Denver board approves shared campuses

Next school year in Denver a middle school will begin shutting down, eight new programs will start and four school campuses will share facilities. Denver's school board has approved a host of changes for next year, including five new programs that administrators say will give students a higher-quality education while filling unused space in the district's schools.To read The Denver Post article, click here.

OCTOBER 2008: Denver Public Schools has pared its list of possible shared campuses from nine to seven and is planning community meetings in each of those seven neighborhoods. Board members are expected to decide next month which existing district buildings will house new Denver schools in 2009-10.
To read The Rocky Mountain News article, click here.

EARLIER: Nine Denver Public Schools with unused space may be sharing facilities with new schools next fall. District leaders have long talked about placing new schools in existing buildings--the district's schools have more than 20,000 empty seats. In recent weeks, as new school applicants have begun to tour buildings for possible sites, the space-sharing plans have sparked outrage among some parents. The schools with available space include four of the city's neighborhood high schools and five of its traditional middle schools.
To read The Rocky Mountain News article, click here.

Denver Public Schools' plan to place new schools within existing buildings is drawing opposition from parents worried about how new students will mix with the old. The district is placing new school programs within existing buildings because, like many urban districts, it has far more classroom seats than it has students. After closing eight elementary schools, the district's facilities are more than 90 percent full at that level. But middle and high schools remain roughly 40 percent empty.
To read The Rocky Mountain News article, click here.