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The vision for Robert F. Smith STEAM Academy was to provide as many as 500 Denver students . But five years after opening, the school has just 24 students and could close at the end of this school year.

Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero is recommending an operational closure, according to letters sent to families and staff. Denver schools are funded per student, and an operational closure is when a school鈥檚 enrollment is so low that it鈥檚 financially unsustainable.

A district spokesperson said Friday that operational closures do not require approval from the elected school board, but on Tuesday said that was incorrect. The board must vote on Marrero鈥檚 recommendation, the spokesperson said, but it鈥檚 unclear when that will happen.

Chelsey Moore鈥檚 son is a senior at Robert F. Smith. He enrolled there , the Denver School of Innovation and Sustainable Design, because of low enrollment. Moore said her son, who is not a student of color, found a 鈥渕agical 鈥� standalone safe space鈥� at Robert F. Smith.

Even though her son will graduate this year, Moore is mourning the loss.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e not just closing schools. They鈥檙e not just making economic choices,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e changing the trajectory and futures for students.鈥�

In some ways, what happened at Robert F. Smith is emblematic of a bigger pattern. The number of small Denver schools is increasing as enrollment decreases. , , which was more than the district was expecting. Marrero has warned that more school closures are likely coming.

But Robert F. Smith also faced unique challenges.

The idea for the school came from a group of Black parents and sports coaches in far northeast Denver in that region. Their advocacy followed that detailed the ways in which DPS was underserving Black students and led the school board .

In 2019, the board took the rare step of it submitted to start a school modeled after historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs. A few months later, , despite some members鈥� worries that district enrollment could soon decline.

, Robert F. Smith struggled to enroll students. The school doesn鈥檛 have a boundary, so all of its students must proactively choose it. Before Robert F. Smith opened in the fall of 2021, . Despite aiming to enroll 125 students that year, the school鈥檚 final count was 78, according to district data.

Enrollment increased to 135 students in 2022 but fell to just 44 in 2023 after the school moved to a new building 10 miles away. The school鈥檚 first location was . That building didn鈥檛 have a kitchen, an auditorium, or sports fields 鈥� all of which students and the school鈥檚 founders said they鈥檇 been promised.

鈥淭he ninth grade biology classes have to come into the 10th grade chemistry room to do experiments because the biology class is the size of a prison cell,鈥� former student Jessie Matthews told the school board in 2022.

But , wasn鈥檛 ideal either, in part because it relocated the school out of far northeast Denver. The move was meant to give Robert F. Smith room to grow, but enrollment never got higher than about 90 students.

This year, the district cut ninth grade from Robert F. Smith after fewer than 20 freshmen applied, a district spokesperson said.

The school also endured a leadership change and friction between its founders and DPS. In 2022, and nearly all other DPS schools, citing Pryor鈥檚 treatment of district staff. Pryor sued DPS, and .

Pryor did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

In letters to Robert F. Smith families and staff, district officials promised to help students find new schools and teachers find new jobs. But Moore said she鈥檚 disappointed in how families found out about the proposed closure. After receiving a vague message last Tuesday about a meeting two days later to 鈥渄iscuss the future of the school鈥� at which only a few parents showed up, families got another message about the operational closure.

鈥淢ost parents didn鈥檛 know until last night that the school was closing,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淥ur question was, 鈥榃hy weren鈥檛 we informed?鈥� Why didn鈥檛 the district give us the opportunity to speak out for the school and help recruit? It鈥檚 a tight community and we would have stepped in to help.鈥�

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at

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