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Simply forward of faculty closures that may make 5 buildings vacant, the Denver faculty board is contemplating a coverage outlining how the district ought to repurpose empty colleges.
The proposal lays out a hierarchy for reuse and says the superintendent shouldn’t think about the following utilization “until all doable choices for the upper precedence use have been confirmed as not viable.”
The timing is apt: 10 Denver colleges will shut or partially shut on the finish of this faculty 12 months after the board voted to shutter them for low enrollment. 5 of these colleges are positioned in standalone buildings that may develop into vacant this summer time.
So as from the best to lowest precedence, the proposal says empty faculty buildings must be:
- Repurposed to accommodate new or relocated colleges or packages run by the district.
- Used to quickly home colleges or packages run by the district whereas their common buildings are present process building or renovation.
- Leased to constitution colleges working inside Denver Public Colleges.
- Repurposed to accommodate “central capabilities serving the operational or programmatic wants” of district-run or constitution colleges.
- Leased to personal or public inexpensive housing builders to construct housing “that’s financially accessible” to the district’s lowest-paid employees and DPS households.
- Bought to personal or public inexpensive housing builders, with the identical caveats.
- Leased to personal or public builders of “neighborhood companies that may be moderately related to advantages college students and households and/or employees.”
- Leased to different non-public or public builders.
If none of these makes use of are doable, the proposed coverage, often called Government Limitation 20, suggests DPS ought to “preserve the vacant property as-is.”
Board member Michelle Quattlebaum launched the proposal earlier this month, and the board voted this week to advance it for dialogue at a future assembly.
“We want a board coverage to make sure that, irrespective of who’s the superintendent, that facility utilization is occurring with a community-centered strategy,” Quattlebaum mentioned.
The district has already determined the way it will repurpose two of the buildings that may shut this spring. Palmer Elementary will develop into a preschool heart. Castro Elementary will develop into the brand new house of an current district-run center and highschool known as Summit Academy.
However the destiny of the three different buildings — Schmitt Elementary, Columbian Elementary, and the Worldwide Academy of Denver at Harrington — is up within the air.
The proposed coverage says DPS shouldn’t promote any “centrally positioned” buildings or buildings “positioned in a neighborhood that will moderately be anticipated to expertise enrollment progress sooner or later.” The coverage additionally says DPS shouldn’t promote buildings with “traits that will make the property tough to exchange or replicate sooner or later.”
And the proposal urges DPS to contain the neighborhood in resolution making by requiring the superintendent to seek the advice of with college students, households, and neighborhood residents about constructing reuse.
It might additionally require the district to conduct an “fairness affect evaluation” analyzing how a selected reuse would have an effect on traditionally marginalized teams.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.