Design team outlines CLIF replacement and feasibility committee recommends elementary consolidation and grade‑banding

The Silver Consolidated Schools board heard two linked facilities presentations on June 16: Decker Architects introduced the design team and schedule for the CLIF (occupied campus replacement) project, and Capital AE presented a consolidation feasibility study recommending elementary reconfiguration and a longer‑term approach to middle‑ and high‑school facilities.

Representatives from Decker said their K–12 studio has completed more than 300 school projects and emphasized experience delivering occupied campus replacements in rural settings. Juan Dorado, Decker’s principal in charge, told the board the firm will lead programming, schematic and construction document phases and coordinate required approvals from the Public School Facilities Authority (PSFA). The Decker team described a target design that would be sized within the district’s allowable square footage and noted the firm’s intent to incorporate local context, community input and CTE spaces such as culinary and welding labs into the design. Decker presented a notional schedule that anticipates design activities in the coming 12 months and an 18‑month construction window that would put final completion in early 2028 if the schedule and approvals proceed as planned.

Capital AE and the district’s feasibility committee presented the study that followed the district’s 2024 facilities master plan. The committee, which included parents, staff and community members, recommended consolidating two older elementary schools—Sixth Street and Jose Barrios—into a right‑sized set of elementary campuses and implementing grade banding rather than preserving the current neighborhood K‑5 model. The committee’s online poll results and meeting votes favored grade banding (about 81 percent in committee polling) and moving the sixth grade to La Plata Middle School (about 96 percent of committee respondents favored relocating sixth graders to the middle school).

Under the committee’s recommended scenario, the district would make these changes in a phased timeline: a board decision in August; administrative planning through the next school year (fall–spring); closure of Sixth Street and Jose Barrios in May following the next school year; summer construction work to ready receiving schools (Harrison/Schmidt and Stout in the committee plan); and a start of school in August 2026 with the new grade configuration (Harrison/Schmidt as K–2; Stout as 3–5; La Plata as 6–8; high school unchanged). The committee estimated the consolidation would reduce excess capacity across the elementary portfolio and improve utilization rates — one scenario showed utilization rising to the mid‑80s/90s percent range at receiving campuses while leaving space for modest future growth.

Committee consultants also recommended the district plan for a longer‑term 6–12 replacement to address aging middle‑ and high‑school facilities; that follow‑on project would be a multi‑year effort and could require a future waiver or funding request to PSFA. Capital AE stressed the need for robust community communication, transportation planning, playground and site work (the committee estimated roughly $400,000 for kindergarten‑specific play area work at one campus), and explicit plans for staffing, curriculum alignment and professional development for a grade‑banding model.

Board members thanked the consultants and committee and said they would review the feasibility report during the summer ahead of an anticipated August action. Decker said its design committee would be on site in the coming week and planned weekly design check‑ins for the initial programming phase; Capital AE said it would provide a written report reflecting the committee’s full dataset and recommendations.