PUEBLO – A master plan draft made for Pueblo City Schools shows various issues within the district, along with ways to fix them, which include renovating, consolidating, or closing schools.
What the plan highlights is declining attendance, underutilized space, and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of improvements, or repairs, that need to be done at schools across District 60.
The draft was put together by MOA Architecture, HGF Architects, and thinkSmart Planning.
It shows attendance has dropped at D60 in the last five years from 16,985 in 2013 to 15,582 this school year. A more than 1,000 student drop.
It also shows close to $800 million worth of repairs that need to be made at facilities across the district, including more than $200 million for immediate repairs, or improvements.
The draft highlights that D60 is paying operations and maintenance costs to operate schools that are 66 percent occupied, which includes middle schools being 49 percent occupied and high schools at 51 percent.
“The reality is that our school district is going to have to make some very difficult decisions in the next year, maybe two years, I’m not sure, but at some point very soon, we’re going to have to make these decisions. We want to make sure that the community is informed and has their opportunity to provide some input as well,” D60 Communications Director Dalton Sprouse said.
The independent groups suggest having a bond measure for 2019, along with, either consolidating schools, school closures, construction of new schools, school renovations, or boundary modifications.
There will be community meetings regarding this master plan on:
December 19 at South High School.
All the meetings start at 6 p.m.
