Denver Public parents, leader discuss school closures, declining enrollment

Denver Public Schools parent Diana Kessel is happy with the school her child attends, the “small and mighty” Palmer Elementary School in the city’s Hale neighborhood.

She’s happy with the teachers, the extracurriculars and after-school enrichment, and most of all the small-school culture that comes from having around 200 students enrolled.

“We got the governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award, so that tells you we’re doing something right,” Kessel joked.

Kessel wasn’t initially worried about Palmer closing when the DPS Board of Education passed a policy about school closure and consolidation in June, but her worries have grown.

Palmer was among the schools Superintendent Alex Marrero recommended for closure in 2022, and Kessel is worried about a short timeline and not enough community engagement this time around.

Kessel was among more than 100 parents and community members who gathered at South High School on Tuesday night for the first of six community meetings hosted by Denver Public Schools about closing and consolidating schools.

District officials told attendees they would not discuss “specific schools or strategies to deal with declining enrollment,” but Marrero is set to make recommendations to the Board of Education on Nov. 7.

Fewer students are attending Denver schools because fewer people are having children and more people are moving out of Denver by the time their children are ready for school, district leaders said Tuesday. The school district expects a roughly 9% drop in enrollment between now and 2028, or 6,338 fewer children.

“We don’t have enough students to fill our buildings, and that’s the harsh reality,” Marrero told meeting attendees Tuesday.

“We have to right-size our district, simply put. We cannot continue to run an organization the way that we are,” Marrero added later.

Denver Public Schools does not expect declining enrollment to stop any time soon, said Andrew Huber, executive director of enrollment and campus planning.

“Last year, 2,400 fewer babies were born (in Denver) than in 2002, and the state says we should expect that to continue into the 2030s,” Huber said.

Denver Public Schools enrollment hit its all-time high in 2019 with 93,000 students from preschool to 12th grade, Marrero said. There were 88,235 prek-12 students in the district last year, according to the Colorado Department of Education.

“You can argue that we have more facilities now with significantly less scholars,” Marrero said Tuesday.