10/14/2026
Action Alert! Save Neighborhood Schools!!
COALITION TO SAVE OUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS (CSONS)’s RESPONSE TO PSD’s 2026 SCHOOL
CLOSURE/CONSOLIDATION PLAN
Overview:
Alleging a crisis level drop in enrollment, the PSD Administration is recommending that the School Board close eight elementary schools (Beattie, Irish, Johnson, Putnam, Livermore, Stove Prairie, Red Feather Lakes, Timnath), one middle school (Blevins), and consolidate two high schools (Centennial High School and Poudre Community Academy) to form one new school. CSONS successfully campaigned to keep schools open in a nearly identical scenario in 2010. Our community has the institutional and historic knowledge to understand the negative impact that such closures would have on students and neighborhoods, without actual tangible gains. We are asking the School Board to pause, examine the facts, and listen to students, parents, and community members. We know that there are more sound, long-term solutions that focus on educational outcomes, community health and public safety that can and should drive sound budgetary decisions.
ACTION NEEDED
Please email both the PSD board [email protected] and Fort Collins City Council [email protected]
Please reach out for more information or to get involved further: [email protected]
DEMANDS
â—Ź PSD Board needs to reject the plan presented by the Administration.
â—Ź PSD Board must decide not to close any schools on October 27th.
â—‹ That timeline is unnecessary and undemocratic.
○ While the District may have been working on this issue for months or years, it was not announced to the public until September 25, at Kingley’s press conference. That was only 22 businesses days before the scheduled October 27th board vote.
â—‹ PSD must slow down and open up the process for reasonable community input.
â—Ź The District needs to provide transparent financial information to the PSD community.
â—Ź PSD must prioritize keeping neighborhood schools and small schools open.
â—Ź PSD must commission independent boundary studies.
â—Ź PSD must commission a truly independent analysis of PSD finances instead of placing trust in a single source.
â—Ź Rather than closing schools, PSD needs to shift priorities from funding executive salaries and standardized testing to fully funding whole child education.
â—Ź As an educational institution, PSD needs to lead by example, using data driven decision making methodologies. Currently they are not.
○ We have the advantage of decades of data that reflect outcomes of massive school closings in other districts. Let’s use it.
â—‹ We have the advantage of a thoughtful and engaged community. Listen to them!
Key Points:
â—Ź The PSD plan to close schools does not prioritize the needs of students.
â—‹ Closing schools negatively impacts the mental health of students.
○ Closing schools undermines PSD’s goal of mental health and belonging.
â—‹ Closing schools lowers graduation rates.
○ Closing schools undermines PSD’s goal of graduating with options.
â—‹ Closing neighborhood schools increases dropout rates and school transfer rates.
â—‹ The harm of school closures lasts a lifetime; children are less likely to graduate or complete college, and they will have lower earnings.
â—‹ Closing schools does not address social inequities. It has a negative impact on students of color.
â—‹ Large class sizes would have a negative impact both on the displaced students and the students in the receiving schools.
○ PSD’s plan has huge equity impacts because it closes Title I schools; they are low income schools and the schools with the highest percentages of children of color and immigrants.
â– Closing Irish and Putnum will result in a loss of Federal Title I funding, which will subsequently result in a loss of many supports for those students.
â—‹ It is not true that children of color and low income children perform better when sent to predominantly white affluent schools.
https://strategicplan.psdschools.org/
https://www.edweek.org/leadership/thinking-about-closing-a-school-what-to-consider-besides-enrollment/2025/01
https://www.k12dive.com/news/study-school-closures-more-likely-to-affect-black-and-hispanic-students/503615/
https://schottfoundation.org/resource/the-color-of-school-closures/
https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/sites/main/files/file-attachments/cpr_penn_redistricting_brief.pdf
https://graphics.suntimes.com/education/2023/chicagos-50-closed-schools/kids/
â—‹ Closing schools has a negative impact on low-income students
https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/bioethics/en/article/view/7057
https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/bioethics/en/article/view/7057
● Studies show that closures leave districts’ funding deficits intact, and the probability of achieving a balanced budget unchanged.
https://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/newsletter-school-closures-022525
https://hechingerreport.org/opinion-shuttering-public-schools-is-a-strategy-that-rarely-saves-much-money-and-often-leads-to-test-score-declines/
https://www.edweek.org/leadership/closing-a-school-dont-expect-to-save-money-a-new-study-warns/2026/06
https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/do-school-closures-save-money. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/news-item/national-studies-show-school-closings-often-dont-save-much-money-or-improve-student
â—Ź Closing schools undermines neighborhoods and drives down property values.
https://www.uvm.edu/d10-files/documents/2025-01/Economic-Impact-of-School-Closures.pdf
https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/rjrhxx/v26y2017i2p119-135.html
â—Ź Neighborhood schools have excellent outcomes.
â—‹ Children perform better in neighborhood schools.
â—‹ Families can participate more in neighborhood schools.
https://www.cct.org/stories/four-ways-that-neighborhood-schools-strengthen-communities/
https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/community-schools-outcomes-factsheet
https://www.aft.org/position/community-schools/outcomes
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-local-leaders-should-champion-community-schools-to-improve-student-family-and-neighborhood-well-being/
https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/how-community-schools-make-a-difference
â—Ź Bussing children across town makes for an extremely long day and increases traffic and air pollution.
â—Ź Bussing children down from the mountains is unsafe and costly.
â—Ź The families impacted the most are those with the least resources to adapt to school closures.
â—Ź Equity impacts include low income students and students of color taken out of their communities.
â—‹ Their parents are less likely to participate, they lose hours every day commuting, they will be less likely to graduate, their performance will decrease, they will be less likely to go to college and they will earn less money.
â—Ź The students at Centennial High School and Poudre Community Academy have very specific and diverse needs that are met by those schools. Those needs will not be met by combining those schools.
â—Ź School closures will cause devastating economic impacts for PSD staff, primarily classified staff who are more likely to be people of color.
â—‹ Those economic impacts affect the entire city, leading to increased unemployment, evictions and homelessness.
â—Ź This proposal is not about budgets, it is about privatization.
â—‹ Families with the most resources will opt for private schools or home schooling situations.
â—‹ School closures nation-wide undermine democratically controlled school districts.
https://nepc.colorado.edu/blog/onservative
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