Signs reading "Support Douglass Elementary" have been popping up across a Boulder County neighborhood as parents prepare to fight a school district plan that could close or consolidate more than a dozen schools.
The Boulder Valley School District recently presented its Resilient Schools Proposal to the school board. The plan is designed to address declining enrollment and budget shortfalls by closing six schools while consolidating and relocating about a dozen others.
Kate Bright Wicar's son, Shepherd, has learning disabilities and an Individualized Education Plan. He attends Douglass Elementary, one of the schools slated for closure.
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"While our neighborhood school is a poor fit for him because of the sensory overload, Douglas has been just an amazing fit, and he has truly thrived here," Bright Wicar said.
Wicar said the decision appeared to be made without considering students like her son.
"It really feels like the decision was made without considering the unique needs of these children," Wicar said.
Erin Pommer is a parent at Boulder Valley Schools and part of a group called Better Plan BVSD. On Monday, the group sent an open legal letter to the school district asking for more transparency.
"The longer we sat with the data, the more it supported the notion that process wasn't followed in a way that is supportive of the whole community," Pommer said.
The letter claims the district abandoned its own early warning system, designed to give school communities advance notice of potential closures, and that key policy decisions were made outside of public meetings.
"A lot of our community feels left in the dark in what are the new metrics ... and what is the exact criteria of this new data that's showing that specific schools need to consolidate or close," Pommer said.
The Boulder Valley School District said it did reach out to the community before developing the proposal.
"We actually had an entire all of spring that we were engaging with folks in our community. We had seven community engagement sessions in the areas and the regions that are impacted — we met with hundreds of parents," Randy Barber, the district's chief communications officer, said.
Pommer said the plan only accounts for 1% of BVSD's budget, arguing the district has time to reconsider.
"Unlike some other school districts, we have time to back up and reapproach with a new proposal," Pommer said.
The district acknowledged the savings may seem modest but said the decision is about more than money.
"This is really about student experience. As we get smaller schools, our staff is being spread further, thinner, and thinner. So, we have specials teachers that are having to travel to multiple schools—we're having less support staff," Barber said.
The school board is expected to make a decision on Sept. 22. Both Pommer and Bright Wicar are urging the community to push for a no vote.
"I am looking for our community to say, 'Let's back up, let's vote no on this one proposal, let's go back to the drawing board and reengage,'" Pommer said.
"We need to go back. We need to vote no. We need to do the right thing and come up with a better plan," Bright Wicar said.
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