Parents want Poudre School District to stop closure, consolidation plans
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (KDVR) — More than 60 parents gathered to make their voices heard as Poudre School District administrators consider consolidating at least five schools.
It was standing-room-only Monday night inside the Council Tree Library community meeting room. Parents say they want to stop the vote and raised concerns about economic impacts, property values, job loss and traffic safety impacts.
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Blevins Middle School, Beattie Elementary School and Johnson Elementary School are all set to close under the proposals, with others on the table for changes, too.
“Stop it. Make our kids comfortable,” parent Brianna Barcaines said.
“If you’re going to close five schools, I imagine all those kids still need to go to school,” said Nader Jabbour, whose child attends Beattie Elementary School. “So now you’re going to have overcrowding. The ratio for teachers versus kids are going to be worse. It’s not going to be as good as an experience. So pretty awful situation, so I hope they find some other way.”
“They need to walk in our shoes,” Barcaines said.
Poudre parents hope district can ‘find a way around’ closures
Poudre School District leaders and the Board of Education say the closures and consolidations are necessary because of declining enrollment and budget reductions in per-pupil funding from the state.
FOX31 reached out to district leaders Monday for comment. A spokesperson pointed to a news release sent on Friday.
Five pages of notes taken by meeting leaders outlined parents’ concerns.
“It’s not fair,” Barcaines said. “We walk to school, we help other kids, people don’t have cars, cars break down, we have to walk, we are going to different schools that are not walking distance. There’s no waived IEP, special education, bilingual. That’s all involved,” Barcaines said of students with individualized education plans or additional learning requirements.
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Parents worry about the future of 30,000 students within the district and said they want a long-term plan.
“If we can find a way around it, I would vote for that rather than closing schools,” Jabbour said.
According to the district, these are the proposals.
Poudre School District consolidation proposals
Changes included in every scenario
Close Beattie Elementary School and adjust boundaries to send students currently in Beattie’s attendance area to Lopez and Bennett elementary schools.
Close Blevins Middle School and adjust boundaries to send students currently in Blevins’ attendance area to Lincoln and Webber middle schools.
Close Johnson Elementary School and adjust boundaries to send students currently in Johnson’s attendance area 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 D1
Close Beattie Elementary School and adjust boundaries to send students currently in Beattie’s attendance area to Lopez and Bennett elementary schools.
Close Blevins Middle School and adjust boundaries to send students currently in Blevins’ attendance area 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 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.
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 currently in Beattie’s attendance area to Lopez and Bennett elementary schools.
Close Blevins Middle School and adjust boundaries to send students currently in Blevins’ attendance area 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 currently in Beattie’s attendance area to Lopez and Bennett elementary schools.
Close Blevins Middle School and adjust boundaries to send students currently in Blevins’ attendance area to Lincoln and Webber middle schools.
Close Johnson Elementary School and adjust boundaries to send students currently in Johnson’s attendance area to Olander and McGraw elementary schools.
Balance enrollment among schools east of Interstate 25 by shifting boundaries between Timnath, Bethke, and Bamford elementary schools.
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Scenario F
Close Beattie Elementary School and adjust boundaries to send students currently in Beattie’s attendance area to Lopez and Bennett elementary schools.
Close Blevins Middle School and adjust boundaries to send students currently in Blevins’ attendance area to Lincoln and Webber middle schools.
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.
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.
When could Poudre schools close?
None of the scenarios is final. A final vote is set for June 11.
Any changes adopted by the district’s Board of Education would not take effect until the 2025-26 school year.
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