North of Fort Collins, a large rock sits along U.S. Highway 287. It is famous in the area for regularly being painted, usually by college students. Today, the boulder is all white with the words "Save Mountain Schools" scrawled in red.
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"That's Haystack Rock," said Amanda Brandon, who lives 20 miles northwest of the rock, in Livermore.
In September, the district announced a proposal that would shut down nine schools, including all three mountain elementary schools. One of them would be her daughter’s. A few days later, Brandon took action.
"A bunch of moms and kids and I went out there. We painted it and we got a lot of support from passersby," she said.
"It hasn't been painted over as quickly as it usually is," added her husband, Grant Brandon. "Because I think people up here actually care about the mountain kids."
Amanda and Grant Brandon live down a dirt road with their dogs and 6-year-old daughter. At the edge of their property, they painted blocks of wood with the words “Save Our School.”
The Brandons love their daughter's school, Red Feather Lakes Elementary. The small red building is situated on 10 forested acres.
“It's this beautiful, giant campus,” Amanda said. “So the kids are playing on rocks and boulders, and being outside. It's so awesome.”
Enrollment at Red Feather Lakes can vary significantly year-to-year. Last year, 20 students were enrolled, not counting prekindergarten. Eight years ago, 38 students attended.
If it closes, the Brandons' main concern is logistical: Their daughter would go to a school closer to Fort Collins, Cache La Poudre Elementary, turning a 25-minute bus ride into nearly an hour each way, according to PSD’s planning documents.
"I've had to pick my daughter up during snowstorms or wildfires before, and at least we knew she was safe because she's up here in the mountains with us," Amanda said.
A portion of the trip to the new school would be on U.S. Highway 287, which regularly closes because of high winds and snow in the winter.
"And if there's some kids getting stuck in town, like I don't know, do they have a plan?” Grant added. “Do we trust their plan? Can we get our kids?"
PSD did not respond to KUNC’s questions about how the district would handle transportation disruptions due to weather for elementary-aged kids.
Consolidation documents note that in moving mountain school students closer to Cache La Poudre Elementary, students would be further away from wildfire-prone areas and closer to emergency responders.
Many affected families are scared and angry. According to reporting by the Coloradoan, hundreds of locals packed into a recent listening session in Livermore about the consolidation plan.
“You all better figure it out and take a cut in pay or whatever you have to do to find a way to keep our mountain schools open. They’re an important part of the community. The community needs them, we need them,” Georgia Robedeau, co-owner of the Red Feather Trading Post, said.
Last week, Lisa Westrope, the office manager for all three mountain schools, sent a letter to the district’s board of education. She wrote about her daughter’s positive experience there and how difficult the commute became once the children went to middle school closer to town.
In her current role as office manager, Westrope said she helps local families with gas money, food access and mental health services.
“I know you have a tough decision to make, but when it comes to the mountain schools, the decision to close does not make sense, financially or otherwise," Westrope said." There is not another 'neighborhood' school just down the street for our kids. There will be no preschool for our kids. There will be transportation issues. There will be financial strains for our families ... But most importantly, there will be a devastating loss of not one, not two, but three communities.”
Still, the district says consolidation needs to happen due to under-enrollment and funding issues.
"This is a difficult moment for our district, but I want to begin telling why we are taking these necessary steps," PSD Superintendent Brian Kingsley said when the consolidation proposal was announced in September.
PSD's enrollment has been declining slowly, as has the number of babies born in the county, despite overall population growth. Looking ahead, the state demographer projects that annual births will decline slightly in the short term and then rise slightly by 2035. The high cost of living is likely one factor driving families out of the area.
PSD says its classrooms have 10,000 empty seats, meaning less per-pupil funding from the state. Elementary school enrollment is down 18%, although district-sponsored charter schools account for some of that drop.
Under the consolidation plan, the district estimates it can save $7 to 8 million with the mountain schools accounting for around $2 million of that. At least some of those funds would go towards prepping schools to receive more students.
“We can do more and do it better in fewer schools because we can concentrate our resources and make sure every student has access to everything they deserve,” Kingsley said.
The Brandon family, and others, do not see it that way.
Later in the day, they pick up their daughter from the bus stop down the road.
Heather Allbrandt is at pickup, too. Her older kids have done the long bus ride toward Fort Collins for years, just like all middle and high school students from this rural area do.
Allbrandt recalled a time when her teenager's bus got stuck behind a jackknifed camper.
"Already an hour bus ride, they were on the bus ride for another hour," she said. "No notification other than my daughter texting me, 'Hey, we're stuck.' My third grader doesn't have a phone."
On the short drive back home, Amanda says that if all three mountain schools close, they plan to sell their house and move away.
The area is already home to many older people, but she's skeptical that anyone with young kids would want to buy a home there.
"Who is gonna want to move up here if there's no school for your children?" she said.
PSD’s board of education is set to vote on the consolidation plan Tuesday night, at which point families will know more about what school is going to look like in the coming years.
In the days before the vote, another document was added to the board’s agenda for Tuesday night: a basic feasibility analysis on keeping one of the mountain schools open, in an effort to "address concerns" related to transportation and community presence. The idea would be to keep Livermore Elementary open and send Red Feather Lakes students there instead. But these mountain schools are all far apart from one another; commute time from student's home could still be significant.
