DENVER — A proposed Denver charter school emphasizing Black excellence will not open in the fall after failing to reach the minimum number of students required to be enrolled by Denver Public Schools, the school's director said.
"It's sad," said 5280 Freedom School Executive Director Branta Lockett. "Our Black students needed this."
5280 Freedom School started as a summer program a couple of years back. It expanded to Saturday classes and planned to make the jump to a charter school.
The curriculum would focus on culturally responsive, gifted and talented classes for all students -- and aim to put Black contributions to history, art and science front and center.
"It builds their confidence, and it helps them build their identity and helps them know their sense of self," Lockett said.
For months, she worked to convince education leaders enough families would enroll. At first, the Denver Board of Education denied the charter school application, Lockett said. She said they won an appeal to the state and then received approval from district.
But charter school approval came with pre-conditions -- including a minimum number of 52 students enrolled. The school initially planned to have a kindergarten and first grade, meaning Lockett needed to recruit 26 students per grade level.
"That was the pre-opening condition that I was most concerned about – even though we had over 100 intent to enroll forms – just knowing that we need to get people to follow through and enroll is difficult to do," she said.
Too difficult, it turned out. The 5280 Freedom School fell short and won't open as a charter within DPS this fall.
"It's frustrating to know that our students will have to wait, to continue to wait for something like this," Lockett said.
She blames a combination of factors -- including gentrification around Five Points where the school was supposed to open, transportation issues and declining enrollment district-wide.
Still, she's not giving up. She's surveying parents to see if they want to wait for the school to attempt the charter process again and delay reopening until 2025 or open as a private school more quickly.
"We're in this time where we can really think about how we can change public schooling so that we're able to serve all students well," she said.
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