Schools, religion, military, etc in the Springs

[Kar54]

Colorado Springs has a conservative rep, but read through the comment section in the e-edition of The Gazette you'd think this was Boulder.

I've mentioned this time and again over the years and don't mean to be redundant. Statistically Denver is much more liberal than COS is conservative. Look at the Wikipedia election results for CO Districts 1 & 5. We're actually the more moderate of the two. A D+18 in Denver vs. an R+12 in the Springs.

[dr.frog]

The area south of Bear Creek park, west of 8th Street, is called the Skyway neighborhood, which was developed in the 1950s and 60s; east of 8th Street, it's called Ivywild. As you noted, there is a distinct lack of retail in Skyway itself, but it's not terribly far to the Walmart on 8th street or the Southgate shopping centers (Safeway, Home Depot, several chain restaurants, etc). If you're considering living here, a couple things you should be aware of:

(1) The area along S Nevada street at the east fringe of Ivywild is considered one of the sleaziest parts of town, with a lot of transients, hookers, cheap motels, etc. A few blocks west of there is fine.

(2) There are a few pockets of houses in Skyway that have been affected by the landslide activity that's been in the news lately. Check the city's geohazard maps before you think about buying there (or actually, anywhere on the west side). The city also has wildfire risk maps if that worries you.

[s_colema]

We just moved to the Springs. We decided to go with a short term rental while we figure out where to buy. We have been back and forth on Cordera. My impression is that the elementary school there is crowded. When I inquired about kindergarten for the upcoming year, they said they were almost at capacity which is 25 kids per class in kindergarten, and that there are many other District 20 elementary schools have fewer kids per class. Here's the warning from their website.....

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO REALTORS AND NEW FAMILIES MOVING TO ACADEMY DISTRICT TWENTY:

We are a growing district and our available seats are becoming limited. As a result, we cannot guarantee you a place in your neighborhood school. When neighborhood schools run out of seats, new students moving in will be bused to a designated overflow school that has space available (or, depending on space available, may attend another school with no transportation).

[Phil P]

Originally Posted by s_colema

We just moved to the Springs. We decided to go with a short term rental while we figure out where to buy. We have been back and forth on Cordera. My impression is that the elementary school there is crowded. When I inquired about kindergarten for the upcoming year, they said they were almost at capacity which is 25 kids per class in kindergarten, and that there are many other District 20 elementary schools have fewer kids per class. Here's the warning from their website.....

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO REALTORS AND NEW FAMILIES MOVING TO ACADEMY DISTRICT TWENTY:

We are a growing district and our available seats are becoming limited. As a result, we cannot guarantee you a place in your neighborhood school. When neighborhood schools run out of seats, new students moving in will be bused to a designated overflow school that has space available (or, depending on space available, may attend another school with no transportation).

A lot of people choice into D20, so it will be crowded. Pine Creek was >50% outside district attendies when I went there. I think they did a good job teaching, but it also had its rougher edges (which are important for kids to see as well IMO), making it not as different as other CO Springs schools as some parent might believe.

Also, there's definitely a big group of evangelicals and ultra conservatives (sometimes overlapping but not always) in the Springs, but it's not to the point where they feel like a majority or have too much control (except for electing a Representative that's dumber than a robot year after year). There seems to be a big right wing gun culture in the Springs, but that's the main right wing anomaly IMO.