Je co Public Schools release data to be used for secondary school closures

BY ANDREW FRAIELI AFRAIELI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

e Je erson County Board of Education voted in November to close 16 elementary schools based generally on enrollment data and proximity to other schools — data that could be found on the FCB Dashboard.

time and money spent on long commutes, more air pollution, and greater economic and workforce challenges,” Polis said. Polis added that rising housing prices are “putting the dream of homeownership out of range for more and more Coloradans.” e governor’s assessment squares with the ndings of Colorado Community Media in our four-week series exploring what many experts say is a housing crisis — one that a ects practically everyone in the Denver area. Lower-income workers are seeing larger chunks of their paychecks go to landlords. Young families can’t nd starter homes they can a ord. Retirees don’t see any attractive options for moving and downsizing, meaning their homes stay o the market, helping keep prices high.

“Just look west,” Polis said in his address. “In California, decades of poor planning has led to interruptions of drinking water and electricity for entire towns and cities, average home prices over $1 million in major cities and 16lane freeways” with “bumper-to-

SEE STRESSES, P16

On Jan. 31, the District released similar data for secondary schools that will be used to decide possible closures in Phase II of Regional Opportunities for riving Schools. e District stated that criteria for secondary school closures — possibly including K-8s — have not been decided yet, but said in the past that it will di er from the criteria for elementary school closures. Data in the dashboard now includes building utilization and enrollment trends as well as nancials, sta ng information and more for all middle schools and high schools.

Capacity: the number of students that

can be served

In A School Building

According to the dashboard, all high schools were above 45% capacity except for Arvada at 40%. e next lowest capacities were Pomona and Wheat Ridge at 57%. For middle schools, more were closer to that bar with Moore at 46%, North Arvada at 47% and Deer Creek at 49%. Most others were above 70%, with a few at 60% and up.

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