Denver Schools Gentrification Study Gets Underway

With Denver seeing shifts in the racial and economic makeup of the city, the public schools system is trying to figure out how to best address those changes. On Monday, the district's Strengthening Neighborhood's Initiative - a 42 member committee - met for the first time to begin tackling the issues.

The district, which created the committee in March, says that many parts of the city "are undergoing major shifts in demographics, which is resulting in significant changes in housing patterns and a major reduction in many neighborhoods of school-aged children."

The committee has eight meetings scheduled so far by the end of the year. They will examine acial and socio-economic diversity in the schools and issues of school consolidation in neighborhoods that are losing the highest number of school-aged children. (Subscribe to local news alerts on Patch).

The district has given the committee three main tasks:

• Review changing demographics and housing patterns in our city and the effect on our schools.
• Make recommendations on our policies around boundaries, choice, enrollment and academic programs to drive greater socio-economic integration in our schools.
• Consider how to think about school choice and school consolidation to ensure that our schools offer high-quality, sustainable programs for our kids in the face of sharp declines in the number of school-aged children in gentrifying neighborhoods.

The next meeting will be from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Monday, June 19th at Emily Griffith Campus, 14th floor.

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