FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The Poudre School District on Friday released multiple scenarios related to school closure and consolidations to help deal with budget shortfalls related to decreased enrollment.
Four scenarios were made public. Under each of them, the following changes would be made.
- Close Beattie Elementary School and adjust boundaries to send students to Lopez and Bennett elementary schools.
- Close Blevins Middle School and adjust boundaries to send students to Lincoln and Webber middle schools.
- Close Johnson Elementary School and adjust boundaries to send students to Olander and McGraw elementary schools.
- Balance enrollment among schools east of Interstate 25 by shifting boundaries between Timnath, Bethke and Bamford elementary schools
In releasing the scenarios, the district noted that they're funded per pupil and that when enrollment declines, less money comes in. They also said the district has to supply extra funding to operate schools that are "significantly below" their enrollment capacity to operate at a "basic level."
Below are the four scenarios being considered by the district. They will take feedback on them through an online questionnaire that will be open from May 10 through May 19.
Scenario D1
- Close Beattie Elementary School and adjust boundaries to send students to Lopez and Bennett elementary schools.
- Close Blevins Middle School and adjust boundaries to send students to Lincoln and Webber middle schools.
- Close Cache La Poudre Elementary School and reassign students to Irish, Putnam and Tavelli elementary schools.
- Close Cache La Poudre Middle School and reassign students to Lincoln Middle School.
- Close Johnson Elementary School and adjust boundaries to send students to Olander and McGraw elementary schools.
- Close Linton Elementary School and reassign students primarily to Kruse Elementary School. Boundaries for Bacon, Kruse, Werner, and Zach would be adjusted to accommodate this shift.
- Keep Irish and Putnam elementary schools’ boundaries the same, but students in kindergarten through second grade could attend either school and have busing to either school. Any new students in grades 3-5 in either attendance boundary would be assigned to Putnam.
- Irish would be promoted as a dual language school with guaranteed busing for Spanish-speaking students, who could enroll at Irish year-round.
- Putnam would become a Core Knowledge school.
- Adjust boundaries so that Bamford Elementary students would attend Preston Middle School and Fossil Ridge High School for grades 6-12 instead of Timnath Middle-High School.
- Balance enrollment among schools east of Interstate 25 by shifting boundaries between Timnath, Bethke and Bamford elementary schools.
Scenario D2
- Close Beattie Elementary School and adjust boundaries to send students to Lopez and Bennett elementary schools.
- Close Blevins Middle School and adjust boundaries to send students to Lincoln and Webber middle schools.
- Close Boltz Middle School and reassign most students to Preston Middle School, with some parts of the attendance area being absorbed by Lesher Middle School. The dual language program at Boltz would move to Lincoln Middle School.
- Close Johnson Elementary School and adjust boundaries to send students currently in Johnson’s attendance area to Olander and McGraw elementary schools.
- Close Linton Elementary School and reassign students primarily to Kruse Elementary School. Boundaries for Bacon, Kruse, Werner, and Zach would be adjusted to accommodate this shift.
- Relocate Polaris into the vacated Johnson Elementary building (see Johnson above).
- Relocate Irish to the vacated Polaris building (formerly the Moore Elementary School building). Irish would continue to have a dual immersion model in its new location but would become a 100% choice school with no neighborhood attendance boundaries. The Irish attendance boundary area would be absorbed by Cache La Poudre and Putnam elementary schools, with adjustments to the boundaries for Dunn and Tavelli.
- Adjust boundaries so that Bamford Elementary students would attend Preston Middle School and Fossil Ridge High School for grades 6-12 instead of Timnath Middle-High School.
- Balance enrollment among schools east of Interstate 25 by shifting boundaries between Timnath, Bethke and Bamford elementary schools.
Scenario E
- Consolidate Harris and Linton elementary schools into a three-track dual immersion school to be located at the Linton elementary building. Linton would retain some of its current neighborhood attendance area. Current Harris students could choice into Linton or Irish.
- Close Preston Middle School and change Kinard Core Knowledge Middle School from a 100% choice school to a neighborhood school.
- Bacon, Bamford, and Zach students would attend Kinard for middle school. Students from other elementary schools in Preston’s current attendance boundaries would go to Boltz for middle school.
- Bethke and Timnath Elementary students would continue to attend Timnath Middle-High School for middle and high school.
- Relocate Polaris into the vacated Johnson Elementary building (see Johnson below).
- Relocate Irish to the vacated Polaris building (formerly the Moore Elementary School building). Irish would continue to have a dual immersion model in its new location but would become a 100% choice school with no neighborhood attendance boundaries. The Irish attendance boundary area would be absorbed by Cache La Poudre and Putnam elementary schools, with adjustments to the boundaries for Dunn and Tavelli.
- Close Beattie Elementary School and adjust boundaries to send students to Lopez and Bennett elementary schools.
- Close Blevins Middle School and adjust boundaries to send students to Lincoln and Webber middle schools.
- Close Johnson Elementary School and adjust boundaries to send students to Olander and McGraw elementary schools.
- Balance enrollment among schools east of Interstate 25 by shifting boundaries between Timnath, Bethke and Bamford elementary schools.
Scenario F
- Close Beattie Elementary School and adjust boundaries to send students to Lopez and Bennett elementary schools.
- Close Blevins Middle School and adjust boundaries to send students to Lincoln and Webber middle schools.
- Close Johnson Elementary School and adjust boundaries to send students to Olander and McGraw elementary schools.
- Close Linton Elementary School and reassign students primarily to Kruse Elementary School. Boundaries for Bacon, Kruse, Werner, and Zach would be adjusted to accommodate this shift.
- Close Putnam Elementary School and reassign students to Dunn, Irish, Tavelli, and Cache La Poudre Elementary School.
- Students in kindergarten through second grade in the expanded Irish attendance area could choose between Irish and CLPE and receive busing to either school.
- New students in grades 3-5 in the expanded Irish attendance area would be automatically assigned to CLPE.
- Make Timnath Middle-High School a high school only and reassign middle school students in TMHS boundaries to Preston Middle School.
- Balance enrollment among schools east of Interstate 25 by shifting boundaries between Timnath, Bethke and Bamford elementary schools.
Changes are still possible before a recommendation is shared with the school board on May 28, according to the district. The Board of Education will host a listening session on June 4 and is expected to vote on recommendations on June 11. Any changes adopted by the PSD Board of Education will not take effect until the 2025-26 school year.
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