Board approves closing two elementary schools

Two small Aurora elementary schools will shut their doors for good at the end of this school year after a split Aurora school board voted to approve the superintendent’s recommendations.

The board voted 5-2 to approve closing Lyn Knoll Elementary and Century Elementary and phasing out two other schools, Sixth Avenue Elementary and South Middle School. The changes are part of a yearslong plan for Aurora’s facilities.

“We do not take this lightly,” Aurora Superintendent Rico Munn said. “We also recognize this is what we believe is best for kids.”

Aurora, the fifth-largest school district in the state, has gone through significant enrollment changes in recent years.

Enrollment on the west side of Aurora, where lowincome families and many immigrant and refugees live, has been decreasing. That accelerated this school year, and oncepacked schools are now below capacity. The district has blamed gentrification for the decline as many families have had to move farther from the metro area to find affordable housing.

Meanwhile, on the east side of Aurora largely open land split by the E-470 highway is now sprouting dozens of housing developments that will require the district to build new schools for the higher-income families who will move in.

Because of the split character of the population of each side of town, the enrollment changes have brought equity concerns from the beginning.

Board members who voted against the closure, Stephanie Mason and Vickie Reinhard, expressed concerns about insufficient community involvement in reaching the recommendations. Mason also voiced concerns about equity.

“How often in our conversations have I heard, ‘because that is what would be the best for the outcomes of our students?’” Mason asked. “I haven’t. That’s concerning to me. Schools are the foundation of our community. We need to really listen to the community.”

Board member Kevin Cox, however, said that equity had been part of the discussion from the beginning.

And he and others said they were happy to see that the west side of Aurora, “the struggling side of town,” would get a new school building, as new families on the east side of the city are getting. The district plans to build a new school on the Lyn Knoll site, which would house preschool through eighth grade.

“Even though we’re just talking about buildings and not instruction, we’re building equity as we go,” Cox said.

Dissenters also were uncomfortable with how many questions remain unanswered. For instance, the district has not told families where their children might go to school in the fall after their elementary schools close. Lyn Knoll and Century currently enroll fewer than 500 children combined.