Four schools face closure

Denver public schools ranked at the bottom in recent ratings.

Four Denver schools dogged by poor academic showings face being shut down after coming in at the bottom of recently released school ratings.

Greenlee Elementary in west Denver, Gilpin Montessori Elementary in northeast Denver, Amesse Elementary in northeast Denver and West Early College, a high school on the West High campus, are being targeted by Denver Public Schools.

The four schools now face a quality review process that includes visits from school officials, community members and others to observe and interview staff members to gauge whether the schools are making any progress.

The schools will be given numerical scores ranging from 1 to 4 in 10 different categories in the School Performance Framework, for a total possible score of 40 points.

Schools must score at least 25 points on their review to keep them safe from possible closure. The schools cannot have a score of 1 in any category.

The Denver School Board will meet in December to decide the fate of the schools. DPS Deputy Superintendent Susana Cordova says the district will rally around each school to help make improvements.

“Our conversation will be focused on how we can support the schools,” Cordova said.

The four schools were among six that were deemed low-performing under the district’s School Performance Compact, adopted last year. The schools met at least three criteria to earn low-performing status, including ranking at the bottom 5 percent of schools based on multiple years of school ratings.

Two of the six schools — Lake International School, a middle school in northwest Denver, and Wyatt Academy, a K-8 charter school in northeast Denver — showed enough improvement on recent state tests to be taken off a possible closure list.

“We are seeing that those schools are trending in the right direction,” Cordova said. Wyatt, she added, “has clear, consistent routines for students and they are focused on literacy. We now gauge what kind of interventions do we have to support teachers and instruction.”

Other schools in Denver are celebrating their strong showings in the color-coded ratings, called School Performance Framework. College View High School came in at the top as did other schools in the Denver School of Science and Technology charter school network.

Bill Kurtz, CEO of the DSST system, said all 12 of its schools demand a lot from their students and that produces high achievers. More than 70 percent of the 5,000 enrolled in DSST schools are students of color and more than 60 percent qualify for free or reduced lunches.

“We do have high and clear expectations and we believe our students can meet the expectations in all of our schools,” Kurtz said.