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Denver Public Schools has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a parent group that is seeking to stop the closures or partial closures of 10 schools this spring.
The group, Mamás de DPS LLC, sued the school district in December over the Denver school board’s November decision to close seven schools and partially close three more due to declining enrollment. In January, Mamás de DPS filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to keep the closing schools open for the 2025-26 school year.
The school closures were controversial, and Mamás de DPS alleged in its lawsuit that district leaders had an “ulterior motive” for the school closures “of converting public resources to the private market.” The group accused DPS of not being transparent about its enrollment and said the district’s claims about underutilized school buildings were dubious.
The lawsuit also said it’s unclear how the reported $6.6 million in savings DPS will achieve from closing the 10 schools will fix any financial problems.
In a pair of motions filed in Denver District Court last week, DPS argued that the judge should dismiss the lawsuit from Mamás de DPS and allow the school closures to go forward by rejecting the request for a preliminary injunction.
DPS pushed back against Mamás de DPS’ claim that the school closures would cause harm to students and families. It emphasized that the approximately 1,100 affected students would get their first pick among the other schools in the district next school year.
“DPS recognizes that closing or restructuring a school can be disruptive and create uncertainty for impacted families,” the district’s lawyers wrote in one of their motions. “But the District has done everything within its control to minimize uncertainty and disruption and to ensure that all impacted students can transition to new schools as smoothly as possible.”
Seven Denver schools are set to close at the end of this school year: Castro Elementary, Columbian Elementary, Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design, International Academy of Denver at Harrington, Palmer Elementary, Schmitt Elementary, and West Middle.
Three more schools will partially close. Kunsmiller Creative Arts Academy will lose its elementary school grades, Dora Moore ECE-8 School will lose its middle school grades, and Denver Center for International Studies will lose its high school grades.
Mamás de DPS describes itself on a website devoted to the case as an informal, grassroots group. It says the lawsuit began “about as organically as it gets:” with a group of moms, some of whom are lawyers, talking about the school closures at a birthday party. The group registered as an LLC in December, a week before filing the lawsuit.
In its motions, DPS said there is no evidence “that the members of Mamás de DPS are families enrolled at the schools” slated for closure — and therefore, don’t have standing to sue.
The district also argued that the policy under which Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero recommended the school closures, and under which the school board approved them, is not a state law but rather a set of guardrails that are up for interpretation by the superintendent.
Mamás de DPS “is attempting to step into the shoes of the Board to enforce its own guardrails, which it has no legal basis to do,” the district wrote in one of its motions.
DPS conceded in its motions that there are some “explainable discrepancies” in its school enrollment data, but said that “the data still show that DPS’s enrollment is declining and will continue to decline.” It said that “low building utilization creates both a financial and an equity problem for DPS and its students,” and that while the savings from the school closures may be comparatively small, that is not a reason to keep under-enrolled schools open.
“Operating and subsidizing half-empty buildings is not a sound or equitable use of taxpayer dollars, and given enrollment projections, that problem will only get worse,” DPS said in its motion opposing the request for a preliminary injunction.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
