Middle School Fixes an Ongoing Conundrum
Additional Concerns Raised During May 11 Meeting
On May 11, Denver Public Schools convened a meeting at Park Hill Elementary on the ongoing conundrum over middle school options. The school’s cafeteria was packed with Park Hill and Stapleton parents, although the group did not represent Park Hill’s diversity.
Three DPS Board members attended the meeting. Landri Taylor welcomed everyone. Michael Johnson greeted the crowd with an ominous, “Be careful what you wish for.” Happy Haynes, who arrived late, did not address the group.
The issue: there is a very high demand for seats at McAuliffe International School. Many students, both in Park Hill and Stapleton, who requested it as their first choice for the coming year, have been refused entrance.
Susana Cordova, DPS Chief of Schools, said that for the 2015-16 school year, DPS had already expanded the number of seats at McAuliffe from 240 to 282. In addition, Denver Discovery School and DSST Stapleton had also opened up additional seats for the zone.
For the 2016-17 school year, Cordova said that McAuliffe’s 6th grade class would expand to between 325 and 350 seats. This, she maintained, would meet the demand for the immediate future.
On the table for discussion was what to do for the 2017-18 year. Cordova proposed two scenarios: 1) Hire a school leader to design a new middle school and share the Smiley facility. This would be dependent on McAuliffe reducing its capacity so that both schools could offer similar opportunities; 2) Expand the current McAuliffe to occupy the whole building.
Both these scenarios would require Venture Prep, also currently housed at the Smiley campus, to vacate the premises. Neither the parents attending the meeting nor DPS administrators expressed concern for that school’s students or future.
Questions and comments from the audience brought up the following concerns:
Is the data reliable?
– Numbers for expected middle school seats have gone down when compared to last year’s data distributed by DPS. Why is that?
– Historically DPS has not been on target with its data.
Increasing capacity at McAuliffe
– Does increasing capacity at McAuliffe mean increasing class sizes? That could impact the quality of the programming at the school.
– Jim Hoops, who tutors math at McAuliffe, said the building is already packed and he has to tutor in the hallway. Increasing capacity could be problematic.
– Is there a possibility of building more space on the Smiley campus to allow for more capacity?
Co-location of two schools
– Does co-location of two middle schools in one building work well anywhere in Denver?
– It is almost impossible to give an opinion on co-location when we do not know what type of program would be going into the second school.
– Given the demand for seats at McAuliffe, why create a scenario that would decrease the number of its seats? It can be destabilizing to a school’s programming to see its enrollment decrease.
– What families love about McAuliffe only comes if it is a certain size.
Changing boundaries
– Is there a possibility of changing the boundary or creating a proximity zone for Park Hill residents wanting to enroll at McAuliffe?
– Anybody who can walk or bike to a school should be able to attend it.
Combine DSST schools?
– Why are there two DSST schools in the middle school enrollment zone when there is little demand for the second one, DSST Conservatory Green? Could it be changed to another McAuliffe?
– Could the two DSST schools in the enrollment zone be combined into one?
Isabella Bird
– If the elementary school Isabella Bird in Stapleton were to become a K-8, how would this impact the middle school issue?
One member of the audience pointedly noted that the need for more seats should not be disassociated from the need for specific programming. Both Park Hill and Stapleton residents have overwhelmingly asked for seats at a comprehensive middle school that offers a wide range of programming.
Asked how he would run the school if its student population were allowed to expand to 1,200, McAuliffe Principal Kurt Dennis said one approach would be to break it into three smaller schools, divided by grade. These would be run as independently as possible to give the students the feel of a smaller school. He noted his concern for athletics and added he would request to be allowed to run multiple sports teams.
Dennis is also in the midst of writing a proposal for a second McAuliffe school, to potentially open on the Manual campus west of Park Hill. Would expanding his school on the Smiley campus and overseeing the opening of another school in the Manual building tax his qualities as leader to the point of endangering either or both projects?
At the gathering, DPS administrators did not announce a time for a follow-up meeting. Stay tuned!
Lynn Kalinauskas is chair of the education committee for Greater Park Hill Community, Inc.