Denver school board adds a school to the district’s last remaining innovation zone

“Sign up for Chalkbeat Colorado’s free daily newsletter to get the latest reporting from us, plus curated news from other Colorado outlets, delivered to your inbox. The Denver school board voted last week to add another school to the district’s last remaining innovation zone, rejecting a recommendation from the superintendent who said that doing so would allow the schools in the zone to “self-segregate.” Ultimately, the board voted 6-1 on Thursday to add Willow Elementary to the Luminary Learning Network innovation zone this fall. Innovation zones are a reform-era invention that allow district-run schools to operate with charter-like autonomy. Zone schools are overseen by nonprofit organizations, and their principals are supervised by the zone’s executive director, not district administrators. Zone schools can also opt out of paying for some district services and spend the money another way. The Luminary Learning Network was Denver Public Schools’ first innovation zone. It started in 2016 with four schools and currently has eight, though one of those schools — Ashley Elementary — is set to leave the zone and revert to district control at the end of the school year. Adding Willow will keep the number of zone schools at eight. Two other DPS innovation zones were dismantled under the watch of Superintendent Alex Marrero in 2023 and 2024, leaving the Luminary Learning Network as the last zone standing. Willow teachers and parents advocated to join the zone. Principal Catrina Pazo told the school board earlier this month that joining the zone was “an educator-led request,” and that a majority of Willow staff voted in favor of it, as is required by law. Willow is already an innovation school, which allows it to choose its own curriculum and school calendar, for example. The school is whiter and wealthier than the district as a whole, and its students perform well on state standardized tests. “Our strong performance should not be a reason to stand still,” Pazo said. Marrero had questioned whether joining the zone would benefit Willow academically. He also argued that adding Willow at the same time that Ashley is leaving would make the zone into a collection of more privileged schools. About 75% of DPS students are students of color and nearly two-thirds qualify for subsidized meals, an indicator of poverty. By contrast, fewer than 60% of zone students are students of color and fewer than 45% come from low-income families. Marrero said the board’s own policies direct him to avoid further segregating schools. But some board members questioned that logic. Amy Klein Molk asked if the policies are meant to prevent the segregation of students or to prevent “the professional collaboration between schools.” Board member John Youngquist asked if DPS has a target for school integration. “There isn’t a target because that’s not something we’ve discussed,” Marrero said. Several board members said the district should examine why schools like Willow seek additional autonomy and how DPS could be more responsive to their needs. “The work is figuring out: Why do folks want to choice out of our district?” board member Monica Hunter said. “Those are things I’ve actually heard from schools: ‘I ask for this, I get it. I don’t have to go back and forth. I don’t feel retaliated against when I bring up something that’s a problem.’” The board took two votes on Thursday. In the first, the board voted 4-3 to defeat Marrero’s recommendation. Then the board voted 6-1 to allow Willow to join the zone. Board President Xóchitl Gaytán was the sole no vote in the second round. She said adding Willow would increase racial, economic, and linguistic segregation, referring to the lower percentage of students learning English as a second language in the zone. Hunter and board member DJ Torres changed their votes, shifting from opposing the addition of Willow to supporting it. Neither commented on why. Willow was briefly part of another, now-defunct zone called the Northeast Denver Innovation Zone. Willow left that zone in 2021 amid concerns about the zone’s operations. Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org .

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