The morning after Boulder Valley School District proposed closing Douglass Elementary, special education teacher Lauren Dean drove to work on little sleep.
Staff learned of the proposal only the day before, alongside the rest of the community. Under the plan, Douglass’s attendance area would be divided among three elementary schools, and High Peaks would move into the Douglass building. When Dean arrived, she found the sidewalk covered in chalk drawings left by families: rainbows, hearts and messages of encouragement for teachers and their principal.
“There were a lot of tears that night for staff,” Dean said. “Most of us barely slept.”
The district had breakfast waiting for employees inside.
“Nobody had an appetite,” Dean said. “We were grateful for the coffee.”
The scene at Douglass captures the immediate disruption of a proposal BVSD unveiled Aug. 25 and says is necessary to protect the quality of education as enrollment declines. The plan would close four elementary schools — Douglass, Flatirons, Mesa and Birch — and trigger consolidations, program moves and grade-level changes at 12 others beginning in fall 2027.
District leaders say operating fewer schools would allow them to provide smaller, more stable classes, richer programming and more consistent staffing.
But in the days since BVSD identified which schools would close, merge or move, families have begun scrutinizing the plan, with questions about projected class sizes, special education programs, resources at receiving schools and what happens to a neighborhood when it loses its school. Some of those questions, district officials say, will not be answered before the board votes.
Board of Education President Nicole Rajpal has said the board needs to move quickly to address declining enrollment. The board is scheduled to hear public comment on the proposal Sept. 8 and vote Sept. 22.
“Many of the other questions being asked are nearly impossible for me to answer with a high degree of confidence until the board votes on the proposal, we see where students enroll, and the state approves the School Finance Act for the 2027/28 school year,” Rajpal said in an email.
The district has also declined to provide the calculations behind some of its estimates, including its projection that the plan would save $3.5 million to $4 million a year.
“At this stage it would be premature to be more specific,” BVSD Communications Director Randy Barber told Boulder Reporting Lab when asked how the district calculated that figure.
BVSD has said the savings would come primarily from reduced staffing and operating costs.
How full is too full?
In South Boulder, one open question is captured by the number 522.
That is how many resident students BVSD projects will live within the combined Mesa and Bear Creek attendance area by 2030. The Bear Creek building, where the two schools would be consolidated, has room for 492. Mesa’s RISE program for students with autism would also move there.
Yet BVSD projects that only 403 to 462 of those students will actually enroll, putting the school at 82% to 94% capacity. A footnote in the district’s presentation says the range depends on how many students from the sending school ultimately attend the receiving school. The projection assumes some children living in the attendance area will continue to attend other schools.
One Mesa parent asked whether the combined school could eventually exceed capacity, leaving less room for open-enrolled students, and whether Lifelong Learning enrichment classes and nearby preschool options would remain.
“I would love to hear the board address these concerns before voting,” the parent wrote in an email to Boulder Reporting Lab.
BVSD has since said preschool will remain available in South Boulder, with specific locations to be announced by Oct. 1. The district also says it can manage open enrollment to preserve space for resident students.
“Open enrollment processes are the levers in which we can use to make sure that schools fit inside their buildings,” Superintendent Rob Anderson said during the Aug. 31 Q&A.
BVSD estimates the full proposal would require up to $10 million in facility modifications. The district has not released school-by-school renovation plans or cost estimates.
“Staff conducted preliminary evaluations of building floor plans to determine what renovations/adjustments might be needed for enrollment and programming changes and to develop high-level, preliminary cost estimates,” BVSD said in a written response to Boulder Reporting Lab.
Districtwide, the proposal would reduce the number of schools with fewer than two classes per grade from 14 to six and increase building utilization from 68% to 75%.
Questions about Douglass’s ICAN program
At Douglass, parents and staff want more information about the proposed move of its Intensive Center for Affective Needs, or ICAN, program to Heatherwood Elementary. The center-based special education program serves students with intensive emotional and behavioral needs. At Douglass, 21% of students have individualized education programs, the highest share in the district.
Parents say the change could be particularly disruptive for students who rely on consistent staff, routines and surroundings.
“We cannot take an ableist approach that assumes disruption impacts every child equally,” said Rhonda McManus, the parent of a Douglass ICAN student. “Equity means recognizing those differences and considering our highest-needs students first.”
BVSD says students would continue to receive the services and transportation required by their individualized education programs. The district’s special education department would contact affected families, and receiving schools would receive transition support. Douglass families say those assurances do not answer their program-specific questions.
Could closing a school deepen the decline?
BVSD’s proposal rests on data showing several years of declining enrollment and projections showing the trend continuing through 2030. Some families want the district to look further ahead, arguing that closing a school could shape a neighborhood long after those projections end.
Four days before BVSD unveiled its plan, the City of Boulder and Boulder County gave final approval to an updated Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan. The 20-year vision calls for more housing choices, a more multigenerational city and walkable “15-minute neighborhoods.” It identifies attracting and retaining households with children as a community goal and acknowledges that having fewer children affects neighborhood vitality, public school funding and facilities. The plan does not itself change zoning or forecast a rebound in the number of children.
Flatirons families argue that closing a neighborhood school could make those goals harder to achieve by giving families with children one less reason to remain in or move to central Boulder. Under the proposal, students would be reassigned to Whittier or Foothill. Both schools are about a 40-minute walk from Flatirons.
Concerns like these have led some parents to ask the board to delay its Sept. 22 vote until the district provides more answers and longer-term analysis.
“University Hill is already struggling to retain families amid Boulder’s housing costs, investor ownership and neighborhood turnover,” University Hill Neighborhood Association President Elise Longbottom said. “Flatirons is one of the remaining pieces of civic infrastructure anchoring families to the neighborhood.”
BVSD said the comprehensive plan is unlikely to materially change enrollment in the near future.
“Changes to the comprehensive plan primarily apply to infill development proposals with only a limited capacity to significantly impact enrollment within BVSD for the foreseeable future,” Barber said.
Whether closing a school would accelerate the loss of families from Boulder is difficult to establish. School access is only one factor in where families live, alongside housing costs, birth rates and household size.
Longer-term enrollment is also a question in South Boulder, where CU Boulder’s plans for its CU South property could include up to 1,100 housing units for faculty, staff and non-first-year students. Under BVSD’s proposed attendance boundaries, students living there would be assigned to Bear Creek.
BVSD said it has not met with CU Boulder officials about the development. The university’s plans are still taking shape, and more housing does not necessarily produce more students. But families cite the project as one reason they want enrollment projections extending beyond 2030.
‘There’s not a plan B’
BVSD’s proposal would not take effect until the 2027-28 school year, giving the district nearly a year to manage moves and transitions. Families, however, have only weeks to scrutinize the plan and press for answers before the board votes.
“There’s not a plan B. This is the proposal,” Anderson said during the Aug. 31 Q&A.
Some parents question whether public feedback can still change it.
“I feel frustrated they are going through the motions of giving us 45 minutes of public comments when [the board and district] are clearly in lockstep with each other, so it’s for show,” Flatirons parent Elaine Ellis said. “But in the meanwhile, I don’t feel that I’m getting the information I need from the administration and board to start making a major decision.”
Rajpal has maintained that she does not know how the board will vote, but said the proposal meets the requirements the board established at the outset.
Meanwhile, teachers at Douglass had to begin navigating the proposal’s consequences less than 12 hours after learning their school could close.
After parents left the sidewalk that morning, teachers gathered students into classroom circles.
“Students cried. Students expressed anger,” Dean said.
By the end of the school day, some students had begun making protest posters. At dismissal, Dean said, they gathered outside and chanted: “Save our school.”
These are just my observations after looking at the data provided by the district and listening to the BVSD Board meeting on August 25. My comments are mostly in reference to Douglass Elementary, as this is the closure that will impact my family and with which I am most familiar.
– The district is evicting Douglass students from their home school and dispersing them to three different schools to make room for the High Peaks program.
– High Peaks is a successful focus school, and deserves a home that will allow it to grow. I have suggested to the president of the school board that High Peaks be allowed to stay at Aurora 7, while Montessori and BCSIS could be housed at one or two of the many schools that are operating at very low capacity, such as Eisenhower (55%), Columbine (53%) or Crestview (53%).
– BCSIS and particularly Montessori are being provided a home by the district, despite the fact they do not meet the criteria of having enough students for two classes per grade. This is the criteria the BVSD Board is using to close Flatirons and Mesa and it seems it would be more fair to apply the same criteria to both focus and neighborhood schools.
– Douglass has more students and is operating at a higher capacity than many of the elementary schools that have been spared. They draw students outside their neighborhood through open enrollment, but are punished for this, even though BVSD encourages open enrollment for both focus AND neighborhood schools.
– Five Boulder elementary schools were told last year they were at risk of being closed and Douglass was not included in this list. Two of the schools, Mesa and Flatirons, were on the list and will be closed due to low enrollment. Whittier, Heatherwood, Montessori and Eisenhower all have lower enrollment than Douglass and operate at a much lower capacity, but will remain open.
– Probably the most glaring issue is that five of the Boulder elementary schools were given notice of their possible closure, while Douglass had no idea until two weeks ago. This lack of transparency is not in line with the BVSD board’s commitment to include public input and Douglass families were blindsided by this last minute move.
– Those who provided input to the BVSD Board stressed a desire to keep school communities together (64%). Considering the fact that both Flatirons and Douglass elementary schools are having their communities split up and sent to five different schools, it seems this input has been ignored.
– School closures pit communities against each other, as we all want OUR school to stay viable so that OUR children feel safe and secure. In my opinion, the district needs to apply their criteria even handedly in order to create a greater sense of fairness for all of our children.
Well said.
There will be more closures. The order could have been different, but the outcome would have ended up the same no matter what. Likely within 5 years, 2-3 elementary school will close and a middle school in City of Boulder – Uni Hill close, BCIS/Mont move and building closed, Horizons or Eisenhower close, Casey close. The kids are not coming back to Boulder.
This issue hits hard and close to home. I agree that Elem schools are frequently a focal point of any neighborhood. I feel really bad about Douglass Elem.
I’m not sure how much of this is a BVSD problem or just the fact BOCO (City of Boulder specifically) has got too expensive for families to raise kids. I do not see this trend reversing anytime soon.
Given declining enrollment and the budget woes, BVSD needs to make the right decisions. They will consolidate some schools, thus some will close. A few things that come to mind:
1. They need schools with specialty resources for students on EIPs (my son was on an IEP), and those students should be given priority to open enroll in schools that are strong in that area–that helps the child immensely.
2. The specialty resources also goes for programs strong in music, sports, arts. We need magnets for these children.
3. BVSD has to make the right changes financially. It makes no sense to close a school without a decent return on investment when they sell the building/campus. BVSD has to maximize its return and put that $$$ right back into the budget most directed at teachers and paras, not admin.
4. Agree with poster above, that some Jr. High and High Schools could be up on the block later.
It is a bummer that BOCOs (specifically City of Boulder) social dynamic has changed, and we have less and less families.