D-38 board votes to close one school, reconfigure others

The Lewis-Palmer School District 38 board voted Thursday to close Grace Best Elementary School and convert Creekside Middle School into an elementary school.

Along with those moves, all of the district's elementary schools would convert from preschool through fifth-grade schools to pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, and Lewis-Palmer Middle School would have all of the seventh- and eighth-graders.

The moves will help the district slash $3 million from the $39 million 2010-2011 school year budget. The cuts are being forced by enrollment drops and deep cuts in state funding. The closing and other reconfigurations are expected to save about $800,000.

A public hearing before the vote was taken drew about 200 people, but only about a dozen spoke. Most of the crowd seemed resigned that the district must close a school, and favored the option that the board approved. There was strong support for putting sixth grade into the elementary schools.

"It's obvious that schools have to close," said Misty Neal, a mother of six children - four of whom attend Grace Best. "We told our kids that a school is like a family. When you have hard economic times, money has to be saved."

The Grace Best building in downtown Monument was targeted for closure because it needs more than $3 million in repairs, including asbestos abatement.

Making the decision was not easy, board members said, but noted it had to be made quickly so that retrofitting of the schools to accommodate different grade levels could be done before school starts next fall.

"We don't have a choice," said board member John Mann. "We have to keep the district solvent.

D-38 isn't alone in its money woes. Districts throughout the region are looking at deep cuts in next year's budgets and most already are working on budgets that won't be approved until June.

Other districts that have had declining enrollment also have closed schools. Colorado Springs School District 11 closed eight school buildings in May, and Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 closed Canon Elementary School.

The D-38 board still must cut another $2.2  million, which may come from transportation, salaries, food services, athletics and staff. Fees could rise and schedules could change.

The district with approximatley 5,000 students projects a loss of 140 students It’s been feast and famine in the district, which opened a new  high school to handle 3,000 students.

The district tends to have a lower proportion of elementary students because in the affluent neighborhoods  parents tend to be older and have older children. The district projects that enrollment will continue to drop steadily, reaching 4,580 by 2012-2013.