Rain fails to dampen Golden High School commencement High Takeaways from Je co K-8 and middle school enrollment

BY YESENIA ROBLES CHALKBEAT COLORADO

Je co school leaders have said identifying middle schools to close will be more complicated than it was with elementary schools. at’s a daunting challenge for a district that voted to close 16 elementary schools last fall.

Leaders plan to recommend to the school board in August which schools to close, and to redraw some attendance boundaries and redesignate feeder schools in summer 2024.

A look at enrollment, school spending, campus utilization levels, and family poverty gives a glance at some of the data that may inform Je co’s decisions.

PHOTO BY DEBORAH GRIGSBY

BY DEBORAH GRIGSBY DGRIGSBY@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

As high school graduations are underway across the Denver metro area, tradition will most certainly be on the agenda. And for Golden High School, Colorado’s oldest continuously operating high school, rain has become a perennial guest.

However, in spite of wet, gloomy skies, 292 beaming seniors proudly walked across the stage May 19 at Alumni Field at Marv Kay Stadium to receive their diplomas as friends, family and loved ones watched on, huddled together beneath umbrellas and plastic rain ponchos.

“I’m sitting here listening to the speeches this morning, and I’m looking up and seeing the Marv Kay from Marv Kay Stadium, it sort of reminded me of the man who was so important to the city of Golden, to the School of Mines, and to Golden High School,” Golden High School Principal Brian Conroy said. “And when I rst became principal and our very rst graduation was in the pouring rain, he pulled me aside and said, ‘ e rain is just washing high e district’s work has been spurred by years of declining enrollment. Even though the number of residents in Je co increased over two decades, the population of school-age children decreased by 29,918 from 2000 to 2020. Fewer children are being born. According to the district, 2020 marked the lowest number of births recorded in 15 years. e district has not yet identied the criteria to determine which middle and K-8 schools to close or consolidate. In one exception, district leaders have told the Arvada K-8 school community that

SEE