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PARENTS' VOICES
AUDIO SLIDE SHOW
Michael Bennet discusses the issues confronting DPS such as declining enrollment and reconnecting with the community.Watch slide show
VIDEO
Principal Kevin Fletcher of Farrell B. Howell K-8 School plays the grand piano once a week in the lunchroom to broaden the students' exposure to music.Watch video
Michael Bennet and new principal, Robert Stein, meet the community to discuss the reopening.Watch video
DPS Superintendent Michael Bennet talks about his goals for Denver Public Schools.Watch video
West Denver Prep charter holds its lottery to choose 110 students from 181 applicants.Watch video
Dolores Duran searches for a middle school for her son, Demetri Hernandez, whose name wasn't drawn in a lottery for West Denver Prep charter.Watch video
Antwan Wilson, now in his second year as principal at Montbello High, is trying to turn around a school that was widely regarded as failing.Watch video
DPS' Enrollment Gap
Leaving to learn
- About a fourth of school-age children ages 5 to 17 in Denver don’t attend the city’s public schools, according to a first-ever analysis of data by the Rocky Mountain News and the nonprofit Piton Foundation.
- That means 20,000 potential students are choosing private or suburban schools or are not in school at all.
- The cost to DPS? More than $135 million a year in lost local and state funding.
- In addition, unused classroom space is forcing the district to face the painful process of closing some neighborhood schools.
PHOTOGRAPHY SLIDE SHOWS
Judy DeHaas © News
DISCUSS THIS SERIES
RELATED CONTENT
Below are links to school district sites, private and charter schools and other school search tools.
Related content and previous education series:
PART ONE: Denver Public Schools aren't enrolling about 25 percent of the city's school-age children, a study by the Rocky Mountain News and the Piton Foundation has found.
The 20,300 school-age children who don't attend Denver Public Schools cost the district more than $135 million in lost state and local funding. See the map
Most DPS students still go to neighborhood or other non-charter schools, but charters — campuses run by independent groups with taxpayer funding — are growing.
See the map
Over a decade, the percentage of Denver Public Schools students who are Hispanic has grown, along with the percentage who are low-income.
See the chart
Superintendent Michael Bennet knows declining enrollment in DPS traditional schools translates to the loss of millions of dollars in funding and ultimately to school closures.See the photos
Angela Evans says she spends three hours on the road between the morning and afternoon "because my child is where he needs to be to be successful."See the photos
Full story
Enrollment in neighborhood schools is declining, despite more preschoolers and kindergarteners. Many schools are failing or underperforming, and parents are taking advantage of federal and state laws that give them more choices about where to educate their children.
Full story
Public school choice is a relatively recent phenomenon in Colorado. State laws and school district rules requiring families to enroll their children in their assigned neighborhood schools have been gradually loosening since 1990.
Full story
If there's one topic this newspaper has been consistent about investigating, it's education.
Full column
PART TWO: A fourth of all Anglo kids in Denver go to private schools. It's almost half of all school-age kids in some areas.
The Association of Colorado Independent Schools surveyed 14 of its member schools in the Denver-metro area find out where their Denver students live.
See the map
An estimated 10,200 Denver students attended private schools in 2005, with central and southeast Denver sending the largest percentages to independent schools.
See the map
Private schools offer rigorous academics and a variety of learning opportunities.See the photos
Word of mouth can change a school. A recruiting campaign by parents is bringing the neighborhood's students back to the Hill Campus of Arts & Sciences.
Full story
PART THREE: In some areas of southwest Denver, up to half the school-age children go to suburban schools.
Denver Public Schools lost about 5,500 students to suburban districts last year, and DPS gained about 3,900 suburban kids who chose city schools.
See the map
For southwest Denver residents, many suburban public schools are closer to their homes, and often rated higher by the state, than the closest DPS schools.
See the map
About 5,500 children who live in Denver attended suburban schools last year, with nearly half in the southwest part of the city.
See the map
As many as half the school-age children in some of Denver's southwest neighborhoods are attending suburban districts.See the photos
Full story
The types of public schools available to Denver families have increased in the past 15 years.
Full story
Kaiser Elementary got a wake-up call in 2005-2006 when Denver Public Schools announced it would close some half-empty schools.
Full story
PART FOUR: Charter school enrollment has grown 300 percent in six years, with black families most likely to choose them.
Denver’s charter schools, which operate independently under contract with the DPS school board, have exploded in popularity in the past six years.
See the map
The percentage of DPS’ black students in charter schools in 2006 was twice as high as the percentage of Anglo or Hispanic students who chose charters.
See the chart
Many black middle-class families in far northeast Denver send their kids to charter schools rather than traditional neighborhood DPS schools.See the photos
Principal Antwan Wilson is trying to change perceptions about Montbello High School in northeast Denver.See the photos
Antwan Wilson, now in his second year as principal at Montbello High, is trying to turn around a school that was widely regarded as failing and unsafe.Watch the video
Full story
Few schools in Denver have been saddled with a reputation as bad as Montbello's. "Mont-ghetto," as students once called it, was the scene of the first homicide in Denver Public Schools' history. Leading such a school as more Denver families are exercising choice about where to educate their children might daunt some principals. But little seems to intimidate Antwan Wilson, the 6-foot-4 Kansas native who took over Montbello in July 2005. Leading such a school as more Denver families are exercising choice about where to educate their children might daunt some principals. But little seems to intimidate Antwan Wilson, the 6-foot-4 Kansas native who took over Montbello in July 2005.
Full story
PART FIVE: Northwest Denver exemplifies the tensions over reforming schools.
The Anglo birth rate increased from 2000 to 2005 in many northwest Denver neighorhoods as the Hispanic birth rate declined.
See the map
Since the 1990s, parents have been allowed to send their children to any neighborhood school in DPS as long as it has space.
See the map
The push for change is urgent in DPS, but each time a school goes through transformation, tensions rise.See the photos
Full story
A DPS analysis shows the retention rate is about 10 percent higher for families who send their children to DPS preschool versus a non-DPS preschool.
Full story
Should DPS limit schools at Stapleton to residents only - creating what some say is essentially a separate school district?
Full story
PART SIX: Hispanics are most likely to choose neighborhood schools, but they increasingly are exercising choice.
Among Hispanic DPS students, a hefty 37 percent chose a school other than their assigned neighborhood school in 2005-2006. See the photos
West Denver Prep charter holds its lottery to choose 110 students from 181 applicants.Watch the video
Dolores Duran searches for a middle school for her son, Demetri Hernandez, whose name wasn't drawn in a lottery for West Denver Prep charter.Watch the video
Full story
Dolores Duran silently wiped away a tear as the 110th name was called in the cafeteria of West Denver Prep. That was the last spot available in the lottery for the charter school on South Federal Boulevard, and former Denver City Councilwoman Rosemary Rodriguez still hadn't called the name of Duran's son, fifth-grader Demetri Hernandez.
Full story
PART SEVEN: What lies ahead for DPS?
Even if DPS could bring back all 20,300 kids, thousands of chairs would still be empty. See the photos
Principal Kevin Fletcher of Farrell B. Howell K-8 School plays the grand piano once a week in the lunchroom to broaden the students' exposure to music.Watch the video
Michael Bennet and new principal, Robert Stein, meet the community to discuss the reopening.Watch the video
DPS Superintendent Michael Bennet talks about his goals for Denver Public Schools.Watch the video
Full story
Farrell B. Howell K-8 School, which opened last fall, is DPS' first all-choice school, other than independently run charters. That means no students or neighborhoods are assigned to the public school. Instead, any interested family can apply.
Full story
In recent interviews and community forums, parents voiced common concerns. These are the most frequently cited, along with a response from DPS Superintendent Michael Bennet.
Full story
