Parents react to fire safety, structural concerns within Jenkins Middle School which causes closure for remainder of school year

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - The unexpected news that Jenkins Middle School in District 11 will close for the remainder of the school year is not sitting well with parents.

District officials held a community meeting on Tuesday where parents, students, and staff learned that 7th and 8th graders will attend classes at the Doherty High School, while 6th graders will make the move to Russell Middle School on Monday.

"Unacceptable. I need 100% safe every single time. If it wasn't 100% safe, why are my kids in there?" D11 parent Prophet said. Amy Tolve adds, "It's been an emotional day. I almost feel like it's like Covid all over again, but just in a worse situation this time, because now it's only our community being affected."

Jenkins Middle School students, staff, and parents were alerted Tuesday of a mandatory closure of the school, effective January 17th.

Fire safety and structural flaws prompted the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control to call for the closure.

The Colorado Springs Fire Department along with District 11 says they've been monitoring the building for a few years, but it was a structure assessment performed last month that showed previous repairs are failing.

"We have been aware since this inspection in December we'd been crawling through that building and we've hired an external engineering firm. We chose to not communicate to our families until we got to a place where we were much closer to that decision," D11 Superintendent Michael Gaal said.

The delay however is not sitting well with parents, "It's frustrating because, again, lack of communication, I feel like we should have known this this was possibly coming," Tolve said.

"We are concerned parents about our school, our students, and these schools. We put our students in your hands every day. And the fact that you're going to just oh, well, you know, we know what's happening, that's unacceptable," Prophet said.

Gaal took many questions from parents on Tuesday wanting to know how things like bus routes and extracurricular activities will get sorted out. He says the district is urgently working to finalize those details.

He adds that by this Friday, more updates will be available on the Jenkins Middle School website. 

If you missed Tuesday's community meeting, the district is holding another one on Thursday, Jan. 16 and Wednesday, Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. at Doherty High School.