No amount of planning could have prepared Zak Merten for the hall of mirrors which has become his son Everett’s kindergarten year. Eight years ago, Merten and his wife, Millie, bought a home with a forethought for family. It is just a couple of block walk from Lakewood’s Molholm Elementary.

Perfect?

Not quite. Once the Mertens had kids, they decided their neighborhood school was not a good fit, so they decided to choice-out of Molholm and drive 6 year old Everett 20 minutes back and forth to Kullerstrand Elementary, which they say they love.

Who would have thought that just two months into the world of academia, lightning would strike twice?

Jefferson County school board approves closing 16 schools

Last week, the Mertens found out that both Molholm and Kullerstrand are among the 16 elementary schools Jefferson County administrators decided to close next July due to low enrollment.

“We are devastated,” said Merten from his front porch. A magic-marker picture of a truck carrying a pumpkin and another with outlines of a tiny hand decorated the front window. “We spent a lot of time picking a school for our son and now we have to start over.”

Last Thursday, the Jefferson County School Board voted 5-0 to shutter 16 of the district’s smaller community elementary schools at a special meeting. For an hour, parents took the podium to voice their disapproval, which was at times emotional.

Some told the board they felt betrayed.

“I am beyond frustrated. You have effectively immobilized an army of traumatized parents,” said Nathanial Hunsaker, dressed in a Wheat Ridge High School Farmers sweatshirt.

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Many of the parents grew up in the area and are now raising their kids in their old neighborhoods. 

Generations of Val Nosler Beck’s family attended Wheat Ridge’s Wilmore-Davis, which will close its doors next July.

“I was angry but now I’m sad. Wilmore-Davis is kind of everything in my house,” she said, crying and drinking gulps from a bottle of water. “Poor oversight got us here.”

It was a reaction the board knew would come.  

At a June retreat, knowing they were in dire straits, board member Mary Parker told The Denver Gazette, the group knew it had to make tough decisions, and set to work identifying what was necessary for a classrooms of kids to thrive.

They decided that elementary schools were not healthy if enrollment was less than 200 for its K-2, K-5 and K-6 students. In addition, considered were schools which were utilizing 45% or less of the capacity of its facility. Thirdly, for a school to be shut down, there had to be an elementary school less than 3.5 miles away where existing kids could transfer.

Jefferson County Superintendent Tracy Dorland and her cabinet used the description of a thriving school to identify the criteria for the doomed 16.

“These schools did not have the resources that we decided were necessary for kids to get the education as our priority, as our mission,” Parker explained.

In Jefferson county, she said, of 96,000 available seats, only 69,000 are filled and if the board didn’t make the decision by November when parents could start to look at alternatives, they would have to wait another year.

“It was hard, but necessary to get this done,” she said.

Jonna Levine, co-chair of the non-profit Support Jeffco Kids, said the decision is heartbreaking.

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“The elementary school is like a second family. It’s like a big divorce. Everyone, parents kids and staff end up scattered,” she said. “This has been kicked down the road by other boards. The future of the Jefferson County School district depends on how the school district handles the whole thing.”

Parents aren’t the only people concerned about the closure list.

Neighbors whose homes surround Molholm Elementary, at 6000 West 9^th in Lakewood, are afraid that when it closes next July, the empty building with no activity will be a beacon for criminal activity.

“Who is going to take care of the property? All of the bums will be hanging out there,” said Frank Penaflove. “Without the school, there will be fewer Lakewood Police patrols in the area which could lead to even more crime around here.”

The Mertens are also worried about increasing crime in the area. The Tiffany Square Apartment fire which killed two people happened half a mile away, there are gas station hold-ups and Zak said the nearby RTD has become a hangout for drugs. The family has decided to move from Lakewood to Wheat Ridge to be closer to Prospect Valley, where Everitt will start first grade in August.

Merten has listened to the reasoning outlined by the Jefferson County School District and board.

“It’s not that we don’t understand,” he explained. “It’s the way it was handled. Why all at once? Why not stagger this? It’s an awful lot to deal with.”