By Mei Gifford
On Aug. 25, Boulder Valley School District’s Board of Education held a regular meeting regarding the Resilient School Proposal. The plan proposes closing schools in the district.
The proposal has been worked on since January and will be decided by the school board on Sept. 22. With declining birth rates, falling enrollment, increasing cost of living and limited housing opportunities in Boulder County, BVSD is working with its community and staff to address these obstacles.
BVSD has 56 schools. With the Resilient School Proposal, it could be reduced to 50 schools. The Resilient School Proposal recommends consolidating elementary, middle and pre-K-8 schools in a way that affects families as little as possible. The discussion concentrated on Boulder, Broomfield, Louisville and Superior.
Possible Boulder closures
Boulder has 15 schools that accommodate students in eighth grade or below, and 14 out of the 15 are severely under-enrolled. The Resilient School Proposal has three steps to closures and consolidation, all reliant on one another.
The first step is the closure of Douglass Elementary. Students enrolled at Douglass will be received by either Coal Creek Elementary, Eisenhower Elementary or Heatherwood Elementary. Any prospective student in the former boundary of Douglass Elementary will be enrolled in one of the three receiving elementary schools based on new attendance boundary lines.
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Douglass’ building will house High Peaks Elementary. The High Peaks building will then house both the Community Montessori and Boulder Community School of Integrated Studies. The Community Montessori building will be closed.
The next step is merging Mesa Elementary with Bear Creek Elementary. Mesa’s building will close. The decision was made due to the proximity to one another and the capacity of Bear Creek’s building to accommodate more students.
Mesa’s RISE program, which serves students with autism, will be a part of the merger as well.
The final step for Boulder is closing Flatirons Elementary. The proposed attendance boundary will have addresses north of Boulder Canyon Drive attend Foothill Elementary. Any address south of Boulder Canyon Drive will attend Whittier International Elementary. To accommodate mountain bus routes and to unify BVSD start times, the board proposes changing Foothill’s bell schedule from 7:50 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. to 8:35 a.m. to 3:35 p.m.
Other BVSD changes
Under the Resilient School Proposal, Broomfield will see the consolidation of Birch and Kohl elementary schools. Birch’s building will close. Birch’s ICAN program, supporting students with behavioral and emotional needs, will move too.
The merged school, along with Emerald Elementary and Aspen Creek K-8, will be monitored to adjust to the community’s needs.
In Louisville and Superior, there are six pre-K through fifth grade schools and three middle schools. However, data shows that only five elementary schools and two middle schools are needed.
The proposed solution is not to consolidate or shut down schools, but to rework the existing schools.
Eldorado Pre-K-8 will become a Pre-K-5, and Monarch Pre-K-8 will become a middle school. Current middle school students at Eldorado and future students who graduate from Eldorado will attend Monarch. Preschool and elementary students currently enrolled in Monarch will be received by Eldorado, Fireside, and Superior elementary schools.
The new Eldorado Pre-K-5 and Monarch Middle School will have AIM and RISE programs, both accommodating autistic students. This effort is to create a more cohesive middle school experience and to align with Monarch High School. Data also shows current enrollment trends favor Monarch as a middle school and Eldorado, Fireside, and Superior as elementary schools.
Next steps
The Resilient Schools Proposal is designed to increase school utilization percentage. Students will have greater access to special education teachers, counselors and autism programs. This proposal will also work to reduce multi-grade level classrooms and increase the number of classrooms per grade level.
Transportation will be provided with the following requirements: if a student is one and a half miles away from their new elementary school, two miles away from their new middle school and two and a half miles away from their new high school.
Preschools will be offered to affected areas. Further details will be discussed on Oct. 1.
School Age Care will be offered to receiving schools. SAC is a lottery-based program. Information on when the process opens will be discussed at later board meetings.
The Resilient School Proposal will be discussed again at the next BVSD meeting on Sept. 8. A vote on the plan is expected to take place on Sept. 22. There will be opportunities for community input during both meetings.