Jeffco Schools has selected 16 elementary schools to recommend closing at the end of this school year.

All the schools have fewer students than they did a few years ago, and all but one had fewer than 220 students as of Aug. 15. All but one of the schools have a higher percentage than the district average of students from low-income families.

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The district announced its recommendations Thursday and the school board will vote on the recommendations as a package on Nov. 10.

In the meantime, the district will host community listening sessions, but has made clear that the goal isn’t to hear which communities can best persuade the board to save their schools, but rather to talk about what families want to see in their new schools.

“I really am hopeful that our community will shift from wanting to fight the decision to wanting to be partners with us,” Jeffco Superintendent Tracy Dorland said.

In total, the district said the closures will displace almost 2,800 students and affect the equivalent of about 422 full-time jobs. The student numbers include the children of 27 families displaced when Allendale and Fitzmorris elementary schools closed in the past two years and who again will have to relocate. The district is assigning staff to work directly with those families.

School closure recommendations (enrollment numbers are as of Aug. 15) 

• Bergen Meadow K-2, 193 students, moved to Bergen Valley in 2024

• Campbell Elementary, 195 students, toFremont and Vanderhoof elementaries

• Colorow Elementary, 179 students to Powderhorn Elementary

• Emory Elementary, 385 students to Lasley Elementary

• Glennon Heights Elementary, 138 students to Belmar Elementary

• Green Mountain Elementary, 209 students to Foothills Elementary

• Kullerstrand Elementary, 179 students to Prospect Valley

• Molholm Elementary, 205 students to Lumberg Elementary

•Parr Elementary, 172 students to Little Elementary

• Peck Elementary, 159 students to Secrest Elementary

• Peiffer Elementary, 200 students to Kendallvue Elementary

• Sheridan Green Elementary, 215 students to Ryan Elementary

• Thomson Elementary, 193 students to Swanson Elementary

• New Classical Academy at Vivian, 129 students to Stober Elementary

• Wilmore Davis Elementary, 208 students to Stevens Elementary

• Witt Elementary, 204 students to Lukas Elementary

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Each of the schools identified Wednesday has fewer than 220 students, excluding preschool students, or uses less than 45% of their building’s capacity. And each of them is located less than 3.5 miles from another school with the capacity to absorb their students and still feed to the same middle and high schools.

So, along with every school proposed for closure, the district has named a nearby school that will absorb the boundary area and students of the closing school. In some cases, a third school will receive displaced students from programs for children with specific disabilities. All together, the closures will directly affect 38 schools, nearly half of the district’s 84 district-run elementary schools.

As far as staff, the district will help place teachers who are non-probationary, and will offer help to all others. For certified staff, the district is also offering to pay for them to get endorsements in hard-to-staff areas to make them more competitive for positions the following school year.

As before, parents may apply to enroll their children in schools other than the one assigned them.

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District leaders want disappointed families to think of the transition as an opportunity for school communities to reshape the receiving schools to welcome new students and serve them and their families.

If the school board approves the closures, the district will form committees at each school to hear ideas from families and staff.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.