Advancement Project and Movimiento Poder Urge Denver Public Schools Board of Education to Vote Against Closing Schools
DENVER, COLORADO – Advancement Project and Movimiento Poder are urging Denver Public Schools (DPS) Board of Education to vote against the closure of the now 5 elementary and middle schools in their November 17 board meeting. According to DPS, these schools are slated for closure due to declining enrollment.
“Following a process that was completely devoid of transparency and was not community driven, Denver Public Schools has proposed to close 5 of its neighborhood public schools – a change from merely a few days ago when there were 10 schools in danger of being closed. All five proposed for closure serve a predominately Black or Latinx student body, and most students at the schools are also low income. We know that closing schools harms students’ education and their socio-emotional well-being, and it is not even clear that the closures will result in any savings for the district. The DPS Board of Education must vote against these discriminatory and harmful school closures,” said Jessica Alcantara, senior staff attorney of the Opportunity to Learn program at Advancement Project.
Movimiento Poder, along with Advancement Project, recently sent a letter to the DPS Board in advance of their November 17 vote stating, “School closures are harmful not only to the students who are displaced and whose education is disrupted, but also to their surrounding communities…Closing a school is a drastic measure to take at any point – even more so while we are still living through an unprecedented pandemic.”
“The young people and families who make up the Denver Public Schools community are still living through the effects of this ongoing pandemic. We urgently need supports and stability for our students. To close these schools despite the harms they will cause to our communities demonstrates alarming disregard of students of color who will be disproportionally impacted by the closures. The Board must reject this proposal,” said Elsa Bañuelos, Executive Director at Movimiento Poder.
Click here to view the full text of the letter
