Poudre School District has decided to push back a controversial proposal to consolidate schools after outcry from students and community. At a Board of Education meeting in Fort Collins Tuesday night, Poudre School District Superintendent Brian Kingsley recommended the district take an additional year to implement changes intended to solve enrollment issues. Now, officials will be looking to changes for the 2025-2026 school year instead of the 2024-2025 academic year.
Kingsley's move prompted the board to drop a scheduled vote from the agenda over a plan to reshuffle several schools in the district. Among other things, the plan called for splitting up Polaris Expeditionary Learning School, a K-12 alternative choice school, and redistributing students to other campuses. Students in kindergarten through fifth grade would be folded into Olander Elementary and those in grades sixth through 12th would join Blevins Middle School. District officials have said both schools would maintain Polaris' "expeditionary learning" model.
"Clearly, we've heard from you, that there are nuances, factors, specifics, that need to be better considered by us in the planning that goes into that. And your willingness to be engaged in those discussions is going to be key," school board president Rob Petterson said following a public comment period on the matter.
But, he added, a delay in voting on the school consolidation measures does not mean they are off the table.
"Nothing that has been announced tonight by Superintendent Kingsley, or our action in delaying the resolution, changes the nature of the problem that needs to be solved," Petterson said.
The big problems officials are contending with include district-wide declines in enrollment and reduced funding. During the board meeting Tuesday, Superintendent Kingsley said the district's budget for capital investment and repairs was wiped out last year with the purchase of just a single HVAC replacement part.
"In one day, in the first week of school, our district went into the red," Kingsley said.
The district released details of the consolidation plan last week, in a move that took many parents and students off guard. In addition to the proposed changes to Polaris Expeditionary Learning Academy, it also called for combining both of the district's alternative high schools in one building as well as putting special needs programs all under one roof.
Outcry from students and the community came swiftly after the district announced the plans. Students from Polaris walked out of class Monday and Tuesday. At the Board of Education meeting, parents and students voiced deep concern and skepticism over the proposals.
With a decision on the matter now on pause for a year, some students, like Polaris senior Aria Weiner, see an opportunity for better collaboration.
"This way, it can be done with community input and with proper planning and time for the change to happen and be successful," she said.
Weiner has been at Polaris since kindergarten. For her, uprooting the school and its students would be devastating to their success.
"Students will lose the sense of community that they have been able to find at Polaris, whether that's the safety and inclusivity of being part of the neurodivergent or LGBTQI+ community, or whether that's the compassion and love that the teachers all hold for their students," Weiner said.
The district is now planning to create a steering committee to examine other possible solutions beyond school consolidation.
PSD isn't the only district facing enrollment challenges. Earlier this year, the Board of Education for Denver Public Schools finalized the closure of three schools. DPS had initially identified 15 schools for potential closure in the coming years to deal with declining enrollment.
