Douglas County to close 3 elementary schools next year as enrollment falls

The Douglas County School District will close three elementary schools next year becoming the latest K- system in metro Denver to shutter buildings because of declining enrollment The district s seven-member Board of Schooling voted unanimously Tuesday evening to approve the closure of three schools Acres Green Elementary in Littleton and Heritage and Saddle Ranch elementaries in Highlands Ranch We know a lot of families are very upset with the district and we stand ready to assistance our families and our students with what ever they need moving forward declared Superintendent Erin Kane Sixth-graders who attend elementary schools that feed into Highlands Ranch Mountain Vista and ThunderRidge high schools also will move to middle schools a plan that Kane previously noted will help middle schools struggling with low enrollment The school closures go into effect on July More than K- students attend the three schools which also employ educators according to the district The district has guaranteed that staff members affected by the closures will be able to get another position within the district Before their vote board members expressed how hard the decision to close schools was for them and encouragement for district workers in crafting their recommendation This is hard announced board President Christy Williams before the vote None of the seven of us want to be in this position A scarce parents pushed back on the school closures during the meeting s citizens comment session including on what they mentioned was a lack of transparency regarding the process used by district agents to decide which schools to close We have stated it over and over again the transparency of this recommendation process is seriously lacking one parent explained I understand the benefits of this consolidation I m not arguing against that I m arguing against the process of the pairing schools recommendation The Douglas County School District is the state s third-largest district enrolling students as of October That s down or pupils from a decade ago according to records from the Colorado Department of Mentoring Statewide K- populace school enrollment has fallen for more than a decade as fewer Coloradans have babies In metro Denver high housing costs are also shifting where families live meaning that districts such as Douglas County are also building new schools even as they close others Other districts also have closed schools or plan to because declining enrollment is putting financial pressure on their balance sheets as schools are funded based on the number of students in their classrooms Denver Society Schools will close and restructure schools at the end of the current academic year Jeffco Population Schools has shuttered more than a dozen schools in fresh years In Douglas County declining enrollment has been preponderance prominent in Highlands Ranch Related Articles Here are the schools Douglas County School District wants to close next year Douglas County considers closing up to Highlands Ranch elementary schools amid unequal development DPS board may require -year pause between rounds of Denver school closures More than students attend elementary school in Highlands Ranch down from more than children a decade ago according to the school district Eleven of the elementary schools that send students to the three high schools Mountain Vista Thunderridge and Highlands Ranch in the suburb are projected to have fewer than students according to the resolution passed by the school board Tuesday District authorities looked at Highlands Ranch schools before recommending which ones the school board should close Under the district s plan Acres Green students will move to Fox Creek Elementary School unless they are affected by school boundary changes also passed by the board Tuesday Heritage students will go to Summit View Elementary School and Saddle Ranch pupils will go to Eldorado Elementary School unless they are affected by the boundary changes Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter