Parents are speaking out against the Boulder Valley School Districts plan to close six schools and consolidate several more.Tuesday nights board meeting lasted over four hours as around a hundred students and parents in light bl ue shirts asked the district to reconsider their draft proposal. See the full story at the link in the comments BVSD parents and students rally to save their elementary schools from closureDistrict leaders presented their Resilient Schools Proposal to the school board during an Aug. 25 meeting.The plan was designed to address declining enrollment and budget shortfalls in BVSD schools. Since 2017, the district reported that enrollment has decline by 3,675 students while building numbers have stayed the same. Theyre expecting another 1,700-student decline by 2030, resulting in what would be about a $26 million loss over the next five years.To solve that, leaders proposed changes to nearly a dozen schools in the Broomfield, Louisville-Superior and Boulder areas, saying theyd revisit plans for Dual Language schools and schools in Erie, Lafayette and nearby mountain towns.That August meeting was the first time parents learned which schools were on the chopping block.I was absolutely shocked, but immediately was consoling my second grader, said Leith Stevens. His daughter goes to Flatirons Elementary School. All of her friends go to this school. It's our community and that being closed was just not something that we expected, especially with such a short timeline.Stevens reaction was shared by parents across the district.Every school individually first banded together with their own communities trying to process very quickly, said Douglass Elementary parent Erin Pommer. Then we looked at the, the data and we looked at the numbers. We contacted each other and we said, none of this makes sense for any of the communities. This isn't a school versus school conversation. This is a district-wide problem that doesn't have a great district-wide solution.The parents banded together to form the Better Plan BVSD volunteer coalition asking the board to reject the districts proposed plan and send the, back to the drawing board for a more comprehensive, though out plan.The coalition argues that the plan is short-sighted and doesnt address the entire district.BVSD has pointed to more sustainable class sizes, stronger staffing, and greater programming opportunities, but families have not been given concrete commitments about what students will actually experience, the coalition site reads.Parents like Stevens are concerned the same problem with affect his kids over and over again.If we close some schools today, and then we move our children to a new school, are those are the schools going to close right, you know, in in the next year or two? He asked. We may want to move our child to a dual language school, but if those are going to close or move in the next year or two, why would we do that?Several students also joined the rally and spoke at the podium during Tuesdays meeting.Leighton Amador, a first-grader at Birch Elementary School says losing her school probably turns me mad and sad.Douglass Elementary School fourth-grader Ensley Waters says shes gone to the same school for seven years and doesnt want to lose those relationships.I would get split up from my friends because not all my friends would go to the school that I would go to, she said. Im gonna miss out, like getting to graduate from an elementary school with all my friends.The District declined to interview with Denver7 to answer these questions. Leaders have said in the past that theyre committed to hearing from the community.District leaders asked faculty and families for their input last spring through meetings and surveys, receiving hundreds of responses.Parents say they werent aware what this feedback would be used for.It's really hard to give directed feedback and inputs when they're vague questions, Pommer said. If you're not anticipating being a part of a strategic move, you answer questions differently.The final vote to accept or reject this proposal is scheduled for Sept. 22 at 5 p.m. during BVSDs regular board meeting. ...read more read less