AURORA | Starting next school year the site of Century Elementary School will be used as the new location for Sierra School, the Aurora Public Schools district school for students who have serious disabilities.
Sierra currently uses space at the Crossroads Transition Center, but as the district has served an increasing number of special needs students, it has become cramped. Century, 2500 S Granby Way, in Aurora, will provide the program with a larger space.
The school is now closed.
The decision was announced at Tuesday’s Aurora Public Schools board of education meeting
Sentinel Photo
as part of an update on Blueprint APS, the district’s long range facilities plan. The plan is a response to declining enrollment in the district, a trend that is occurring in K-12 schools nationwide, and includes closing and consolidating some district schools as well as opening specialized magnet schools throughout the district.
After making decisions to close eight schools since 2019, this school year the district is focusing on deciding how to use the buildings of the schools that have closed or are scheduled to close. Of the eight schools, four have been repurposed, while Century, Paris, Sable and Sixth Avenue elementaries did not have designated plans for how their buildings would be used after closing.
A new location for Sierra School was designated as an “immediate need” by the district, and Century was selected as an appropriate location for the program, APS strategic development advisor Mackenzie Khan told the board.
Sable and Paris will go through a repurposing process beginning this fall, and Sixth Avenue will go through the process starting next year. Repurposing could include buildings being used by the district for community centers or other needs, being used as locations for charters or other schools or being sold by the district and used for a completely different purpose.
The repurposing process will begin in November with a series of meetings to discuss the next steps for Sable and Paris. It will first have two information sessions where it will provide details on how the repurposing process works, and then three input sessions where community members will be invited to share their values and priorities for the buildings. The district will also have an online survey.
After the meetings, APS will release a request for proposals in December. Through the district’s website, interested parties can submit proposals to either purchase, lease or use a district building for an alternative district use. The third option will only be available to current APS employees, according to board documents.
Proposals will be accepted Dec. 5 through Feb. 10. All of the proposals submitted by the deadline will be reviewed by a district committee, and those evaluated to be viable will be presented to the public. The committee will consider criteria including how financially and logistically feasible the proposal is, the partner’s demonstrated track record of success and whether the idea aligns with the district’s and community’s values.
Presentations to the public are slated February through mid-May, and feedback will be used by the board in its final decisions. Depending on the type of repurposing, the final decision will be made by either the superintendent or be voted on by the school board. The board must vote on decisions involving school closures and school property being sold, according to district policy. The superintendent can unilaterally decide to repurpose schools or use school buildings for an alternative district use.
The community meetings are scheduled for:
Information sessions:
Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 8 a.m., Paris Elementary School 1635 Paris St.
Monday, Nov. 7 at 5 p.m., Sable Elementary School 2601 Sable Blvd.
Input sessions:
Monday, Nov. 14 at 6 p.m., virtually
Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 3:30 p.m., Sable Elementary School 2601 Sable Blvd.
Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 3:30 p.m., Paris Elementary School 1635 Paris St.
More information on the repurposing process and information on how to attend the Nov. 14 virtual session will be available soon on the district’s Blueprint APS website.
The board’s next meeting is scheduled to take place next Tuesday, Nov. 1 starting at 6 p.m.
“The superintendent can unilaterally decide to repurpose schools or use school buildings for an alternative district use.”
That is an interesting management latitude. Say for example, repurposing a school, for housing these homeless in a central location. How is that going to fly?