Larimer County鈥檚 Poudre School District released an updated set of four scenarios last week outlining plans to consolidate schools as a measure to deal with declining enrollment. represent the district鈥檚 third attempt since last fall to narrow down which schools will be closed and how those students will be absorbed elsewhere in the school system.
While the scenarios are still in draft form and no final decisions have been made, some schools appear destined for closure. In all four scenarios, the Facilities Planning Steering Committee 鈥� the group tasked with devising the plans 鈥� recommended closing Blevins Middle School, Beattie Elementary School and Johnson Elementary School.
Parents at the schools slated for closure were still digesting the news over the weekend.
鈥淪howing up on all four scenarios is really hard,鈥� said Tory Pappas, a Fort Collins resident and parent of a Beattie Elementary student. 鈥淗ow else can we interpret it, but that it's over for us?鈥�
But Blevins, Beattie and Johnson aren鈥檛 the only schools that could be affected. Cache le Poudre Elementary and Cache le Poudre Middle School, Linton Elementary School, Boltz Middle School, Harris Elementary School, Preston Middle School and Putnam Elementary School all show up as possible closures on one or more of the four scenarios. Some other schools that aren't being closed outright may be relocated to new buildings. Several school boundaries would be readjusted to balance enrollment. One scenario suggested eliminating the middle school from Timnath Middle High School and sending those students to Preston Middle School instead.
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The district officials said the changes are necessary to address a major budget shortfall due to . They attribute the drop in student numbers to slowing birthrates and a demographic trend of fewer young families with school-age children settling in Fort Collins. At the same time, a population boom in the rural eastern part of the school district 鈥� an area that includes the fast-growing towns of Timnath and Wellington 鈥� has led to hyper-local overcrowding and the need to rebalance school populations across the district.
The Poudre School Board will vote on the proposed changes on June 11 and approved consolidation measures will take effect at the start of the 2025-2026 school year.
The consolidation process
The most recent consolidation scenarios come toward the end of a process many community members have criticized for being too rushed.
Last fall, Superintendent Brian Kingsley walked back an initial school closure plan after students at one of the schools intended for closure staged a walkout.
Then, earlier this year, the district convened a Facilities Planning Steering Committee, comprised largely of parents and district staff, to take over the planning process. They released of draft consolidation scenarios in March and collected community feedback via a series of public listening sessions and questionnaires in the weeks after.
The steering committee presented of their community engagement work at a school board meeting on April 23. They identified several common themes, including the desire to minimize school disruptions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns about increased transportation distances and the loss of access to special programs. The same report noted community members criticized the district鈥檚 process, questioned the data underlying the consolidation plans and expressed skepticism about the necessity and wisdom of school closures. Many urged the school district to make equity a priority in the consolidation plans.
Community feedback
The community feedback documented at the meeting in late April was intended to shape the second round of draft consolidation scenarios, released on Friday. But many district parents say they don鈥檛 see their concerns reflected in the new plans.
鈥淲hen I saw the four new scenarios, immediately I was like, 鈥榃hoa, where's the equity?鈥欌�� Pappas said. 鈥淚t's really hard to overlook the fact that pretty much all of these schools being affected 鈥� it's mainly working-class families, it's low income families, people of color.鈥�
Several of the schools that would be impacted in the new scenarios have a of and students for or lunch than the district .
鈥淚 feel like they looked us in the face and told us that they understood what we're saying, and that it's important,鈥� said Kate Bedford, a Fort Collins residents and a parent of a Beattie Elementary School first grader, responding to the community engagement report presented at the late April meeting. 鈥淲hat I see in the scenarios 鈥� it feels like if it's there at all, it's an extremely watered down version of it.鈥�
Even families that wouldn鈥檛 be immediately affected by the new set of proposed changes were not happy with the results.
鈥淥ur biggest concern is the pace at which these very significant changes are being implemented and the questionable data on which decisions are being made,鈥� Teri McGuire, the parent of two students at Bethke Elementary School in Timnath, wrote in an email. 鈥淭he district keeps repeating their initial reasoning for making the changes without really addressing the deep concerns with the process in any significant way.鈥�
Fana Mulu-Moore, the parent of a fourth grader at Lopez Elementary 鈥� a school that was up for possible closure in a previous iteration of the scenarios, said this time around her child鈥檚 school appeared to be safe. Still, she's not rejoicing as other district schools face the cutting block.
鈥淭here are no winners,鈥� Mulu-Moore wrote in an email. 鈥淣eighborhood schools often serve as hubs for communities, providing not just education but also a sense of identity and belonging. Closing these schools will impact the social fabric of these neighborhoods.鈥�
