All 520 spots available for June 4 session on PSD school closure plans fill within hours
All 520 slots available for people to participate in a June 4 listening session with the Poudre School District Board of Education over the district’s consolidation plans were filled within a few hours, and there were no immediate plans to add additional opportunities for feedback.
That session represents the only opportunity for people to share their concerns in person or in an online meeting about revised scenarios released Friday that each call for the closure of five schools or the final recommendations that are scheduled to be presented to the Board of Education on May 28 ahead of its final vote June 11. An online survey to provide feedback is available through Sunday, May 19, on PSD's long-range planning website.
A link to the EventBrite.com page to sign up for the June 4 sessions was included in a news release and email sent out at 4 p.m. Monday by PSD, announcing a change in location and format. Instead of a single listening session in front of the entire Board of Education at Fort Collins High School, as originally planned, the June 4 session will be broken into small-group discussions in what PSD said was an effort to give more people a chance to participate.
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Six one-hour slots were scheduled for in-person sessions of up to 20 people apiece in classrooms at Rocky Mountain High School, 1300 W. Swallow Road, each with a single Board of Education member. Those sessions, at 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., were maxed out at 460 total participants, PSD spokesperson Emily Shockley told the Coloradoan via text Tuesday. An additional 60 spots — 20 per session — were available for virtual meetings on Zoom at 10 a.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., she said, giving a total of 520 people the opportunity to participate.
PSD said only the online slots were available when it sent out its initial email at 4 p.m. Monday. A second email 90 minutes later clarified that signups for in-person sessions were also available through the same link. All available slots had been filled by 10 p.m., when a Coloradoan reporter checked availability.
A previous listening session April 16 before all seven members of the Board of Education and Superintendent Brian Kingsley drew about 350 people, including 140 who were given 90 seconds apiece to speak at a microphone and voice their opinions.
Eight previous listening sessions run by the 37-member Facilities Planning Steering Committee, which utilized small-group discussions with a single committee member leading each one and no registration required, drew 50 to 360 participants apiece.
PSD is the eighth-largest school district in Colorado, with total enrollment of 29,915 this year, counting the 2,945 students in its district-authorized charter schools, according to the Colorado Department of Education’s annual count. Charter schools are operated independently of PSD’s other schools and are not part of the consolidation discussion the district began to address declining enrollment and the associated per-pupil budget reductions.
Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, x.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: All 520 spots for June 4 PSD school closure feedback fill within hours
