The Poudre School District Board of Directors abandoned proposed school consolidation plans in a unanimous vote Monday night. The reversal comes after months of overwhelming community pushback.
For months, the school board has insisted that declining enrollment left them with no choice but to close schools and consolidate the district. They鈥檝e been moving ahead with plans to do so at a rapid pace despite broad community opposition. Since last October, the district has floated three separate rounds of recommendations for school closures. The board was scheduled to vote on a final plan next month.
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On Monday night, however, the board dramatically reversed course and voted 7-0 to call off the whole process, ending all plans to close schools in the 2025-2026 school year.
Poudre School District spokesperson Emily Shockley said community feedback drove the decision to suspend the consolidation process.
鈥淭hey just want to take a pause, look at other possibilities, and do their due diligence before taking a step like consolidating or closing schools,鈥� Shockley said.
Before voting, school board members explained their reasons for backing off the school closure plan. They acknowledged regret at having dismissed community concerns and neglecting to tap into local expertise. They pledged to treat school closures only as a last resort in the future.
鈥淚 cannot say with absolute confidence that we have exhausted all other options,鈥� said board vice president Jessica Zamora.
Some of those unexplored options include asking the voters to approve a mill levy adjustment that would bolster the school district鈥檚 budget, and moving other programming into unused spaces in under-enrolled buildings.
Other board members reflected concerns they鈥檝e heard from the community about inequity in the school closure plans. Some consolidation proposals recommended closing several schools with above average minority enrollment and free and reduced lunch eligibility.
"I didn't seek this seat to close schools that house students of color and marginalized students,鈥� board member Conor Duffy said. 鈥淲e can do better than that.鈥�
Board member Kevin Havelda pledged to be more involved in any future process to address the enrollment crisis.
鈥淚鈥檓 sorry we failed the community,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e are listening.鈥�
While the board backed off of one controversial solution to the district鈥檚 under-enrollment problem, they acknowledged the crisis isn鈥檛 going away.
鈥淲ithout sustained change in our state funding, I worry that we will have to revisit this process sooner than we are ready to,鈥� Zamora said.
District officials said that the decision to halt the consolidation process now does not mean school closures are permanently off the table.
鈥淭his is not a problem we expect to go away,鈥� Shockley said. 鈥淲e're going to look at all other scenarios. That doesn't mean that we wouldn't look at a scenario like this again, we're just going to look at other possibilities first, and then we'll see where we land.鈥�
The community reacts
Over the months, community opposition to the developing consolidation plans has been sustained and forceful. Last fall, students at Polaris Expeditionary Learning School staged a walkout to protest an initial school closure proposal that would have closed their school.
This spring, after two separate rounds of revised consolidation plans that proposed various scenarios for school closures, weighed in on the proposals through surveys, questionnaires and at public meetings.
Parents, teachers, and other community members critiqued the rationale for shutting down schools and questioned nearly everything about the process, from the data used to justify the consolidation to the rushed timeline and the sincerity of the school board鈥檚 pledge to center equity in their decision-making. They organized protests and emailed school board members.
After the board鈥檚 vote to table that process, those same parents celebrated.
鈥淚t's a huge victory,鈥� said Jamie Forde, a district parent who has spoken out against the consolidation at public meetings. "We really became informed. We did research. We advocated and fought for our neighborhoods and for our schools. And they listened.鈥�
At the same time, Forde was skeptical the victory would be permanent.
鈥淚 understand this process isn鈥檛 going away,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey've really just stalled it and will bring it back up again. And hopefully, they do that with a more meaningful and thought-out process than they exhibited this time.鈥�
Tory Pappas is the parent of a kindergartener at one of the schools that would have been shut down if the consolidation hadn鈥檛 been halted.
鈥淚 can breathe a sigh of relief,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 do feel like our neighborhood schools are going to be safe. I think that the current board is going to learn a lot from this. The feeling that I get is that we're going to do better next time.鈥�
