Moving from Arzona to The Springs this Spring... (Fountain, Durango: rental, loan)

[FunBunch7]

My wife and kids and I went on vacation to Durango last summer and KNEW Colorado was for us! This past Thanksgiving my wife and I drove from Surprise, AZ (suburb of Phoenix) to COS...we basically drove around the whole state to explore places I have read so much about here on this board...(2,300 miles in 4 days!)we eliminated several places and have settled on COS. I am a loan officer and work from home (as 90% in this field do) and my wife is in the medical billing field. We have 2 kids ages 13 & 11.

My main objective is to find an area close to shopping, restaruants, movie theaters and "good" schools. We are also very active in our church community and hope to get plugged into a nice "body of believers" in COS.

I have a few questiuons if anyone would be kind enough to chime in.

1. Non-Denominational churches...do any of you have any links that I could visit on line? We need a good "Youth" Program for our kids. Also, we enjoy "Small Groups"...Bible studies of 10-12 adults that meet various nights of the week. My wife has played keyboard for our church for 8 years...so a worship team where she might be able to get plugged in would be great.

2. Schools? When does the fall 2009 school year start? I heard there are alot of year round schools. My kids will be going into 8th and 6th grade. Also, is Junior High (middle school) for 6th thru 8th there? Here in AZ most schools are k thru 8th then on to high school?

I will be coming out about 3 weeks before we move here June 1st, 2009. My plan is to explore as much as possible before finding a rental in my desired location...based primarily on the abover criteria.

Thanks for any and all feedback. PS. I have been on this board for 8 months before deciding to post.

[froggin4colorado]

www.restchurch.org non-denominational, lots of young families but on the southern end of town in Fountain.
Falcon D49 starts the first week of August and everyone else starts the second week or so.

[reginhild]

District 20 has the best rated public schools. Other districts to the North have highly rated schools as well. District 11 which has not the best reputation overall still has schools on its North side (border with D20) that are rated highly.

There are also some highly rated private schools if you are willing to pay $800 or more per month. eg. Broadmoor.

Briargate is the North side of town with new construction and new shopping/eating out. Manitou Springs and Old Colorado City have more nightlife and historic homes/businesses (West side of town). South side tends to be more run down except the Southwest where Broadmoor is located. East is flat prarie where you can get larger lots with new homes for less than Briargate area.

Several non-denominational churches scattered around the Springs.