Parents suing the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) will take their fight to court Thursday at 8 a.m., asking a judge to stop the district from moving forward with its consolidation plan.
The BVSD parents listed in the lawsuit said this case is not about whether these schools should close; it’s about whether the district followed the law when deciding to close them.
Watch: Boulder Valley parents take school consolidation fight to court Thursday
The lawsuit was filed last week by parents from Douglass, Flatirons, and Mesa elementary schools, just days after the BVSD board voted 5 to 2 in favor of the consolidation plan.
In total, it impacts 16 schools and closes four, with the changes set to take effect next school year.
Several parents said the district violated Colorado’s Open Meetings Law by secretly changing how it decided which schools to close.
“The lawsuit suggests that there were open meetings, violations and that the public was not included to the extent that they maybe could have or should have been in the decisions to close our schools,” said Theresa Schultz, a BVSD parent listed in the lawsuit.
Parents are asking the court to prevent BVSD from making student assignments based on the consolidation plan until the lawsuit is resolved.
“The goal of this lawsuit is that the process be transparent. Declining enrollment is real. None of us are arguing that something has to be done, and the government has obligations and responsibilities to parents. And one of those obligations is that when decisions that will change the fabric of local communities are made, that we're included, that alternatives are considered, that constituents are heard when they are asking questions,” Schultz said.
The district said it does not comment on pending litigation and is working with legal counsel to respond.
The preliminary injunction hearing gets underway at 8 a.m. Thursday morning at the Boulder County District Court.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.