Veronica Acosta joined Denver7 in January 2021 as a reporter.
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. — Two years ago, Douglas County School District leaders announced the district would need to consolidate schools due to declining enrollment. On Monday, Denver7 learned three elementary schools in Highlands Ranch would be consolidated, if approved by the board, in the 2026-2027 school year.
Here's how that would look:Saddle Ranch Elementary would be consolidated into Eldorado ElementaryHeritage Elementary would be consolidated into Summit View ElementaryAcres Green Elementary would be consolidated into Fox Creek ElementaryFor parents of children who attend one of the three schools recommended for consolidation, the news was devastating. 'It's very frustrating, because the district talks about how they want to have smaller class sizes. How is closing schools going to make smaller class sizes?' said Megan Leuthhauser, whose two young children attend Acres Green Elementary. 'How I view it: You're going to dump all the children in Acres Green over at Fox Creek. That's going to double the class sizes.'Leuthhauser isn't the only one who's frustrated. Miles away, Jordan Hayes, whose children attend Saddle Ranch Elementary, feels similarly. 'Pretty disgruntled,' she said. 'I mean, we've been working with the board since November, and they've been, it would seem, lying to our face about what's been going on — that they haven't had a decision made. But it's Highlands Ranch. It's a small community, and so there's lots of rumors everywhere.'Both mothers told Denver7 they don't understand why the schools their children attend were the ones recommended for consolidation. However, in an interview with Denver7 on Tuesday, Douglas County School District Superintendent Erin Kane said it was a nearly two-year evaluation process that leaders thought long and hard about. Hear directly from the superintendent in this full interview with Denver7's Veronica Acosta in the video below.'The criteria were things like building size, lot size, traffic, accessibility, safety for pedestrians, availability of resources,' Kane said. 'At the end of the day, this is about opportunities for our students.'Students will have more of that if the consolidations happen, she explained. 'We do know that in small schools, it costs $2,500 or $2,400 more per student to sustain our small schools. And even at that, it's really, really hard,' Kane said. 'As we continue to have more and more small schools, and we're spending $2,425 to $2,600 more per student in our smaller schools, that just means that there's less money for everybody, and that that affects students. It affects opportunities for our students.'She told Denver7 that the reason behind the necessary consolidations is declining enrollment, which the district has pointed to for years. Data from DCSD shows 10,484 students were enrolled across Highlands Ranch's 18 elementary schools in 2014, but in 2028, that number is expected to plummet to 6,476 students across the schools.RELATED STORIES:State of the District: DougCo Schools boss to give first-ever address amid budget issues, academic successes As Denver Public Schools announces school closures, several districts have already been through the process Douglas County School District becomes latest to consider school consolidations amid declining enrollment For parents like Leuthhauser, moving her children over to Fox Creek Elementary presents a lot of unknowns. What is a quick walk or drive to Acres Green Elementary now would turn into a roughly 2.5-mile commute to the new school. It would be a longer drive and potentially even a bus ride for her kids, she said. 'We'll have to possibly look into busing that is going to cost us more money,' she said. 'It's going to eat into our budget that we've tried to avoid by walking them to school, by living in our neighborhood.'Kane confirmed Tuesday that that should not be a worry for families impacted by the potential consolidations. She said the district is planning on waiving bus fees for those students. 'We are also waiving any kind of best fee for the next two years for all of our families that are impacted by pairings, and then, you know, we'll see if we can go from there,' she said. 'I'd love to eliminate best fees altogether, so hopefully we can get to that place.'When it comes to staff at the impacted schools, Kane told Denver7 teachers will be able to keep their jobs, with the goal of moving to their paired school with students. 'We are guaranteeing every staff member a job through 27-28. We are a very large district, and even with the small amount of turnover that we have, we still have hundreds of job openings per year,' she said. 'So, we have plenty of jobs for everybody.... A lot of those staff will go to the school, to the receiving school, because their kids are all going there.'As for the schools that would be consolidated, Kane said the plan is the district will keep those, utilizing them for district programming in the future. The district will present its recommendations to the board on April 8 and the board will vote on the plan during its meeting on April 22.
Douglas County Douglas County School District Douglas County School District Consolidating Douglas County School District Consolidation Douglas County Schools Closing Douglas County Schools Consolidating Eldorado Elementary Fox Creek Elementary Heritage Elementary
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