DPS School Closures Voted Down, Anderson Preps for “Next Chapter”

The two-school closures plan lost by a 6-1 margin, with only boardmember Scott Balderman backing the measure. And the board unanimously rescinded its own small-schools resolution, which stated in part that “‘strong and stable enrollment’ for an elementary school is above 300 students such that the school can sustain at least 2 classrooms per grade with 25 students per classroom in elementary schools.”

The outcome presents both a fiscal and political challenge to DPS superintendent Dr. Alex Marrero. A statement issued after the meeting thanks participants in “this difficult process” before adding, “The budget crisis that we are facing as a District is not expected to go away. Following the vote, I asked the Board for direction to move the District forward. I look forward to engaging with the community and with the Board to develop other ways that we can address the crisis.”

Among those celebrating the vote was board vice president Auon’tai M. Anderson. At 7:22 p.m., he tweeted, “In the words of Vice President Kamala Harris, WE DID IT JOE! We saved schools from closure AND we rescinded the small schools resolution!” And shortly after 10 p.m., he posted an essay that lambasted the DPS’s Declining Enrollment Advisory Committee, which had suggested that ten schools be shuttered as part of what was dubbed “unification” with nearby institutions able to accommodate displaced students.

“The district did not engage staff, students, parents/families/guardians, neighbors and neighborhood groups in developing proposals and options, as the Board had directed, and it only listened selectively to what the Declining Enrollment Advisory Committee recommended,” Anderson wrote. “While the District adopted its thresholds for identifying schools, it ignored everything else the DEAC thoughtfully provided related to how DPS should, in its words, ‘ensure a fair and empowering process for local communities and leaders’ to actually lead this difficult work.”

Meanwhile, Anderson has been teasing a move of his own. Just after noon on November 17, he retweeted a note from 9News’s Marshall Zelinger asking, “Who is announcing they are running for Denver mayor today?” along with the line “Be the first to know” and a link to a web page titled “The Next Chapter.” The text at that address reveals that “Vice President Auon’tai M. Anderson is gearing up to make a big announcement and you should be the first to know. Sign up now to be on the VIP list for his big announcement on November 30th, 2022!”

This message was followed by Twitter pics of letters sent by children thanking Anderson for his stand against school closures — a theme of Anderson’s press conference staged just before the 4:30 p.m. start of the meeting. And nearly an hour and a half into the event, at 5:54 p.m., he retweeted an item from Chalkbeat’s Erica Meltzer in which she wrote, “Trying to process what I’m watching at the Denver board meeting. President Sochi Gaytán seems to have known that Superintendent Alex Marrero was going to recommend only two schools be closed but other board members seem blindsided.” To that, Anderson, who has advocated for a change in board leadership after accusing Gaytán of anti-Blackness for calling security on a speaker at a November 14 public-comments session, commented, “That’s exactly what happened. They planned this.”

Nonetheless, Gaytán voted against closing Denver Discovery School and Math and Science Leadership Academy, the last two schools from the initial list of ten, and for junking the resolution that helped establish the criteria for choosing which ones would be shuttered.

Still, DPS doesn’t want anyone to think that all of its problems are solved. Its post-meeting news release points out that “in the past five years, elementary and middle school enrollment has declined by more than 6,000 students, resulting in a loss of $61 million annually. DPS expects an additional loss of approximately 3,000 elementary and middle school students over the next four years.”

Here’s a video of the board meeting, followed by the Anderson essay:

BOE Meeting 11-17 4:30pm from DPS Board on Vimeo.

“Our Schools Will Remain OPEN“
By Auon’tai M. Anderson

It will come as a surprise to no one that I voted “no” on the school-closure recommendations tonight; five of my colleagues joined me in voting these recommendations down. We also unanimously rescinded the Small Schools Resolution.

Whether 10 schools or 5 or 2, these recommendations were developed without impacted school communities at the table.

The district did not engage staff, students, parents/families/guardians, neighbors and neighborhood groups in developing proposals and options, as the Board had directed, and it only listened selectively to what the Declining Enrollment Advisory Committee recommended. While the District adopted its thresholds for identifying schools, it ignored everything else the DEAC thoughtfully provided related to how DPS should, in its words, “ensure a fair and empowering process for local communities and leaders” to actually lead this difficult work.

Thus, my “no” votes on the closure recommendations.

I do hope the Board’s rejection of the closure recommendations might let us begin the healing process that must take place between the Board, staff and community.

I can report that the Board made progress in a recent policy governance session toward amending Executive Limitation 9 to ensure the Superintendent will not just inform the community, but also engage and empower the community, in district decisions going forward.

As we look toward additional next steps, I want to be very clear about a couple of things.

First, the Board and staff must get aligned immediately about what we mean by “community-led, district-supported.” Nearly everything we do as a District needs to be community-led. Period. That is true with the issue before us tonight, as well as other issues that we must address in the coming weeks and months, including redistricting.

I promise impacted schools that there will be no further discussion of closures or consolidations, until we get this principle of “community-led, district-supported” clearly defined. My expectation is that we will create such a framework with you, not for you.

Second, we heard a lot of concern about Choice on Monday. To be clear: I am pro-choice, whether that choice revolves around reproductive rights, or the right of a student or family to choose the school that is best for them, often for highly personal reasons.

The path forward cannot involve treating families who use Choice as enemies. I used Choice as a DPS student, and I am not your enemy. As a Black man, choice is self-determination, and I will not ask anyone to forfeit their ability to self-determine. I will not support a return to a system in which the District fundamentally made these decisions for families and students. …

We also must remember that a majority of Denver families who use Choice pick a district school. We actually heard from families on Monday night who drive from other parts of the city to attend the small schools they love. These families are not our enemies.

Third, we’ve heard a lot about charter schools. These schools also serve Denver students and families, and I care about the human beings in those school communities, too. We cannot treat them as enemies. They are Denver students, Denver families, Denver educators.

And, truth be told, every charter school has to come before this Board every couple of years and demonstrate to us that they are financially stable and have strong plans in place to provide quality service to students. This process — charter renewal — means these schools are always on the proverbial chopping block; our charters live with this threat all the time.

Imagine that…every couple of years, coming before this Board and asking that your school be allowed to remain open.

And, yes, charter schools have legal rights that district schools do not have, including the right to appeal to the State Board of Education. Do you know why? They have those rights because, too often, districts treat them as enemies, simply because of their governance type, simply because they are a charter — which has absolutely zero to do with kids. We must recognize each other as neighbors, not enemies, because we are each other’s neighbors.

Finally, DPS must take the time to get any and all next steps right. We cannot afford to get this wrong. We have big challenges ahead, and we need to be in it, together  — Board, staff and community.

The real boogeymen we must grapple with going forward are declining birth rates and gentrification. There are simply fewer school-aged children in Denver and will be for the foreseeable future. The question before us is:

How do we create and sustain schools where every learner thrives, with less funding, and do that together?

I reminded my colleagues as well that we have difficult statutory responsibilities before us, including redistricting, which we must complete on the required timeline and undertake in a manner that is also community-led and district-supported.

I wish to close with an apology to the communities of MSLA, Valverde, Columbian, Trevista, Schmitt, Godsman, Eagleton, Cowell, Palmer, Montclair, Colfax, Cheltenham, Swansea, Columbine, Harrington, Denver Discovery, Fairview and Whittier:

I am sorry we put you through this. Let me say that again: I am sorry we put you through this.

While I wish this situation had been avoided completely, your activism and, in Assata Shakur’s words, your efforts to “love each other and support each other” have humbled and inspired me.

It was a profound honor to stand alongside you, and learn from you. Thank you.

Vice President Auon’tai M. Anderson