Denver's Rishel Middle School to be phased out

 

The Denver Public Schools New Schools Initiative was released on November 13 and it included, as a recommendation, a plan to phase out Rishel Middle School at 451 S. Tejon Street. At a community meeting last week, a DPS official presented a plan to share Rishel with a charter school. Last night at a community meeting it was announced that the school would close in 2011. Rishel currently has an enrollment of 475 students in grades 6 - 8 and the 6th grade will be eliminated in 2009, the 7th grade will be eliminated in 2010, leaving the 8th grade to graduate in 2011. According to the recommendation, the school will be available for sharing in 2009 and will be taken over by a charter school after 2011.

Patricia Slaughter represented DPS at the community meeting held at Rishel on November 13 and explained the rationale for the phasing out and closing:

• Under the School Performance Framework (SPF), Rishel "Did not meet" expectations on growth, status or engagement in 2007 or 2008.
• Student learning rates are among the lowest in the city. Rishel ranked lowest among 44 schools offering MS service on SPF Growth in 2008. It ranked 5th from the lowest on SPF status.
• Rishel has been ranked "Low" on the School Accountability Report (SAR) for the last 4 years.
• Rishel received a "Significant Decline" growth score on the SAR for 2006-07 (latest available data)
• Rishel's enrollment declined 45% (nearly 400 students) from 2003 TO 2008, including a 11% decline from 2007  to 2008.
• Rishel has operated under 70% capacity for the last 4 years and is currently approximately 43% utilized.
• Resident students leaving to attend other DPS middle schools outnumber those "choicing-in" to Rishel Middle School by a 4:1 ratio; a net loss of 400 students in 2007-08.
• Rishel's choice out rate has been steadily increasing for the last 3 years.
• New middle years options being proposed nearby should provide better academic options for students in the Rishel Middle School attendance area.

Rishel students can be absorbed into nearby existing middle schools that have available seats such as Grant, Lake and Kepner or into new middle schools such as Edison or West Denver Prep.

Ms. Slaughter took questions and comments from the over 100 parents, students and community members in attendance. Some parents and students spoke about the hardships the school closing will cause, while others spoke about the new opportunities that will be created. The main question was, "Why?" and Ms. Slaughter explained the economics of empty classrooms and said, "The district has to make decisions in the best interest of all students and decisions are hard."

The Rishel school building will not be vacant. DPS is taking proposals from KIPP Denver Collegiate High School and the Math and Science Leadership Academy (K-5) to utilize the classrooms.

The Denver School Board will take public comments on the recommendations on November 17 and vote on the recommendations on November 20.