'Too much at stake': Community shares school-closure concerns with PSD Board of Education
A few people were so overcome with emotion that they struggled to get their words out, and a couple directed their anger at Superintendent Brian Kingsley and the Board of Education members seated onstage.
For the most part, though, the 140 or so people who shared their thoughts on Poudre School District’s consolidation plans with Kingsley and the seven-member school board Tuesday night at Poudre High School got their messages across loud and clear while respecting the feedback process during a session that lasted 4 hours and 15 minutes and drew about 350 people.
The overwhelming themes were that no schools should be closed unless all other options have been explored and exhausted — and if school consolidations and closings must occur, that the Board of Education allow more time and provide more resources for the Facilities Planning Steering Committee and others to determine the best option while minimizing impacts on students, families and school staff.
“The school district has got to slow its roll,” said one parent of two children at Beattie Elementary School. “This is too fast, and there’s too much at stake.”
Beattie is one of five elementary schools in west Fort Collins that could be closed under one or more of the draft scenarios that were made public March 19 to solicit feedback that a 37-member Facilities Planning Steering Committee is using to formulate options to deal with PSD’s declining enrollment and associated reductions in per-pupil funding from the state. There were four middle schools mentioned for possible closure in one or more of the draft scenarios as well, although no scenarios called for the closure of more than three elementaries and two middle schools.
Often lost in the discussion has been the warning issued when the draft scenarios were first released by steering committee facilitator Josie Plaut of the Institute for the Built Environment at Colorado State University that just because a school hasn’t been mentioned in a draft scenario doesn’t necessarily mean it will be safe and not recommended for closure in the final recommendations.
140 people share concerns with school board at listening session
About 140 of the 155 people who took a number to speak as they were walking into the auditorium at Poudre High School actually did, including a handful of students from elementary schools, who drew the biggest applause. Speakers were limited to 90 seconds, although school board president Kristen Draper generally let them go a bit longer if it was clear they were wrapping up their message.
Speakers — mostly parents but also some staff members and former students — each spoke passionately about the importance of keeping their respective schools open, with many suggesting no schools be consolidated or closed.
“It was really helpful,” school board director Carolyn Reed said afterward. “What I took away from this is everybody really loves their own school. Everybody loves their teachers and the programs that they have.”
A recording of the session was posted Wednesday morning on PSD's YouTube page. Board members and Kingsley were taking notes the entire time.
Many question the need to close any schools
Enrollment is not declining as fast as the district’s outside consultant, Flo Analytics, suggested it would, many of the speakers argued. And the amount of money that would be saved, if any, by closing schools could be made up with cuts elsewhere in the district’s budget of more than $410 million a year.
If the district is in such dire financial straits, why did the superintendent and his cabinet members receive large pay raises last summer?
Did PSD really need to spend $5.4 million this year on a new reading curriculum for its elementary-school students?
What are the actual cost savings of closing a school?
How much additional money will be spent busing students displaced by the closing of a neighborhood school to their new school?
Most of what school board heard has been said before
Those were all familiar refrains members of the Facilities Planning Steering Committee heard through the eight listening sessions they held since releasing the draft scenarios. And many of the school board members had heard and read those comments as well, in public comment at board meetings, at listening sessions they have attended and in the hundreds, if not thousands, of emails they have received over the past month.
Not all, though.
“I think we heard some new things,” board member Jessica Zamora said. “I think having folks share both their emotional connections to their school while also sharing their concerns with the data and concerns with the timeline. There were some very consistent themes that also matched a lot of the communication we’ve had.
“I think hearing it in multiple spaces, reading it in the emails, as well as in our regular community comment at meetings. Everywhere we can hear it helps."
Weekly tax hike of $4 a month could keep schools open, one parent says
One idea that hasn’t been suggested as much drew the loudest applause. Additional funding through a mill-levy override, an option suggested by Jeff Lindquist, a parent who said he had worked in school finance in the Denver and Westminster school districts.
“Who would pay $4 a month, $4 a month, to keep their schools open?” Lindquist asked. Just about everyone in the auditorium raised their hands in approval.
“I would pay $4 a month — if I’m off, I’m not off by much. You have over $9 million of mill-override capacity, so let’s do this. Call for the mill-levy override election. … If they call for it, and we don’t support it and vote yes, shame on us.”
A handful of other speakers throughout the night repeated the idea. And school board members were listening.
“People said things tonight that really will impact my thinking, for sure, because there is a lot of knowledge out there that we’re not exposed to yet, and I think it’s opening my eyes, for sure,” director Scott Schoenbauer said.
Charter schools, class size, boundary issues also addressed
Several speakers suggested the district eliminate school choice, slash funding for its five district-authorized charter schools or force those schools to consolidate or close — all actions out of PSD’s control because they would violate state law.
Class size was also a concern, with several speakers suggesting the district’s targeted goals of up to 25 students in an elementary school classroom and 30 in classes at middle and high schools were too large and a primary reason some families were choosing charter schools over PSD’s traditional schools.
Others wondered why simply changing boundaries, moving students from crowded schools in the north and east of the district to those with low enrollment to the south and west, wasn’t considered a viable option.
There were some personal attacks leveled against Kingsley as well, with a few speakers noting his membership in “Chiefs for Change,” a national group of school leaders. The organization is concerned that the United States’ traditional educational model is outdated and causing the country to lag behind its international peers in preparing students for the global economy, according to its website. Some people believe the group favors charters schools over traditional schools.
Colorado’s Commissioner of Education and former Denver Public Schools Superintendent Susan Cordova is also listed as a member, as is Boulder Valley Schools Superintendent Rob Anderson and Greeley-Evans School District 6 Superintendent Deirdre Pilch.
'Human side' of consolidation impacts gets board members' attention
Most of the speakers, though, were concerned about impacts that can’t be displayed on bar graphs or spreadsheets:
Protecting students’ emotional connections to their schools and teachers.
Supporting the mental health of students still recovering from the impacts of isolation and remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Strengthening neighborhoods by supporting neighborhood schools that students can walk or bicycle to each day.
Avoiding unnecessary disruption in the lives of the district’s most vulnerable students, those with special needs receiving support through integrated services programs.
Enhancing the district’s curriculum options — from the dual-language programs at Harris and Irish elementaries to the International Baccalaureate and Core Knowledge programs at multiple schools, to the more building-specific Leader In Me program at Lopez Elementary, project-based learning at Olander Elementary and open classroom design of Beattie.
“It’s just very apparent people care deeply and want these schools to succeed and believe in the teachers,” Schoenbauer said. “It’s definitely a family kind of vibe in the district.
“People said things tonight that will really impact my thinking, for sure, because there is a lot of knowledge out there that we’re not exposed to yet. It’s opening my eyes, for sure.”
Board members say they could slow process down if they choose
Could the process be slowed down, to give the steering committee additional time to collect data and analyze options and the community more opportunity to digest the information it is receiving and provide more meaningful feedback?
Sure, Schoenbauer and fellow school board member Conor Duffy said.
“I personally, as a director, have not made up my mind at all,” Duffy said. “I have no preconceived notions coming into it. As we gather information, we will get at that solution.
“One of those solutions could be slowing down. One of those solutions could be saying we need to go to the voters. One of those solutions could be a very convincing argument on the budget side, as we get further through the budget process, that we do have to close schools.
“My vote is as undecided as can be, even more so after tonight, because of that human side.”
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: Community shares school-closure concerns with PSD Board of Education
