that—we need your help. We need more of the community to engage." Other pieces of the reform plan include expanding full-day preschool seats for Denver families and pursuing the stabilization of the district's budget through refinancing its pension plan.
Rocky Mountain News By Nancy Mitchell
[Editor’s Note: As reported at the first link below, the Indianapolis Public School Board also has unanimously approved a plan to close eight schools, shifting thousands of students and hundreds of employees. According to the article: "Board members said they think additional magnet schools, new school configurations and elimination of cross-district busing were popular among parents, offsetting anger about schools closing. ‘I can honestly say I’ve never seen a time when we closed so many schools in the district with so little opposition,’ board President Mary E. Busch said. ‘I believe our parents are really excited about what we’re doing.’ … ‘We’re looking at doing education differently and doing it differently in just two years,’ board member Michael D. Brown said. ‘It certainly gives us an opportunity to say we’re changing the way we do education. Obviously what we were doing needed tweaking.’" Meanwhile the Richmond, Virginia school board also is preparing its own school closing plans, the Pittsburgh Public Schools Board of Education is considering a controversial proposal to close a high school out of concern over the cost to renovate it, and District of Columbia’s mayor and school’s chancellor have proposed closing 24 schools. The last links are to NSBA resources on school closings and facilities issues generally.]
Indianapolis Star By Andy Gammill
Richmond Times-Dispatch By Olympia Meola
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review By Adam Brandolph
Washington Post By Theola Labbé
Leadership Insider on school closings
Leadership Insider on school facilities