GLOBE Charter School, one of Colorado’s oldest charter schools, will close its doors upon the conclusion of the 2023-24 schoolyear.

The school’s board president Doug Hering sent out a letter to parents and guardians March 20 informing them that the board had voted to close the school.

“The news has been, I don’t want to use the word ‘devastating,’ … but it’s definitely painful,” Hering said.

Last fall, the school celebrated its 28th year as an operating charter school, but the cost of its current building along with shrinking enrollment put the storied school on hard times in recent years.

In 2020, GLOBE relocated from the closed Longfellow Elementary building north five miles to its current location on North Academy Boulevard due to District 11, who authorizes the charter, wanting to repurpose the property.

Following the move, the school experienced an immediate drop in enrollment. This was further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic when students that opted for hybrid or remote learning never returned to the school, according to Hering. Once these students were gone, the school was unable to recoup those student totals in addition to a steady decline in the years since.

Current enrollment at the school is 67 students, peaking at 71 earlier this year. With a goal set at 120 total students for next year and only 55 committed to date, the board voted to close the school and allow students, teachers and staff enough time to transition out ahead of next year.

“At some point, the numbers just don’t lie,” Hering said.

Last spring, District 11’s board of education approved the expansion of the school from K-6 to K-8 in an attempt to retain students while also gaining new ones. The school currently includes seventh graders, who would have begun eighth grade instruction next year.

The school has explored several options to improve its situation, including negotiating with the school’s current landlord, relocating again to another building and potentially operating jointly with a nearby D-11 public school to secure lower-cost space.

D11 area superintendent and charter school program manager Scott Mendelsberg said that this plan ultimately fell through due to questions about adequate space and functionality between the two along with the hope that GLOBE’s enrollment would eventually recover.

“As you can imagine, when you combine schools, even with all of the best intentions, there are challenges there,” he said.

Coperni 3 reconfigured

This school year is also the first for the charter school Coperni 3 (K-8) to operate following its consolidation with Coperni 2. Announced last June, the decision also came down to maintaining the schools’ operations with low enrollment numbers. In a press release by ownership company Third Future Schools, a network of charter schools across Colorado, Texas and Louisiana, it was announced that all Coperni 2 students would be guaranteed enrollment into Coperni 3, located inside the Citadel Mall, while part of the teaching staff would make a similar transition.

Other D-11 charters to close in recent years include the STAR Academy in 2015, Landmark Community School in 2018, and Emerson-Edison Junior Charter Academy in 2010. Scholars to Leaders, authorized by the state’s Charter School Institute, closed its doors in May 2015.

Last Fall, the independent school Orton Academy, known for its specialized instruction for dyslexic students, was approved to enter into a contract with D-11 by its board of education.

Additionally, the number of homeschooling families has steadily rose in recent years, with Colorado increasing by as much as 17% over the past six years.

With enrollment being down across all public schools in the area, Mendelsberg noted that student recruitment and retention isn’t a challenge unique to just charter schools. 

“I think there’s just more opportunities in the market now and it really is more competitive than it’s ever been,” he said. “So, I think all those factors line up: location and what your niche is within this space.”

GLOBE has called many locations its home throughout its history. When the school first opened in 1995, it was located in a storefront on Wasatch Street downtown before moving to an office building on Bijou Street in 2001. In 2009, the school moved to the Longfellow Elementary School Building on Alpine Place. 

Next month, the school plans to meet with a contingent of other schools and personnel in D-11 to discuss possible options for its students and staff next year. As the school’s authorizer, any loss of enrollment at GLOBE or any of its charters reflects as a loss of enrollment in the district.

“Our understanding is that our staff’s been really dedicated and done a really good job with our children and we’ve provided a unique educational environment and it’s really sad that that’s going to be leaving our community,” Hering said.