Tara Winer reads her letter to BVSD.
What residents asked for
Speak up for Boulder's neighborhood schools.
Seven residents raised BVSD's plan across the two meetings, most of them asking the council to speak up before BVSD decides.
September 3
Closing neighborhood schools reaches housing, traffic, climate and whether families can live in Boulder. Asked the council to formally request that BVSD delay its vote by one year.
Asked the council not to let her school close; under the plan she could no longer walk to school.
Called the district-wide process rushed, said Flatirons is the bedrock of its neighborhood, and asked the council to press BVSD for a one-year deferral.
September 17
Asked the council to advocate for Boulder families and to ask BVSD to wait a year and reconcile its numbers with the city's new comprehensive plan, adopted four days before the district proposed closing three Boulder elementary schools.
Closing schools treats a symptom. Asked the city to look upstream at why families can't afford to stay and raise children in Boulder.
Urged the council to press the district on its evidence and on how many families would leave, and to seek a pause through its intergovernmental role, as Lafayette's council did.
Said BVSD will not pause to work with families and that closing schools accelerates a neighborhood's decline. Asked the council to take a stand and have the city attorney examine the city's leverage over the land.
How the council responded
Questions from several members, and two letters.
The council took no formal action. On September 17 two members said they were writing to BVSD, and one questioned whether a delay would help.
September 3
Asked by Tina Marquis how the city works with the district, said the city meets BVSD quarterly, mostly on security and shared issues.
Asked whether the city tracks the displacement of families with children behind the enrollment decline.
Closing open comment, said the council had heard how much Spruce Pool and Flatirons Elementary matter.
September 17
The decision rests with BVSD. The city's conversations with the district came before any schools were chosen, and it can now get specific about each site.
Recalled the district's 2003 closures and asked what the city has discussed with BVSD about the future of school sites.
Asked whether staff had assessed what the plan means for Boulder's land-use plans and for families.
Read the letter she was sending BVSD, titled Plea for a pause.
A parent at an affected school, questioned whether a delay would change the outcome of declining enrollment.
Has closed schools before and knows the disruption. A pause gives time for alternatives; she will send her own letter; lingering questions about basic issues are a concern.
Explaining her vote against endorsing a county ballot measure, said the council shouldn't weigh in there if it won't weigh in on the district's closure decisions.
For reporters
The facts in one place.
The vote. BVSD votes on the Resilient Schools proposal on September 22. It would close Flatirons, Mesa and Douglass elementary schools in Boulder and Birch in Broomfield, among other changes.
The letters. Mayor Pro Tem Tara Winer's letter to BVSD is titled Plea for a pause; she read it into the record on September 17 at 0:50:12. Council member Taishya Adams said the same night she would send her own. The council itself took no action.
Another city. Two days earlier, the Lafayette City Council agreed without objection to write to BVSD.
Sources. City of Boulder recordings: September 3 (open comment from 1:05:06) and September 17 (open comment from 0:05:10). The 74-second clip above is cut from the City of Boulder's September 17 recording.
City of Boulder, September 3 recording · City of Boulder, September 17 recording · Lafayette City Council pushes back on BVSD's plan
Press contact: info@betterplanbvsd.com
Say it to BVSD
Answer the questions. Hear the neighborhoods. Then decide.
BVSD votes on Sept 22. Tell them Boulder's families, and now two of its council members, are asking for a pause.