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.
Denver Public Schools’ only remaining innovation zone could soon shrink.
Innovation zones are a reform-era invention that allow district-run schools to operate with charter-like autonomy. Schools in zones are overseen by nonprofit organizations with executive directors who take on a supervisory role instead of district administrators.
But the number of zones in Denver has dwindled in recent years from three to one as a school board majority backed by the Denver teachers union has reined in school autonomy.
Now the last remaining zone, called the Luminary Learning Network, appears poised to go from eight schools to seven next year when one of its schools, Ashley Elementary, reverts to district control. And an effort to keep eight schools in the zone may not have support from DPS leaders.
A presentation posted on the school board’s website earlier this week said Willow Elementary had requested to join the zone for next school year. But district officials were recommending the school board vote no, according to the presentation, which is no longer on the website.
Their reasoning, the presentation said, was that the addition of Willow would make the zone into a collection of “more affluent” schools, which would contradict the zone’s commitment to equity and the school board’s emphasis on representation.
Willow has withdrawn its application to join the zone, district spokesperson Scott Pribble said Thursday. But the district anticipates Willow will resubmit it in the near future, he said. Willow Principal Catrina Pazo did not respond to requests for comment.
The Luminary Learning Network was founded in 2016 by four schools that wanted more autonomy over how they spent their time and money and the freedom to try new ideas. The district has consistently renewed its contract with the zone every three years. The latest contract is now up for renewal, and the school board is expected to vote later this month.
District officials told the board Thursday that the decision for Ashley Elementary to return to district control next school year was a mutual one between Ashley and zone leaders.
Paige Neuharth, the district’s director of authorizing and accountability, also cited Ashley’s “current academic performance trajectory.” Ashley’s test scores have declined recently and the school earned a red rating this year, the lowest on the state’s color-coded scale.
“A transition to district management is viewed as the most effective way to prioritize instructional coherence and operational stability for the Ashley community,” a district spokesperson said.
Superintendent Alex Marrero has pushed for a more centralized approach to school improvement in the four and a half years that he has helmed DPS. That approach is a departure from past superintendents who used flexibility as an improvement strategy.
Bailey Holyfield, the zone’s executive director, said the renewal period was a chance to evaluate whether the zone’s schools were aligned with its theory of action that flexibility from district curriculum, training, and other mandates empowers educators and better serves students.
In an interview, Holyfield said that “it makes the most sense for Ashley to rejoin district management” at this time. She said the decision was made with “mutual respect for and care for Ashley,” and she noted that the zone is open to working with any school, regardless of its rating.
Ashley Elementary Principal Janet Estrada referred questions to Holyfield.
Willow Elementary has the state’s highest rating, signified by the color green. But district leaders had other concerns about Willow joining the zone, according to the now-removed presentation.
The students at the zone schools are already whiter and wealthier than the district as a whole, and while the students at Ashley are nearly all students of color, Willow is almost half white.
Replacing Ashley with Willow would drop the zone’s percentage of students of color from 59% to 56%, according to the presentation. That’s far below the districtwide percentage of 75%.
Willow was briefly part of another now-defunct innovation zone called the Northeast Denver Innovation Zone. Willow left that zone in 2021 before it dissolved in 2024. Another zone, Beacon Network Schools, was dissolved by the school board in 2023.
The board has rejected innovation zone expansion requests before, though never for the Luminary Learning Network, which has grown over the years.
It’s unclear when the board might vote on adding Willow to the zone. The board is scheduled to vote on renewing the Luminary Learning Network’s contract, without Ashley, on Jan. 22.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.
