DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colorado — It's beginning to feel like a broken record. School districts in Colorado are tracking declining enrollment and forced to make hard decisions about school closures and consolidations.
The Douglas County School District said its problems are unique, in the sense that while there are some areas that are in line with this trend, other areas are actually growing. DCSD identified Highlands Ranch as a place that has too many schools and not enough students to fill them.
Superintendent Erin Kane said as a temporary means to an end, the district has been bussing in kids from other neighborhoods to help round out classrooms. She said it's not feasible to continue operating in these ways.
"We can’t have the same number of buildings that housed 11,000 kids house 6,000 kids and offer fantastic opportunities," Kane said. "The overhead involved in that is catastrophic, or would be catastrophic if we wait a really long time and wait until we’re falling off a fiscal cliff, which is why we’re trying to address this now."
The district is hosting a meeting series to explain to parents and community members why these decisions are being made.
Tuesday, Kane and other school leaders gathered to share data points that support closure and consolidation.
"If you look at the green, that circle is Highlands Ranch," Kane explained during Wednesday's meeting. "Those 18 elementary schools in Highlands Ranch take care of 38,000 houses. So 38,000 houses in Highlands Ranch have 18 elementary schools. Meanwhile communities like Sterling Ranch and Ridgegate and The Canyons have very big, large sizes. They’re large size communities and you can just see by looking at this map, there are not schools in the proximity of those communities."
The district said of the 16 elementary schools in Highlands Ranch, six schools will be consolidated into three, or four schools into two.
The district did not present a list of potential schools to close. Leaders said those decisions won't be made until the new year.
Chief of Staff Steve Colella explained the action timeline will take several years.
January 2025
- District leaders consider criteria for closure.
April 2025
- Consolidation recommendations made to Board of Education.
- Board to vote on recommendations during April 22, 2025, meeting.
August 2026
- District begins school year with "new" schools.
DCSD is hosting a final meeting to inform stakeholders Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 6 p.m. in the Cresthill Middle School library.