History
DPS District No. 1
With the great number of districts in a growing town such as Denver, problems arose for not only students but also taxpayers. The main portion of Denver was divided into two districts which made it hard for both districts to accomplish any major building or funding programs. Families with students were put in a position where they paid taxes in the district where they lived and then had to pay tuition in the school district the children attended. The iniquity of this problem was first addressed in the late 1880's but it wasn't until 1902 that a solution was reached.
The 20th Amendment to the Constitution of the State of Colorado, know as the Rush Amendment, created the City and County of Denver. Denver was separated from Arapahoe County, and at that time, the school districts were consolidated into one district. The amendment was created by an election in mid November 1902 and placed into effect by the Governor on December 1, 1902.
The school boards of all the larger districts were combined in a new board for Denver Public Schools District No. 1. On February 28, 1903, the Colorado State Supreme Court declared the Rush Amendment valid. Aaron Gove was appointed Superintendent and Lewis C. Greenlee and Charles E. Chadsey were made Assistant Superintendents. It wasn't until May of 1903 that the first school board election was held for the new School District No. 1, City and County of Denver, Colorado.
In 1903, School District No. 1 acquired all the buildings and students in the following districts: 1, 2, 5, 7, 17, 18, 21, 24, 35, 44, 69, and 98. Some of these districts did not have school buildings so some schools were combined or new schools were built.
A second, and big change in the district after consolidation, was the formation of the junior high school. In the late 1910's, educators determined that a junior high school, consisting of grades 7, 8, and 9 would benefit the education process for staff and students. One of the early junior highs was Evans school which was converted from an elementary school. In the 1920's many schools were built just for juniors high schools such as Skinner and Cole. By 1926, Denver had nine junior high schools.
In the early 1920's, the school district initiated a large building program to update and meet the needs of the city. This was the result of several studies completed following the consolidation of the districts. The reports did not speak well for the schools of Denver. Many of the schools had classrooms in dark, dungeon like basement rooms with most of the facilities in the school buildings out dated and extremely unhealthy.
Large amounts of money were spent by the district during the ensuing years to upgrade the buildings, the facilities, and raise the level of the Denver school system to good.
A major problem confronted the Denver school system in the 1960's, a problem facing many of the nation's school systems...Baby Boomers. The tremendous upswing in births during the late 1940's and early 1950's resulted in school children far out numbering the available classroom space. And to compound the problem, the City and County of Denver was annexing more land at the same time, thereby increasing the district student population. Many of the older school buildings were showing "wear and tear" from long years of service, which resulted in many older school buildings being torn down in the 1970's and 1980's to be replaced by new structures. Older buildings that were not razed, but not feasible as a public school building, were sold to private schools or other organizations and only a few have been saved as historical structures.
School desegregation became an issue in the district about the same time as the Baby Boomers. In 1970, the U.S. District Court ordered busing for racial balancing within the schools which meant students spent considerable time riding school busses. Desegregation within the Denver Public Schools system was lifted in 1995.