No sharing NW campuses

by Elisa Cohen

NORTH DENVER – Three North Denver schools – Skinner, Lake and North – dodged the need to share their campuses. Citing a lack of students in the neighborhood, Denver Public School administrator Brad Jupp said the decision is temporary and that DPS would continue to monitor the buildings to see if some sort of sharing or closure is in order in the future.

Empty seats cost money, up to $1500 per seat, DPS officials explained in a series of community meetings informing parents and staff about why they were inviting Charter schools into some of the empty classrooms in area schools. Like any roommate situation, parents and staff expressed concerns about the difficulties in sharing space. How will they share the kitchen, bathrooms, and other communal spaces? Concerned parents and staff repeatedly questioned about the schools would share the cafeteria, the gym and the auditorium.

Pending DPS Board approval, five schools in other parts of town will be the first to hammer out the school sharing details. Rishel’s traditional district school program will be phased out and two charter schools will replace it. KIPP and Math & Science Leadership Academy will both be housed in the southwest Denver School. Smiley Middle School in northeast Denver will share their campus with Envision Leadership Prep. Envision Leadership Prep, a proposed 6th -12th school, pledges in their application that “All students will receive instruction in world languages, humanities, math, science, and digital media…” Envision stated on their application that they need 705 seats to reach its desired full capacity. Smiley is pursuing accreditation in International Baccalaureate that promised the same thing. West Denver Prep II will share a campus with Kunsmiller and West High School will be turned into a 6th-12th grade campus with the inclusion of Edison Learning School inside the building.

Despite an expected 18 percent growth rate in students living in North Denver by 2015, the expected additional 2000 students will be absorbed by the many K8s and existing middle schools still leaving unused seats in many buildings. As the income levels rise in the neighborhood, the amount of babies decreases. North Denver has less residents with children now than it did 25 years ago said Jupp.

Still, a large amount of students in the neighborhood continue to leave the neighborhood for academic choice. According to information supplied by DPS, over half of the high school aged children in North Denver, up to 500 kids, travel to other parts of town or leave the district for high school. North will not be sharing its campus because the school will be completely renovated with the recently passed bond. As of now, the district claims the students will continue to be in classes in the building as it undergoes total renovations. A charter school may share space at North after the renovations.

Could the district do a better job promoting its own programs instead of seeking charter schools? Both Skinner and Lake have implemented school-wide reform, but the district has not promoted the changes to fill the seats. Advertising the current programs within the schools is the job of the principal said Alex Sanchez, Communications Director for DPS. When asked if DPS could start to perform like charter schools and advertise their programs through press releases and even purchased advertisements, Jupp said that the charter schools could afford advertisements because they paid their teachers less and therefore had money in their budgets to advertise.

According to a handout presented at the community meetings Skinner Middle School has a capacity for 1,100 students and has between 600-700 empty seats. Lake International Baccalaureate has a capacity for 1,000 students and has 250 to 350 empty seats.

Nicole Veltze, principal at Skinner Middle School, says that while she understands the economic rationale behind the idea to co-locating a school within Skinner to fill the approximately 600-700 empty seats, she questions whether or not a new charter school brings a needed program to the area. She said any program should be part of a cohesive educational plan to feed into North High School. A data driven academic leader, Veltze said if the data proves the need, then DPS should make the right decision. “Will it meet a need for the neighborhood? If yes, then great.”

When asked how the charter schools might fit into the community desires that were expressed during the “19 Nights of North” meetings held last year, neither Alex Sanchez, the communications director for DPS, nor the facilitator Jason Martinez could say how the programs fit within the community’s expectations. During the “19 Nights of North” community members expressed desires for IB, dual language, arts and technology as well as college preparatory and relevant education.

Fulfilling the community’s expressed desire for IB, Lake Middle School recently received its accreditation as an International Baccalaureate middle school. While Lake currently serves 6th through 8th grade students, International Baccalaureate’s Middle Years Program is designed to serve 6th through 10th grade students. Helen Garcia and Cathy Vigil, two Lake Middle School parents who actively worked to bring IB to Lake, said that they would like to see Lake be allowed to expand into a 6th through 10th grade IB program instead of giving up its space to a charter school. Lake could also pursue the true IB diploma program and become a 6th-12th grade facility. Hans Kayser said that Lake’s community is studying all options for the IB pathway in North Denver but the process takes time.

Brown International Baccalaureate Elementary School’s enrollment has continued to climb since becoming an IB school. This year, DPS projected 320 students would enroll at Brown but it now currently has 397 students and has capped its 2nd and 5th grades due to the lack of space for more students in those grades. Brown International Baccalaureate feeds into both Skinner and Lake.

In a departure from regular public hearing protocols, community members were able speak to board members during a working session held on Monday, November 17 and the DPS board will make its decision on Thursday, November 20.