Red Feather is sole school threatened by closure

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

With the goal of saving money through more efficient use of school facilities, Poudre School District still has its axe aimed at a mountain school.

On Dec. 8, PSD Supt. Jerry Wilson announced the names of several schools that will definitely not be closed, including Cache La Poudre Middle School in LaPorte. With that announcement, only one school remains on the chopping block: Red Feather Lakes Elementary.

In response, teachers, parents and residents of Red Feather Lakes are trying hard to keep the school open.

On Dec. 3, a delegation from Red Feather made a presentation to the PSD Facility Design Feasibility Committee, emphasizing that closing the school would have a detrimental effect on the entire community.

"Red Feather Lakes Elementary is a community school, not a neighborhood school," said Principal Patrick Kind, who leads the three mountain schools of Stove Prairie, Livermore and Red Feather Lakes. "We depend on each other and interact with each other."

At meetings held during the past three months, Red Feather residents have repeatedly claimed that closing their school would mean a mass exodus of young families from the community. That, in turn, would have disastrous results for businesses, the employee base and property values, as well as the volunteer fire department.

If Wilson decides to close the school, elementary students would be bussed to Livermore Elementary, which has a capacity of 100 students. At the Dec. 3 meeting, Red Feather resident Pat Carlson said that a combined RFL/Livermore school would have exceeded that capacity in 18 of the past 20 years.

PSD's own study, Carlson noted, projected 29 percent population growth for the Red Feather area by 2014.

"We have a concern that the district is making a long-term decision based on the current economic time," she said.

According to Carlson, the Red Feather community is open to changing the school from K-5 to a K-8 configuration. That would result in a student population of about 75, compared with the current 35 elementary students and 13 preschoolers. It would mean closing the school library, but Carlson said the Red Feather Lakes Community Library could help provide library services.

Another idea proposed by Red Feather residents is to create a Mountain Environmental Learning Center for the district, located on the 10-acre RFLE campus.

Colorado's rural schools, said Red Feather teacher Martin Jiles, have the lowest dropout rates and the highest graduation rates in the state. Kind added that 100 percent of third-graders at Red Feather tested proficient or advanced in reading for 2007 through 2009.

Red Feather parents have voiced safety concerns about bussing young children from Red Feather Lakes to Livermore on a winding mountain road, especially in winter weather. According to Tom Viola, there are an average of nine accidents each year on McNey Hill, a steep section of road between Livermore and Red Feather Lakes.

"All it takes is one accident," he said.

Community members have also pointed out that within the Red Feather Library District, whose boundaries are similar to those of the elementary school, PSD collects almost $2.7 million in property tax revenues each year.

"We're providing 2.4 percent of PSD's total property tax income," said Viola, "for a school population that is only 0.4 percent of the total student body."

Red Feather boosters argue that if property values-- and hence tax revenues-- fall as a result of closing RFLE, there would be little net savings from the closure.

The feasibility committee, meeting since October, has been charged with making recommendations to the superintendent regarding three issues: moving Red Feather students to Livermore, finding a new location for the Lab School, and moving early childhood and other programs out of Fullana and Barton to other elementary schools.

Committee chair Kevin Hahn, who is also the assistant superintendent in charge of elementary schools, said the committee will work in tandem with the elementary boundary committee, which began its work in early December.

Until last month, the committee's to-do list also included finding a location for a small, specialized high school, with both Riffenburgh and Lopez elementary schools being considered for that purpose. Wilson announced at the school board's December meeting that the district would no longer pursue that idea.

The committee still has to find a new location for the Lab School, since the district plans to close its current facility and sell the property. At press time the Cache La Poudre schools were still being considered as a new Lab School site, although Lab School parents have said the location would not be good for its program. Other options are also on the table for the Lab School move.

The district took on the efficiency study in the light of serious cuts in state funding that affect both the current school year and the next. Budget manager Dave Montoya said the state is cutting $3.3 million from this year's district budget, with cuts of at least $8 million next year.

PSD will hold public deliberation forums beginning in January to hear from the community regarding the funding of small schools and geographically remote schools. Forums are scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. on the following dates: Jan. 26, Poudre High School auditorium; Feb. 1, Rocky Mountain High School, Black Box Theater; Feb. 17, Fossil Ridge High School auditorium; and Feb. 23, Fort Collins High School auditorium.