How do school districts work? Private Schools? (Denver, Colorado Springs: military, apartments)

[dmggk]

Hi,
We just found out we are moving to COS from KS this summer. My husband will be at Ft. Carson. We will be renting because he only has one year left in the army, however, if we like the area we may stay forever. I am wondering how the schools work...if you live in one area can you attend a school in a different area? Are the districts pretty equivalent in their programs? I have a 7 year old gifted son and a son who will be entering kg in the fall. I am wondering which districts offer more for gifted kids? Are any of these a reasonable commute to the hospital on Ft Carson with decent houses to rent? Also, does anyone have any info on or experience with any of the private schools (Renaissance Academy, Colorado Springs School, etc)?
Any help is much appreciated!!!! I feel like I have a million things to figure out in a very short period of time!
Thanks

[bashep]

Hey there-

What would you consider an "ok" commute? What does your husband do at the hospital? bashep

[dmggk]

As of now he has a great commute (12 minutes door to door). We're not that hopeful, but we'd like to keep it under 1/2 hour if that's at all possible.

[Mike from back east]

... if you're like most people... you're gonna love Colorado, so figure to stay, thus is smart to rent where you would want to live if you stayed, i.e., near fine schools ... like school district 20, aka The Academy School District. You want to look for rentals in the following zips:
- 80920 Briargate (IMO, your best bet)
- 80921 Gleneagles (south of Baptist Road)
- 80908 South of Baptist Road

A lot of zip 80920 lies along Powers Blvd... fairly straight shot down a major road to Carson... the others are well up on the far north side, a bit of a long commute for someone to the Fort.

KEY THING: There are 2 new hospitals going in on Powers or within a block of Powers. Penrose/St Francis at Powers & Woodmen (opens late 2007) and Memorial at Briargate Pkwy and Union Blvd (opens in April). If your DH is going to work in the hospital biz after Army, and not as a civilian at Fort Carson, then zip 80920 may be great places to be near... still is anyway, just for the schools. Try realtor.com and see what rentals they show.

Lastly, use the Search this Forum tool with key words: school schools gifted commute carson pizza military or any keyword that is of interest to you. There's a ton of stuff here and I"ve already repeated too much of it...

I *believe* in CO, your kids can go to ANY school, if there is room for them, and if you transport them. Am I right guys?

s/Mike from back east
30-year Army civilian (ret)

[dmggk]

Thanks for the help! So, I keep seeing the Briargate area mentioned in this forum. Does anyone know how long the commute would be from Briargate to the hospital on Fort Carson? (not just to the fort but to actual hospital?) I've also read that District 12 is good and on a map it looks closer to Ft Carson....would the commute be shorter or is it heavy traffic?
Thanks for any help you can give me!!!!!!

[Mike from back east]

D12 is The Broadmoor School District, zip 80906. That can be a very pricey part of town, not sure how much is down there that is affordable for most folks. That is an older part of town too and IMO a bit more traffic than up here. Up here in the Briargate area its all new, just about everything.

I'm hoping we can get an Army person on here to talk about the location of the hospital and the driving on-post. You may be able to find it on mapquest or an Army site like AKO.

s/mike

[dmggk]

Does anyone have any experience with the Renaissance Academy private school?
Thanks!

[coltoncity]

go to privateschoolreview.com and they will give you a lot of information and the website links. I Love the information I got on Colorado Springs School. It has experiential learning and everything we would want. Other wise greatschools.net has all the scores for public schools and a lot of parent reviews in Colorado Springs I was surprised, you usually dont find so many.

[misswoodlandpark]

Hi! Both of my kids go to Colorado Springs Christian School. My daughter is 15, and attends the main campus in the Springs. My son is 10, and attends the Woodland Park campus. I can't say enough great things about CSCS. It's amazing what kids can learn in a great private school. My son has taken Latin, Spanish & Bible in addition to all of the traditional subjects since 2nd grade. Boy, these kids are SMART!!! They LOVE going to school every day. They learn REAL history, grammar, science, REAL math, geography (all states, capitals, location, countries, etc. - by memory). They learn, learn, learn & enjoy it so much. Behavior is never a problem at CSCS because when there is a problem (rarely) it's handled immediately. Everyone at the school is so caring & kind & responsible. If you have any questions, let me know!
Chris

[COflower]

The private schools in CS are pretty darn good as are the charter schools within District 20.

My bro and sis-in-law pulled out their kids out of the Colorado Springs Christian School to attend The Classical Academy:

http://sc.asd20.org/education/dept/d...tionid=726#tca as they are pretty dang smart children. They have been attending for the last two-three years and have really loved their education.

CSS, I used to know a few people back in the 80s that attended there as I went to Cheyenne Mtn. High School since it's so close and it's kind of a liberal arts version, or was then, that you might find with regards to colleges like Colorado College. The tuitiion is pretty darn high though. I don't know if they learned that much more than I did but being a private school, it's hard to tell. I do know, however that my bro and sis-in-law are pretty enthused with programs that The Classical Academy offers.

There is housing within Cheyenne Mtn. District 12 that is affordable but they are hard to find. I do recall some people of lesser financial means than our family and others there so it's not impossible but the rents are higher and tend to be within apartments rather than homes.

I hope that makes sense.

Up in the Academy School District, there is everything from houses to apartments to accomodate people and the commute can be a pain but there are a lot of Army couples up in this area.

But Academy School district is probably one of the best in the city. Short of Cherry Creek up in Denver, I think that D-20 is the best.

I can drive to Circle and I-25 in about 25 minutes from my location in Briargate. I haven't been on Ft. Carson in ages though and since 9/11, they are stronger in which gates let who is who in.

The other options for your husband to look into are Pueblo West and Cañon City and I know little to nothing about their schools but I gather they are smaller class sizes. You can always look at their school districts and I pretty much guarantee that you will find bigger property for a lower price. The commute is a wee bit longer but you might be able to use the savings from housing costs for the kids education. You may not be open to that idea and that's fine but just something to throw out there to you.

BTW, there are a lot of Army folks that commute to Ft. Carson up in Briargate. I see them all the time. Much easier to point out than Air Force.