DPS board set to revisit student phone policy as enrollment report warns of more school consolidations

Denver Public Schools’ board is set to revisit a districtwide student communication-device policy at its June 4 work session after board members said in May that they wanted a final vote at the district’s June 8 regular meeting. The timeline is partly driven by a new Colorado law requiring districts to adopt student phone rules by July 1.

The proposed policy would bar students from using personal communication devices during the full school day, including instructional periods, passing periods, lunch and school-supervised activities during regular school hours. The draft policy defines covered devices to include cell phones, smartwatches, wireless earbuds, personally owned tablets and laptops, and other portable electronic communication devices.

At the board’s May 20 meeting, board members and administrators said the policy was still in first read and needed more work on enforcement, costs and whether older students should be treated differently at lunch. Board President Xóchitl Gaytán said the board would continue discussing the policy at the June 4 work session and bring it back for “another vote on Monday, the 8th.” The district’s meeting calendar lists June 8 as the next regular board meeting.

A community survey summary in the June 4 board packet says 7,144 people responded between May 1 and May 15. According to the summary, adults broadly supported restrictions, while students were more opposed. Respondents also raised recurring concerns about emergency communication, consistent enforcement and accommodations for medical or disability-related needs.

The draft policy tries to address some of those issues. It directs the superintendent to keep devices inaccessible during the school day, give schools the option of physical storage solutions, revise the student discipline matrix for graduated consequences, and provide parents guidance on emergency notification protocols. It also says the ban must not block emergency notifications or device use authorized by an IEP, Section 504 plan, multilingual-learner language needs, or health care and mental health plans.

Still, the June 4 materials and May 20 discussion suggest schools may not all use the same enforcement model. At the May 20 meeting, board members and administrators said high schools were especially concerned about enforcing a bell-to-bell ban during lunch and passing periods. They also said specific storage methods would be handled in an administrative policy rather than in the board policy itself. Board Vice President Monica Hunter asked whether schools that already collect phones in totes, lockers or pouches would retain flexibility; Superintendent Alex Marrero said he read the draft as allowing that unless the board chose to make the policy more prescriptive.

The same June 4 packet also includes a broader warning about DPS’ long-term footprint. In the district’s 2026 Strategic Regional Analysis, staff said K-12 enrollment has already fallen by more than 3% since peaking in 2019 and is forecast to decline another 7% by 2030.

According to the district analysis, central, northwest and southwest Denver likely will not have enough students by 2030 to support the number of schools now operating there. The report says that could lead to additional closure or consolidation recommendations beyond those the board approved in November 2024. Far Northeast is the only region projected to grow overall, according to the analysis, reinforcing the case for a new Gateway elementary school and continued monitoring of middle-school capacity there.

Districtwide, the analysis says building utilization has hovered around 78% and is projected to fall to 74% by 2030. It also recommends that DPS evaluate underused regions for alternative real-estate uses while retaining long-term flexibility and considering partnerships or advocacy tied to affordable housing.

The June 4 packet also includes a Mill Levy Override Advisory Committee recommendation centered on $25.8 million for salary increases for all staff, $4 million for Career and Technical Education hub operating costs, and $4.8 million combined for student mental health and special education supports. If the package advances, the committee materials say, about $9.3 million would remain for charter-school sharing under state law.

That recommendation is not yet a ballot measure. The advisory committee’s timeline says the board would take up a work session and official vote on a ballot initiative in August, and the June 4 packet says the superintendent is expected to make a recommendation to the board on Aug. 13 ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

Taken together, the June materials put DPS in front of two related decisions: whether to impose a districtwide daily phone restriction within days, and how to respond over the next several years to fewer students, more empty seats and pressure to decide which programs, buildings and staffing levels the district can sustain.

What remains unresolved is how strict the final phone policy will be for high school lunch and passing periods, how much money schools would get for storage and enforcement, and whether the enrollment warning will soon lead to another formal closure process or remain planning guidance for now.